Category: General

Fighting COVID-19 with Blockchain

COVID-19 outbreak has become a global pandemic in recent months. The epicenter of the outbreak has moved from China to Europe and then the US. It has sickened hundreds of thousands of people and caused ten of thousands of deaths.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted many of the applications for blockchain technology. For example, Blockchain technology has been proposed as the most efficient means through which the United States’ stimulus package could be distributed.

On the other hand, the Chinese government has deployed blockchain in numerous applications to assist its efforts to fight COVID-19, using DLT to track the virus’ spread, medical records, and the distribution of medical supplies and charity donations.

To fight the outbreak, WHO has launched a DLT platform for sharing data pertaining to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In addition, some companies and non-profit organizations have also launched blockchain-based projects to counter the outbreak of COVID-19. Let’s examine a few of the aforementioned initiatives :

WHO

WHO has launched the blockchain-based platform know as MiPasa to fight COVID-19. The platform will enable “early detection of COVID-19 carriers and infection hotspots. It was built on top of the Hyperledger Fabric. Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source enterprise-grade permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform.

The MiPasa platform was co-developed by MiPasa, IBM, Oracle, Hacera and Microsoft. It aims to facilitate fully private information sharing between individuals, state authorities and health institutions.

MiPasa is a verifiable information highway that allows cross-references siloed location. Furthermore, health data is stored on the platform to obtain global insights while ensuring patient privacy. Besides that, MiPasa is will host an array of publicly accessible analytics tools too.

SNARK HEALTH

Snark Health is a platform that connects patients, doctors, insurers, and donors for health care services, private data sharing and payments via the blockchain technology.  

To combat COVID-19, SNARK is building a framework for data-driven discussions and shared learnings to help people have a greater impact at their respective local, state, national level in collaboration with their organizations and governmental agencies. It aims to enable more rapid dissemination of information to improve patient outcomes.

The goal of this project is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned to support the people and organizations that are tasked with problem-solving at the local level across the globe. According to SNARK, there remain many unanswered questions in regards to the clinical, operational and financial aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the process of answering these critical questions, the new framework could lay the foundation for global triage support, improved access to health care services and clinical research.

BINANCE

Binance’s Blockchain-powered donation platform Binance Charity has initiated a $5 million coronavirus relief campaign At the time of writing this article, its “Crypto Against COVID” campaign has received 24 donations, amounting to a total of 160.6306 BTC. A wallet has been set up for public donations, which can be made in BNB, BTC, BUSD, and XRP. Besides that, Binance will make an upfront donation of $1 million in BUSD, which will be converted to fiat and used to purchase supplies to send to hospitals in affected countries.

In addition, Binance will also match donations up to $1 million. Furthermore, the company will donate $1 for every retweet of its #CryptoAgainstCovid posting and will donate an additional $1 million if the number of retweets reaches 1 million within seven days.

As of March 20 this year, Binance Charity has delivered a number of coronavirus aid products to over 300 hospitals and medical teams in multiple provinces and cities, including Hubei, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Shanghai. The items delivered include 366,000 pairs of gloves, 56,800 masks, 9 sterilizers, 173 barrels of disinfectant, 5,280 bottles of hand sanitizers, 20,000 testing kits, 7,850 protective suits, 20,000 pairs of goggles, 388 oxygen concentrators, and 1000 germicidal lamps.

Hashcash Consultants

Hashcash Consultants has launched the Corona Fund Index Cryptocurrency (CFIX), a coronavirus relief initiative involving cryptocurrency.

This global software firm promised that 90% of trading fees derived from CFIX will be diverted to its Corona Relief Fund. The fund will be donated to various non-profits and organizations that are actively combating the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

References

Initial Exchange Offering(IEO) Explained

After the craze of ICOs subsided, two new crypto crowdfunding methods emerged, namely the Security Token Offering (STO) and the Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). Among the two, IEO is more popular as STO poses a higher barrier of entry, is more expensive, and is subjected to more stringent regulations by the securities commission.

In a recent article, Reuters reported that IEOs have raised $1.5 billion so far in 2019, compared with just $836 million raised from ICOs. A dozen of amazingly successful cases of IEOs have driven more project owners to embark on their own IEO journeys. Famous IEO cases include the sale of the BitT Torrent (BTT) token on the Binance Launchpad, raising $7 million in just the first 14 minutes of the sale opening. Veriblock did even better, raising $7 million in April through an IEO on the Bittrex exchange in just 10 seconds. A truly amazing feat! It is safe to say that IEO has taken over ICO as the preferred choice of fundraising in the cryptocurrency industry.

What is IEO?

According to Binance, an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) is a fundraising campaign that is administered by a Crypto Exchange Platform.  An IEO allows investors to purchase a new cryptocurrency (or token) while raising funds for its crypto project. 

Though ICOs and IEOs both raise funds through token sales, the way they sell tokens is different. For ICOs, the project team themselves conduct the fundraising campaign. Meanwhile, IEO fundraising is conducted on a crypto Exchange platform, where the users of the Exchange can buy tokens with funds directly from their own exchange wallet. 

Advantages and disadvantages of IEO

Advantages

INCREASED INVESTOR CONFIDENCE

Investors are more confident in investing in IEO tokens as the project has to undergo stringent KYC/AML checks by the Exchange platform that handles the IEO projects. The Exchange platform will also evaluate the business model of the project and also audit its technical infrastructure, including its blockchain system and smart contracts. Therefore, many scam projects will be filtered and eliminated. The Exchange platform acts as a trusted third party that can reduce considerable risk in crypto investment.

WIN-WIN FOR THE PROJECT OWNER AND THE EXCHANGE

For the project owner, it is a cheaper and easier way to raise the necessary funds for the project, while not embarking on long marketing campaigns and roadshows. The token is also listed on the Exchange immediately after the IEO campaign.

For the Exchange, conducting an IEO means more revenue for them. An Exchange that hosts an IEO will typically charge a fee for the campaign and get a cut from the token sales. They also get fees when the token starts trading on their exchange.

Disadvantages of IEO

AMBIGUOUS REGULATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

Many countries still ban or restrict fundraising activity in the cryptocurrency industry while some countries impose stringent regulations on crypto activities. Therefore, it is still uncertain whether IEO will be fully accepted and recognised as the legal way of fundraising in the crypto industry.

ALL INVESTORS SUBJECTED TO STRINGENT AML/KYC

While a stringent KYC/AML check for the project can increase investor confidence, some individuals may be reluctant to expose their identities, so going through a stringent AML/KYC procedure may deter these people from investing in the IEO project.

LIMITED NUMBER OF TOKENS

There have been many complaints from investors that not everyone manages to purchase tokens during IEOs as the number of tokens available for sale is usually limited.

BOTTING CONCERNS

Using bots for trading and investing is ubiquitous nowadays. In the crypto space, there are concerns about bots that can be programmed to participate in IEOs and beat out human investors. In such a scenario, all parties lose out.

How to Conduct an IEO?

Although an IEO is a promising method for fundraising, especially for startups that don’t have the resources and expertise to do an IPO, it is by no means an easy feat. The project owner needs to plan and make the necessary preparations before embarking on the IEO initiative. The following are suggested steps that a project has to follow before going IEO.

DESIGN THE BUSINESS MODEL

Before embarking on an IEO campaign, the founding members of the project must have a clear vision of what their business wants to achieve. They also have to design a business model and draw up plans to attain the vision.

ASSEMBLE A FORMIDABLE TEAM

In this internet era where information is readily available, potential investors and Exchanges will know instantly the background of the project team members. If the project team comprises mostly inexperienced people, it will seriously affect the confidence of the investors and the Exchanges. Therefore, the project owner needs to assemble a formidable team that comprises experts in business, legal, technology, marketing, and other related disciplines. As most IEO projects are blockchain-based, it is a must to hire blockchain experts.

PREPARING THE WHITEPAPER AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

The whitepaper is a document that comprises a thorough description of the project, distribution of tokens, business model, tokenomics and more. It also includes information about the project team which usually comprises the board members, the marketing team, the technical team, the legal team, and the advisers.

Writing the whitepaper is a very important step in the IEO campaign. It is an important document that showcases the project. Whether the investors will be impressed and looking forward to investing in the project depends on how well the paper is written.

Besides the whitepaper, the project team should also prepare a one-pager, website, pitch decks, social media pages and more. These are the components that contain the primary source of knowledge about the project for potential investors and Exchanges to evaluate the IEO project.

DEVELOP THE TOKEN

The token is an integral part of the IEO project. Without a native token, what can you sell to the investors? Therefore, it is crucial to design the token from day 1, and start developing it as soon as possible.

Most tokens for IEO projects are ERC20 tokens. The ERC20 standard is chosen because it can be easily designed and deployed to the Ethereum main net. However, if you want a customized token and your team has the expertise and programming skill, you can develop a different protocol from the Ethereum main net, or even develop your own blockchain system.

To mint the ERC20 token, the blockchain developers need to write a robust smart contract and have it tested and also audited by a trusted third party contract auditor to ensure the contract is secure and free of bugs. The audited token can then be deployed to the Ethereum main net or a private network.

MARKETING

The project team needs to carry out an aggressive marketing campaign for its IEO initiative in order to broadcast the news to as many investors as possible. The marketing campaign can be conducted through websites, blogs, as well as social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat and more. They can also organise events and conferences to promote their token but they need to check whether these activities can be conducted in certain countries. For example, you cannot do so in Malaysia and China.

ENGAGE A CRYPTO EXCHANGE

The project team also needs to sign an agreement with a crypto Exchange to start their IEO campaign. They need to conduct due diligence in searching for a trusted Exchange before deciding to engage one. A good guide is to look for Exchanges that rank within the top 50 on Coinmarketcap. Besides, they need to analyze reviews of the Exchanges on various crypto platforms. IEO fees may also be another concern, as a top rank Exchange may charge an extremely high fee. Therefore, there is always a trade-off between the fee and the reputation of the Exchange.

Final Note

IEO has replaced ICO as the new trend in fundraising in the crypto industry. Investors who are still thinking of the good old days of ICO should start changing their mindset and focus on investing in IEO projects instead. On the other hand, startups or enterprises who wish to raise funds in the crypto industry must realize that ICO is already dead and IEO is the way to go. Lastly, more exchanges should create IEO launchpads to assist projects that wish to raise funds through IEO, as this is an untapped niche with immense potential. 

References

Storing Data on Blockchain

Though we are experiencing crypto winter at the moment, with major coins devalued more than 80% in 2018, the underlying blockchain technology is still exciting. The blockchain provides a democratized trust, distributed and validation protocol that has already disrupted banking and financial services and is on the verge of overhauling other industries like healthcare, supply chain, HR and more.

Despite the hype and its promising future, blockchain still has its shortcomings, the issue of data storage is one of them. The transactions based on the POW consensus for bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies are extremely slow and therefore not suitable for storage of large data. For example, the deployment of dApp Cryptokitties nearly crippled the Ethereum network

The main problem of storing data on a blockchain is the limitation of the amount of data we can store because of its protocol and the high transaction costs. As a matter of fact, a block in blockchain can store data from a few kilobytes to maybe a few megabytes. For example, the block size of the Bitcoin is only 1Mb. The block size limitation has a serious impact on the scalability of most cryptocurrencies and the bitcoin community is debating whether to increase the block size.

Another issue is the high cost of the transactions. Why is storing data on the blockchain so expensive? It is because the data has to be stored by every full node on the blockchain network. When storing data on the blockchain, we do pay the base price for the transaction itself plus an amount per byte we want to store. If smart contracts are involved, we also pay for the execution time of the smart contract. This is why even storing kilobytes of data on the blockchain can cost you a fortune.

Therefore, it is not viable to store large data files like images and videos on the blockchain. Is there a possible solution to solve the storage issue? Yes, there are quite a few solutions but the most promising one is IPFS.

What is IPFS?

IPFS or Interplanetary File System is an innovative open-source project created by the developers at Protocol Labs. It is a peer-to-peer filesharing system that aims to change the way information is distributed across a wide area network. IPFS has innovated some communication protocols and distributed systems and combine them to produce a unique file-sharing system.

The current HTTP client-server protocol is location-based addressing which faces some serious drawbacks. First of all, location-based addressing consumes a huge amount of bandwidth, and thus costs us a lot of money and time. On top of that, HTTP downloads a file from a single server at a time, which can be slow if the file is big. In addition, it faces single-point of failure. If the webserver is down or being hacked, you will encounter 404 Not Found error. Besides that, it also allows for powerful entities like the governments to block access to certain locations.

On the other hand, IPFS is a content-based addressing system. It is a decentralized way of storing files, similar to BitTorrent. In the IPFS network, every node stores a collection of hashed files. The user can refer to the files by their hashes. The process of storing a file on IPFS is by uploading the file to IPFS, store the file in the working directory, generate a hash for the file and his file will be available on the IPFS network. A user who wants to retrieve any of those files simply needs to call the hash of the file he or she wants. IPFS then search all the nodes in the network and deliver the file to the user when it is found.

IPFS will overcome the aforementioned HTTP weaknesses. As files are stored on the decentralized IPFS network, if a node is down, the files are still available on other nodes, therefore there is no single point of failure. Data transfer will be cheaper and faster as you can get the files from the nearest node. On top of that, it is almost impossible for the powerful entities to block access to the files as the network is decentralized.

The following figure shows the difference between the centralized client-server protocol(HTTP) and the peer-to-peer IPFS protocol.


 [Source: https://www.maxcdn.com/one/visual-glossary/interplanetary-file-system/]

Blockchain and IPFS

IPFS is the perfect match for the blockchain. As I have mentioned, the blockchain is inefficient in storing large amounts of data in a block because all the hashes need to be calculated and verified to preserve the integrity of the blockchain. Therefore, instead of storing data on the blockchain, we simply store the hash of the IPFS file. In this way, we only need to store a small amount of data that is required on the blockchain but get to enjoy the file storage and decentralized peer-to-peer properties of IPFS.

One of the real-world use cases of blockchain and IPFS is Nebulis. It is a new project exploring the concept of a distributed DNS that supposedly never fails under an overwhelming access request. Nebulis uses the Ethereum blockchain and the Interplanetary Filesystem (IPFS), a distributed alternative to HTTP, to register and resolve domain names. We shall see more integration of Blockchain and IPFS in the future.

References

A Wrap-up of Blockchain And Cryptocurrency Conference 2018

I am trying to summarize a bit of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency conference 2018 (from 13th to 15th Nov 2018) but it is far from comprehensive as I missed out the first day programmes. Besides that, I  couldn’t capture all the mind-boggling stuff delivered by the elite speakers, all of them are crypto experts! I am sure all the participants benefited immensely in one way or another unless they slept   through the sessions.

The conference was co-organized by Twinintel, QF4 Tech Asia and Blueshare. The venue was at the impressive five-star Sheraton Imperial Hotel located at Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. The event was very well organized and the speakers’ line-up is simply overwhelming, kudos to the organizers!

The topics were very comprehensive and catered for everyone needs, be them crypto investors, tech-savvy nerds, govt officials, regulators(maybe hiding among us), academicians, and students etc.  I would say there were not much marketing hypes about ICO, mostly educational.  The topics covered ICO, ISTO, Crypto analytics, Blockchain training, Blockchain standards, Blockchain smart cities , fundamentals and more.

I was particularly impressed by the cool topic “Predicting Cryptocurrency Exchange Rate with AI and social media” delivered by Dr.Tim Frey.  I like forecasting the future as it is my personal interest , that was why I watched all the back to future and time machine movies. I learned how Dr.Tim used Twitter’ tweets (or rather gossips) as the data for his forecasting model, which gives an impressive level of 70%-90% accuracy. Maybe One day we can develop a forecasting model that can deliver 99% accuracy.  I believe by using AI machine learning we can achieve that goal. I managed to catch up with Dr.Tim at tea time to get more insights from him. According to him, it seemed 90% of the audience couldn’t grasp the concepts, I am not too sure. I myself don’t understand much too. For example,  I don’t know what the heck is Kappa Architecture, I am sure our computer science experts can understand better.

Dr.Sindhu illustration of Crypto banking was an eye-opener.  I like the diagram that showed clearly how various components from KYC, front-end app, ledger, and the blockchain’s bank wallet are connected to the bank’s backend. It showcases a banking model for the future crypto transaction. we also learned about the Microsoft, Ethereum and R3 11 banks experiment on simulation an exchange of value on the blockchain. The banks involved were HSBC, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Wells Fargo and more. Very useful for a case study. In addition, he also highlighted the advantages of using Blockchain in the banking industry:

  • Transparency
  • Less Labour intensive
  • Disintermediation
  • Tamper-proof
  • Nearly instantaneous

However, there are also some key challenges , as follows:

  • Privacy
  • Integration
  • Threat of Rivalry
  • Energy Consumption

I couldn’t remember who spoke on steps in launching an ICO but the points given were super good. According to him, the steps in doing an ICO are as follows:

  1. Decide if an ICO is suitable for your business
  2. Adviser reach out and on-boarding
  3. Get legal opinion
  4. Create a light paper/whitepaper/deck for your ICO
  5. Private sale or an angel investment to develop the MVP
  6. Create the product
  7. Create a token
  8. Create a community and buzz
  9. Getting your token out on an exchange

He further showed us the shocking statistics that 81% of the ICO projects were found to be a scam scheme. Out of the genuine ICO projects, 6% failed, another 5% gone dead and only a meagre 8% proceed to trade. Therefore the ICO projects are not as rosy as what people claim.

Another speaker spoke on potential blockchain applications. He subdivided the potential applications into four areas, smart contracts, digital currency, securities and record keeping.

The speaker from Cryptology gave advice for those who intend to start an ICO project. First of all, he reminded that blockchain is not a get rich quick scheme. It is about the distribution of trust. Secondly, do not just explore blockchain technology just because it is hot or trendy. Think in terms of how the product or services can benefit from it. Finally, bear in mind that the most successful companies are those who can accept and adapt to constant changes.

Miss Daphne Chong, the CTO from Logistics Worldwide Express and a director of Woman Who Code KL explained how blockchain could disrupts the supply chain and logistics industry. She emphasized on the advantages of implementing blockchain  in supply chain and logistics in terms of

  • Efficiency-less paperwork, elimination of the intermediaries
  • Transparency-price, ownership, location
  • Inventory tracking, quality control
  • Disputes settlement, reduction in cost of regulations and compliance

Last but not least, Mr. Fattah, the chairman of Malaysia’s National Standards Committee on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies told the audience about the development of Blockchain and DLT standards in Malaysia. He spearheaded the formation of the national committee and played a key role in putting Malaysia on the international scene. You can follow his blog https://fattahyatim.wordpress.com/ to learn more about the subject.

This is all about the conference that I can recollect, I welcome your valuable inputs if I have missed out anything important.

Hyperledger Fabric- A Short Introduction

You have learned about Hyperledger in one of my previous articles. Hyperledger is not a platform but it is an umbrella body that incubates and promotes business blockchain technologies.

The Hyperlegder projects,  which is known as The Hyperledger Greenhouse consists of five projects, as follows:

  • Hyperledger Fabric
  • Hyperledger Sawtooth
  • Hyperledger Burrow
  • Hyperledger Iroha
  • Hyperledger Indy

I shall introduce Hyperledger Fabric in this article.

Hyperlegder Fabric Key Features

Hyperledger Fabric is the first blockchain project developed and hosted by the Linux Foundation.  It was initially contributed by Digital Asset and IBM, as a result of the first hackathon. According to the Linux Foundation , it was Intended as a foundation for developing DLT applications or solutions with a modular architecture.

Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source enterprise-grade permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, designed for use in developing enterprise applications. It features some key differentiating capabilities over other popular distributed ledger or blockchain platforms.

One special feature of  Hyperledger Fabric is that it allows components, such as consensus and membership services, to be plug-and-play. Besides that, Hyperledger Fabric uses container technology to host smart contracts called chaincode that comprises the application logic of the system.

Channels are another unique feature of Hyperledger Fabric. They allow transactions to be private between two actors, while still being verified and committed to the blockchain.

Hyperledger Fabric Architecture

Hyperledger Fabric has a highly modular and configurable architecture. Therefore, enterprises can make use of its versatility to develop innovative business applications.  Besides that, it can be used to optimize the applications. Indeed, Hyperledger Fabric is well suited to develop a broad range of industry use cases including banking, finance, insurance, healthcare, human resources, supply chain and even digital music delivery.

Like Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric also features smart contracts. However, it does not use Solidity as the programming language to code smart contracts. Hyperledger Fabric smart contracts are written in general-purpose programming languages such as Java, Go and Node.js. This means that most enterprises already have the skill set needed to develop smart contracts, therefore no additional training to learn a new language is needed.

Unlike Ethereum and many other public blockchains or DLT platforms, Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned platform. It means the participants are known to each other, rather than anonymous and fully untrusted. In the Hyperledger Fabric ecosystem, while the participants may not fully trust one another, it can be operated under a governance model that is built with trust exist between participants, such as a legal agreement or framework for handling disputes.

Consensus Protocol

One key difference between Hyperledger Fabric and other DLT platforms is its support for pluggable consensus protocols. It enables the platform to be more effectively customized to fit particular use cases and trust models.

For example, when Hyperledger Fabric is implemented within a single enterprise or operated by a trusted authority, fully Byzantine fault tolerant consensus might be considered unnecessary as it might cause excessive drag on performance and throughput. Instead, a crash fault-tolerant (CFT) consensus protocol is more than adequate. However,  in a multi-party, decentralized platform, a more traditional Byzantine fault tolerant (BFT) consensus protocol might be required.

Another significant difference between Hyperledger Fabric and other DLT platforms is that it can implement consensus protocols that do not require a native cryptocurrency. It means it neither need a cryptocurrency to incentivize costly mining nor to fuel smart contract execution.  The avoidance of a cryptocurrency reduces some significant risk due to hacking via attack vector. Besides that, the absence of cryptographic mining operations means that the platform can be deployed with the same operational cost as other distributed platforms.

The combination of the aforementioned differentiating features makes Hyperledger Fabric one of the better performing DLT platforms available today both in terms of transaction processing and transaction confirmation latency. Besides that,  it enables privacy and confidentiality of transactions and the smart contracts (chaincode) that implement them.

I shall discuss the Hyperledger Fabric architecture and chaincode in more details in another article.