Hyperledger

Hyperledger is joint open source the project created for promotion of blockchain technologies using implementation of the functions necessary for the open cross-industry standard of the distributed registers. It is the international project which covers leading companies in the field of finance, the banking sector, Internet of Things, logistics, production and technologies. The Hyperledger project functions with assistance of The Linux Foundation.

Hyperledger puts the task development of open technologies of the distributed register which will allow the companies to create the stable industry applications, platforms and the hardware systems intended for accomplishment of specific business operations. The project totals more than 122 participants and covers the different industries, including finance, health care, Internet of Things, service of credit cards, aircraft and others.

2020: Walmart entered blockchain consortium Hyperledger

In March, 2020 it became known that eight new participants, including Walmart joined blockchain consortium Hyperledger. On this occasion the vice president of Walmart for global technologies Sanjay Radhakrishnan noted the following:

We achieved good results thanks to implementation of a blockchain at different stages of work and we continue to cooperate about a blockchain communities open source for further transformation of our business.

Eight new participants, including Walmart joined blockchain consortium Hyperledger

Aiou Technology, Clear, Conduent, Joisto Group, Tangem and Tokenation became new consortium members also. The management of information technologies of Maharashtra (India) joins as the associated member. Besides, Hyperledger announced six new certified service providers of Hyperledger (HCHP) — Beijing Proinsight Technology, Kompitech, LimeChain, Mindtree, Xoaa and Zhigui. These companies will offer technical support and services to the companies using Hyperledger blockchain. IBM, Accenture and Ant Financial were one of the first who received the similar certificate of service provider.

Before Walmart joined the platform, the company created own consortium Pharmaceutical Utility Network (PhUN) together with IBM, Merck and KPMG. Earlier partners jointly worked on developed by FDA experimental a blockchain project on interaction for tracking and control of pharmaceutical medicines. The retailer also took part in the pilot projects initiated a blockchain network for drugstores of MediLedger.

Also shortly before the accession to blockchain consortium Walmart submitted the application to Bureau by patents and trademarks of the USA in which the method of development of a steyblkoin is described. The coin can be provided with U.S. dollars or other currencies and is available as in points of certain retailers, and their partners^[1]

2019: Norilsk Nickel and Microsoft were included into consortium

In the middle of June, 2019 Norilsk Nickel and also the companies Microsoft also Salesforce joined consortium Hyperledger. New participants of the organization will pay membership fees and to develop new applications using Hyperledger.

Norilsk Nickel based on Hyperledger Fabric technologies is going to create new tools using which it will be possible to develop opened a solution blockchain. This technology will be used on the tokenizatsionny platform created by the company which is going to start until the end of 2019.

Norilsk Nickel and Microsoft joined the main community a blockchain projects for business

The main idea of the project consists in tokenization of products of Norilsk Nickel for product offering of a new class for a wide range of investors (including retail-investors) and also in tokenization of contract volume of the company for industry players. One of project objectives — reduction in cost of funding through the offer of digital assets. Besides, release of working capital can become a possible effect. Creation of financial instruments of new type based on model of tokenization of different assets is expected.

Hyperledger is the global project covering a set of the different industries, and our cooperation with Norilsk Nickel not only expands our presence in Russia, but gives new opportunities for promotion of technology in the industrial sector. We believe that the companies in all industrial industries will be able to use solutions in the field of open blockchain technologies, such as Hyperledger. We with impatience expect joint work with Norilsk Nickel over improvement of the existing technology — the head of consortium Hyperledger Brian Belendorf said.

Those who support Hyperledger call the platform "gold standard for corporate blkocheyn-projects". By April, 2019 technology about a half of the 50th of the largest developed a blockchain companies from the Forbes list.^[2]

2017

Leaving of members and reduction of financing

As it became known in December, 2017, for the last several months more than 15 members of blockchain consortium Hyperledger reduced a financial support of the project or left it.

According to the data published by Reuters agency, stock exchange operators of CME Group and Deutsche Boerse decided to reduce membership within consortium, since the end of January, 2018 what it was announced the presentation of a board meeting which took place on December 15 the 2017th.

The blockchain consortium Hyperledger loses members and financing

CME Group and Deutsche Boerse were the main members of the group, however now they decided to be limited to the general participation.

Reuters reports that positions in Board of Directors are provided to the main participants of consortium and collecting in the amount of  $250 thousand a year is paid to them. According to data of the website Hyperledger, the cost of membership is from  $5 to  $50 thousand depending on the size of the company.

According to the edition, blockchain consortium R3 also decided to refuse the status of the main consortium member in 2018, said in documents. Representatives of CME Group and R3 confirmed that the companies laid off the number of the representatives in consortium. Deutsche Boerse refused comments.

According to the message of Reuters, loss of financing and the number of members of Hyperledger happens against the background of increase in financing of cryptocurrency and a blockchain startups. On December 15, 2017 the cost of bitcoin reached record  $ 18 thousand a.n  to the Bitstamp exchange. Despite it, the blockchain technology is not used in one really large project yet.

The weakening Hyperledger support by some large members means that the large companies became more electoral in the choice of projects with use of blockchain technology. Earlier in 2017 JP Morgan Chase left consortium R3 after leaving of Goldman Sachs, Banco Santander and other companies.^[3]

SAP - the premium participating of community of blockchain technologies Hyperledger

In March, 2017 it became known that SAP entered an open blockchain project for development of corporate technologies of the distributed register. Dominik Heere, the vice president of SAP for the innovative developments and SAP Innovation Center Network, will represent the company as premium participating in Management board of Hyperledger.

"Support from SAP, the market leader of the corporate and cloud software is an important step in the right direction, – the chief executive of Hyperledger Brian Behlendorf told. – The various structure of our community is true advantage because this year we set as the purpose promotion of the concept of open technologies of a blockchain, start of pilot scenarios and deployment of full projects in the different industries. I am glad that now our community actively interacts and develops".

SAP is going to use blockchain technologies in the new and already existing scenarios for business. The company will implement a blockchain in the portfolio of services, including SAP Ariba to use such scenarios as management of information sources, display of digital objects or collateral execution of transactions.

2016: Sberbank of the Russian Federation joined

In September, 2016 Sberbank of the Russian Federation joined the international blockchain consortium Hyperledger into which the largest players of world financial market and the leading IT companies enter (for example, London Stock Exchange, SWIFT, Moscow Exchange, IBM, Cisco, Intel, etc.).

2015: Open Ledger Project (alternative blockchain)

At the end of 2015 several large companies from the IT and financial industry, including IBM, Intel and Cisco and also operator of the London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange Group and banks JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and State Street, integrated in creation of an alternative to blockchain, the global accounting online book which is the cornerstone of digital currency bitcoin.

The project is open and is supervised by Linux Foundation non-profit organization, it is directed to development similar on blockchain technology which will be able to bring the new level of automation and transparency to full range of services in the business world, including to stock exchanges and other financial markets, writes^[4].

The present blockchain is a fine project model, - Jerry Cuomo, the vice president and the technical director of software division of IBM says. - The question is in how to use it in real business? What are necessary key attributes that it occurred? It also is in what our organization will be engaged.

The project which received the name Open Ledger Project allows to rethink several big ideas. The blockchain represents the database started in world network of independent computers. This database is not controlled any company, but can authentically monitor exchange of assets thanks to some profound mathematical knowledge, Wired explains. Within bitcoins the blockchain monitors exchange of money. However he can monitor exchange something else that has cost — for example, stocks, bonds and other financial securities and also assets, like documents on a right of possession the house or the car. In 2015 several projects grasped many of these opportunities.

The London Stock Exchange became one of project participants on creation of an alternative of a blockchain

The OMX Nasdaq company managing the Nasdaq exchange uses a blockchain for observation of exchange of securities by the closed subscription, and the online retailer Overstock.com through TØ affiliated firm constructed the system allowing the companies to issue securities and even to take the credits under their pledge through a blockchain. At the end of 2015 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the statement of Overstock on a share issue through a blockchain.

IBM and startup under the name Digital Asset Holdings (DAH) headed by the former top manager of JP Morgan Blythe Masters studied blockchain technology then decided to join Open Ledger Project. Among other participants — the technology companies Fujitsu and VMware, the Japanese financial institution Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and the company SWIFT which created technology for safe management of financial information.

IBM, most likely, directs formation of this initiative group. Earlier in 2015 the IT giant expressed the intention to open the source code of the bitcoin project which will form the basis of Open Ledger Project.

Their own blockchain

The promised technology of an alternative blockchain, as expected, will be able to provide safer, reliable, transparent and automatic method of exchange of money, securities and other assets. It will allow to exchange assets as easily as e-mails, and to do it on full confidence to any person or the organization. It will be possible to get rid of a set of the slow technologies and dear intermediaries littering the modern markets, the Marley Gray who is responsible in Microsoft for work with a blockchain says.

Such people as Gray and the CEO of Overstock Patrick Bern (Patrick Byrne) are convinced that the blockchain will also be able to close holes which traders in a game on the Wall Street use. All this it is potentially possible to be used in Open Ledger Project. Cuomo from IBM says that this technology will help to simplify exchange of mortgage documents for vehicles, tracking the organization of a logistics chain and the control of huge amounts of data arriving from various sensors.

At the same time it is remarkable that IBM and its supporters create the new distributed register instead of using the original blockchain (created for bitcoins). Investing in the new project, they can strengthen control over how it is created and used.

Along with Open Ledger Project the blockchain of bitcoin is the Open Source project, and it means that the source code is in free access, and anyone can make the contribution to the project. But in work with new open technologies such giants as IBM, can take the central place. Open Source deprives of earnings, but sometimes own interest generates nobility, Wired notes. One project with the open code can resist to another either improve his ideas or send these ideas to new beds.

Some companies participating in the project can feel danger from repartition of financial markets by means of a blockchain. For example, the State Street bank will obviously lose if the companies begin to use Overstock technology for receiving loans. In the USA the size of the market of the credits is estimated by securities at $954 billion, its most part is State Street known as the credit agent. The future of this company depends on achievements in this game.

Preserving of openness of a blockchain

With respect thereto IBM and its colleagues do not build own blockchains on the single, and any company does not try to start the similar project. The big group creates the project within Linux Foundation which is engaged in Linux open source operating system long ago. This organization is highly esteemed in the technology world thanks to knowledge of how to manage really open projects in which many participants have the right to vote.

So far only IBM and DAH promised to provide the written code. DAH also shared the concept "Giperreestr", (with engl. Hyperledger) which can be used as a brand in the future. But Jim Zemlin (Jim Zemlin) heading Linux Foundation reminds that this project is essentially focused on broad cooperation.

We have a big confidence in this process, Zemlin said.

Cuomo from IBM says that there is a high potential for use of their code for the purpose of creation something that reminds a blockchain, but is not connected with it.

We are very glad not to just disposable idea, but the idea which can be used and expanded in the systematic, deep directions, he notes.

So far it is not clear, how exactly these companies intend to advance the idea. But Cuomo considers that finally the project can also intertwine with other distributed systems.

As well as on the Internet, there is no thing which dominates over all others, and there is no unique dominating blockchain. There will be several implementations of a blockchain, and it is wrong if they do not interact and work together, Gerry Cuomo says.

It is more than one supporter

Not only the openness of Open Ledger Project is important, but also the fact that the group aims to create the distributed register which will cover the machines controlled not by one organization, but several. According to Gray from Microsoft, it also does a blockchain so powerful and useful to the world of financial trading.

The blockchain is actually useless for one separate working organization. There are no reasons to create a similar unreliable situation in your corporation, - Gray says. - You need the companies which have no relation to you

Of course, IBM not the first who uses similar approach. Others, including Ripple, created alternative blockchains as a method of development of the idea in the new directions. Many consider that numerous blockchains can expand the principles of distribution of this idea. Though such projects are independent, Ripple already undertook management of creation of the centralized protocol capable to provide interaction between several registers.

Somewhat Open Ledger Project competes with acting with a blockchain and based on is mute technologies, like the system constructed by Patrick Bern and Overstock. But on the other hand, it not so. Judging from the fact that and others told IBM about this project, Bern approved its emergence. It worried that large banks with the Wall Street can "rally" in creation of the technology blocking any other. But at the same time it is happy as the new project of IBM is open, and everyone can use and develop it. He is confident in need to have more than one technology. He believes in the big idea.

I did not marry a bitcoin blockchain. I am an agnostic of a blockchain, tells Bern.

You look also the Blockchain and cryptocurrency

Notes