Blog Archives – Page 2 of 64 – Hyperledger Foundation

Apr 12

Hyperledger Lab Perun: Achievements of 2021 and Outlook for 2022

By the Perun community Blog, Hyperledger Labs

2021 was an eventful year for the Hyperledger Lab Perun, which is maintained by PolyCrypt GmbH and Robert Bosch GmbH’s project “Economy of Things.” Below we summarize developments and achievements for the project and the growing network surrounding it. We also provide a brief outlook on what’s to come in 2022.

This Hyperledger Lab aims at establishing an open-source project based on Perun channel protocols, which is a technology for scalability and interoperability of blockchains. The core components are the Go-Perun SDK and the Perun Node.

New features in Go-Perun SDK & Perun Node

Virtual channels: The SDK now supports virtual channels. This allows opening channels with funds from other channels and therefore without any on-chain fees.

Reorg-resistance (Ethereum backend): The Ethereum backend now supports reorg-resistance. That is, it is possible to configure how many blocks are required in order to confirm an on-chain transaction. This improves the robustness of our library as it protects against chain reorgs.

External watcher: Go-Perun now has an interface for injecting a custom watcher logic. This means that SDK users can now implement their own watcher logic or use an external service for watching and reacting to chain events.

Perun Node v0.6: A new client that adds a text-based user interface for trying out Perun Node, support for ERC20 tokens and improved error handling.

More supported blockchains

Polkadot backend: We successfully developed a Polkadot backend for Go-Perun. This means that it is now possible to use Go-Perun on Polkadot chains. The backend is currently restricted to single asset payment channels.

Cosmos backend: We successfully developed a Cosmos backend for Go-Perun. The on-chain logic has been implemented in the form of a CosmWasm smart contract. This means that it is now possible to use Go-Perun on a Cosmos chain supporting CosmWasm. The backend is currently restricted to payment channels.

Dfinity backend (smart contract): We started the development of a backend for the Dfinity Internet Computer. This currently includes the Perun smart contracts for this network. We plan to continue the backend development later this year.

Demonstrators, Tutorials, Talks

Perun Credential Payment: We have published a proof of concept implementation that shows how trustless and low-fee payments for verifiable credentials in the context of self-sovereign identities (SSI) can be realized using Perun State Channels.

Perun Tutorial and Protocol Documentation: We extended the documentation of our software. In particular, we added developer tutorials that explain how one can get started with using Go-Perun for developing their favorite state channel application. We also added a description of the perun protocols.

Talks: We have given several talks on the Perun Project:

Outlook for 2022

Cross-chain interoperability: We will be working towards enabling cross-chain capabilities of the Perun Framework. This will enable, for example, asset swaps between different blockchains and more.

IoT Readiness: We will make the architecture of Perun Node more flexible, so that funding and watching services can be accessed over remote interfaces. We will also add an alternate client implementation that can be deployed on resource constrained embedded devices.

More blockchain backends: We will be looking into extending the feature set of our existing backends, for example, enabling generalized state channels on Polkadot. We plan to add more blockchains to our list of supported backends.

Building out the ecosystem: As development with the protocol and surrounding network continues, we will be working to further define the components of the Perun ecosystem and the communities working to advance these technologies.

If you want to learn more about the framework, please refer to the white paper and our last Hyperledger labs post or this Hyperledger presentation on Perun or reach out via our Discord channel. (New to Discord? Go here for more and to get signed up.)

Apr 07

Love0

Five Takeaways on Open Source, Blockchain and Innovation from HLTH VIVE and HIMSS

By Jim St. Clair, Executive DIrector, Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPH) Blog, Healthcare

The month of March 2022 finally gave us the opportunity to enjoy sunny Florida and partake in the competition of the largest in-person health conferences in two years. In one corner, the scrappy new competitor, HLTH VIVE, having their first ever conference in the Miami Convention Center. In the opposing corner, the champion, HIMSS, which before the pandemic drew a crowd of over 40,000, and managed to draw almost 28,000 (including a shocking 10,000 last minute, in-person registrations) for a week at the massive Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. It was a busy scene for sure – attended by industry professionals, healthcare leaders, government and start-ups.

These shows cover a huge array of topics, so we were pleased to see that the real-world impact of blockchain and other technologies that support the increasingly decentralized world of medicine were front and center at these events. As we recently highlighted in the post Hyperledger-Powered Solutions Helping to Reshape Healthcare, there has been continuous innovation and investment aimed at breaking down information silos and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of data reporting and sharing. It’s gratifying to see the realization of that work and to gather with colleagues for discussions about what’s been achieved and what comes next.

Read on for five takeaways from the two weeks we spent in Florida getting the latest on open source and blockchain technology in healthcare:

In person is back! It’s worth noting that after two years the in-person experience is finally coming back. It’s hard not to immediately appreciate the value of face-to-face engagement, and reportedly there were only a few health challenges at either event.

“First rule of blockchain: Never talk about blockchain.” HIMSS hosted two breakfast panels featuring a range of healthcare industry professionals discussing blockchain applications. It was worth noting that these applications didn’t make Anthem or Humana, for example, “blockchain companies,” but instead demonstrated how enterprise blockchain ledgers support existing business processes and improve workflows. This will probably continue in new adoption models.

Healthcare gets decentralized. While there is plenty of talk about “Web3” in healthcare on the Internet, it’s probably worth noting first how healthcare as an industry is poised to be decentralized, without the first NFT. The shift to remote patient monitoring (RPM), Hospital at Home, and telehealth demonstrate the shift to healthcare moving away from the centralized hospitals and doctor’s offices as the primary means of healthcare services. The Linux Foundation Open Voice Network (OVON) hosted a half-day summit on voice and AI in healthcare, based on other industry trends for voice-controlled devices making major inroads in customer services and delivery. Distributed ledgers, with their auditable and immutable transaction chains, complement voice-only, AI augmented encounters to tie information back to clinical records and support prescriptions and clinical interventions.

It’s more than privacy; it’s also consent. While healthcare has been heavily regulated for decades, especially concerning medical privacy, there is growing recognition of the need for consent mechanisms, especially in digital health. During the VIVE event, Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPH) presented twice on eConsent mechanisms and the role Hyperledger Indy and W3C Verifiable Credentials can play in enforcing identity and consent as part of health information exchange.

Future innovations will drive toward scale, speed, and equity. As LFPH member VMWare notes in its takeaways, digital innovation in healthcare is driving the future, and the healthcare industry is living through major market transitions in digital health and patient-centric care models. There is tremendous room for multi-stakeholder collaboration in open source and leveraging blockchain for decentralized healthcare applications, making engagement more patient-centric.

It’s exciting to see how Hyperledger Foundation, LFPH and other Linux Foundation projects are actively involved in so many facets of new innovations in healthcare. Across the entire Linux Foundation, there’s a tremendous amount of work underway that is driving significant improvements in healthcare, demonstrating the power of open source to advance innovation:

Hyperledger Foundation hosts a variety of cutting edge solutions to decentralize transactions and integrate with new supply chain models.
Linux Foundation Public Health builds, secures, and sustains open source software to improve global health equity and innovation.
The Trust over IP Foundation is almost celebrating its second anniversary and has been pioneering a new model for digital identity that is already being adopted in Canada and the EU. IT’s also laying the groundwork for re-imagining patient identity.
LF AI & Data is supporting open source innovation in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), a rapidly growing technology in healthcare.
There are numerous initiatives in Cloud Computing, which many public health agencies can leverage for system modernization.
The Linux Foundation is leading the charge in the US mandate on securing software supply chains, and there’s a tremendous opportunity to include LFPH and help to secure medical devices and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).

Continue to watch this space for more exciting innovations to improve health outcomes in open source that can be realized in 2022.

Cover image: Piqsels

Apr 06

Love0

Call for Applications: 2022 Hyperledger Mentorship Program

By Hyperledger Blog, Hyperledger Aries, Hyperledger Besu, Hyperledger Bevel, Hyperledger Cactus, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Indy, Hyperledger Mentorship Program, Hyperledger Ursa

Want to jump start a career in blockchain development? Ready to build hands-on skills developing leading-edge open source technologies? Looking to work directly with mentors who are invested in you and your work? Then the Hyperledger Mentorship Program is for you.

Now in its sixth year, the Hyperledger Mentorship Program provides a structured and guided learning opportunity for anyone, at any career stage, looking to get started in the open source movement. With full and part time options, fully remote work and a stipend, the projects are designed to be a pathway to becoming a contributor to the Hyperledger community that work for students, people in career transition and anyone else who wants to develop or sharpen their knowledge of cutting-edge blockchain technologies. Applications are now open.

This year, the Hyperledger Mentorship Program has grown to 30 planned part and full-time projects covering a range of technologies, challenges and technical difficulty levels and includes non-development projects such as Ecosystem Analysis and Developer Marketing. Each project is designed and proposed by active members of the Hyperledger community. Those who propose the projects serve as the mentors and work closely with their mentees on developing a project plan, setting milestones and solving problems. Mentees can expect regular evaluations and feedback. For more about the program, including the schedule and stipend details, go here.

Over the last five years, more than 70 mentees have completed Hyperledger Mentorship projects. Each of these mentees have made concrete contributions to Hyperledger projects and built important connections in the community. Some, like Bertrand Rioux, have gone on to become mentors themselves:

“I was accepted into the Hyperledger mentorship program last year after seeking a community to help advance my professional goals of developing software for climate action. I was fortunate to find a diverse group of mentors that helped me build the knowledge and skills I needed to effectively contribute to the Hyperledger open source community and to have the opportunity to develop technical expertise in a field I was actively working in. In addition to delivering a secure identity management solution for a Hyperledger Fabric Network, I started contributing my own ideas to the open source operating system for climate action. As a result, I am now taking a leadership role in the community. In addition to serving as mentor in this year’s program, I proposed a project on reducing waste emission in the oil & gas industry that was accepted.” – Bertrand Rioux, Independent Energy Consultant and Mentor for the Multiple Data Integration to Hyperledger Fabric Climate Accounting Network project

To learn more about the Hyperledger Mentorship experience and outcomes, check out these spotlights on last year’s projects with highlights from both the mentors and mentees.

Read on for descriptions of some of the projects planned for this year:

Multiple Data Integration to Hyperledger Fabric Climate Accounting Network

The Hyperledger Labs blockchain-carbon-accounting project includes a Hyperledger Fabric network for recording the carbon and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions that cause climate change. Since there are many activities that cause such emissions, the network is designed to accept data from multiple sources of measurements. In this project, we will demonstrate integrations from measurement sources with blockchain networks by integrating the ThoughtWorks cloud computing emissions calculator, the NREL OpenPath mobile application, and other web- and mobile-based API’s sources to turn instrumented readings into emissions measurements. It will leverage previous projects involving Hyperledger Cactus, Vault security engines, and client security for Hyperledger Fabric.