Hyperledger Fabric

2018 was a revolutionary year when it came to data privacy. The rules of GDPR came into effect, including a mandate that storage and retrieval of data be 100% irrefutable.

For Joisto, a well known, highly compliant, multi-tenancy electronic archive and retrieval platform, GDPR meant customers started asking if they could add another layer of trust to their archive solutions. And that was no small task as Joisto specialized in large volume, high speed management and storage of over a 1,000 data and document types with full integrity for many sectors including finance, government and utility.

To solve this challenge, a small team of highly skilled developers created the ultimate solution: a blockchain-enabled archive. Joisto structured the state-of-the-art Blockchain Archive so companies can get the benefits of blockchain technology while still adhering to the GDPR standards, which require a single data controller. Solving the puzzle without a DLT would not be possible; only this technology makes it possible to store immutable records while still being flexible enough to comply with regulations. 

The platform, which was launched in January, 2020, was built on Hyperledger Fabric. Working with an open source blockchain was an obvious choice as Joisto is an open source platform, too. The company also needed a framework that supports multi-tenancy and didn’t use Proof of Work, and Hyperledger Fabric fulfilled both requirements.

The Hyperledger team has worked closely with Joisto to capture the drivers for developing a blockchain-enabled archive solution along with the details for this white label offering that is now heading into live beta deployments through the service provider market. 

Read the solution brief here.

The Hyperledger Fabric community is very excited about the release of Fabric v2.2 LTS. Fabric v2.2 represents the first LTS release in Fabric v2.x.  Further enhancing the new features that make developing and deploying Hyperledger Fabric networks easier than ever before, we have added updated tutorials on the “how to” that allow developers to take full advantage of these features with tutorials supporting multiple languages so as Go, JavaScript, and TypeScript with support for Java coming soon. There are many exciting new features to be aware of, so let’s dive right into the highlights:

• Decentralized governance for smart contracts: This is actually a huge change from earlier 1.x versions of Fabric where one company had the ability to influence chaincode parameters and endorsement policies for the entire consortium on a channel. In Fabric v2.2, multiple organizations must agree to the chaincode parameters and there is a much more deliberate process to upgrade chaincode that now requires a sufficient number of organizations within a consortium to agree ahead of time before the chaincode can become active on the channel.

• New chaincode lifecycle: This feature has to be one of my favorites because packaging, installing, approving, and committing the chaincode on a channel is much easier and can even be used in a “chaincode-as-an-external-service” model. Chaincode is now packaged in easily readable tar files that make it much easier to inspect and coordinate the installation across multiple organizations in a consortium.

• New chaincode application patterns: This includes the ability to add automated checks for chaincode validation prior to endorsing a transaction proposal and the ability to decentralize agreement across multiple transactions that relate to specific terms and conditions in a business case.  

• Private data enhancements: This enables the sharing and verification of private data without actually exposing data to those who are not supposed to see it by allowing them to compare on-chain hashes of the data to ensure they match. The many other features that these private data enhancements enable are too numerous to cover in this blog, so be sure to check out the “What’s new in Hyperledger Fabric v2.2” linked below.

• External chaincode launcher: This is a seriously cool feature that I am pretty excited about and one that most developers would probably say is long overdue. Now there’s no requirement that a peer node have access to a Docker daemon in order to build and launch chaincode. What a game-changer! Chaincode is no longer required to be run in containers, leaving the developer with more flexibility than ever before!

Other noteworthy things to consider for Fabric v2.2 LTS:

• Build Your First Network (BYFN) has been deprecated as of this v2.2 and is replaced by the Fabric Test Network.  You can find the updated tutorial here.
• The updated tutorials will all use new fabric samples based on Asset Transfer chaincodes and applications and the Fabcar chaincode will get retired.
• The new Fabric Test Network allows you to start the network in a much more flexible manner and can be chaincode agnostic if you want it to be.

These are just a few of the highlights, so I highly recommend that you visit the Hyperledger Fabric docs to read in full detail all the exciting new features and the possibilities they open up.

You do not need to be an expert to be an effective contributor to the Hyperledger project. In fact, I think you will be amazed at the welcoming nature of the community and how quickly you can build on your skills simply by engaging as a contributor.

Remember, all are welcome so if you’d like to join the community or learn more, you can find more information here:

Thanks for reading about our newest Fabric release. We encourage developers to try these new features out and give us feedback!

The Brazilian textile industry represents 10% of the nation’s industrial GDP, and it is also the second-largest employer in the country. Despite its importance, fashion is ranked second as the industry with most cases of forced labor or conditions similar to slavery.

As an effort to fight this problem, in recent years, brands and manufacturers in the textile industry have been auditing production sites. Because of the lack of integration between the actors of this production chain, auditings is still very inefficient, as it involves high costs and offers a vast scope of error. 

There are three main problems in the current audit model.

Because workers and auditors have a strictly professional, non-anonymous, and punctual relationship, there is no way to guarantee the veracity of the worker’s account. Moreover, in most cases, only a few workers are interviewed by the auditor, which makes the picture incomplete since it does not reflect the overarching reality of the production process.

Besides the possibility of human error and fraud, the current model has low auditing frequency (once a year), depends on third party institutions, and is very expensive. This scenario translates into inefficiency and generates doubts for the stakeholders since the benefits become unclear.

The third and most critical problem with this type of auditing is the lack of interface between the market and society. Since the whole process, from production to consumption, is not available and transparent for end consumers, key actors do not have adequate information to demand better conditions for workers or to make better consumption choices.

In addition, the fashion industry involves many intermediaries: seamstresses, workshops, factories, suppliers, brands. This amount of people makes it difficult to monitor all business productivity in a clear, integrated, and efficient manner.

Addressing this situation means taking on a number of challenges: How to connect actors in the supply chain, bringing business efficiency, predictability of delivery, and inventory? How to offer visibility to the production processes, and therefore give voice to the last mile of the chain? How to empower seamstresses and improve their working conditions?

To solve these problems and reverse this scenario, Blockforce – a Brazilian blockchain researcher and builder and general member of Hyperledger –  in partnership with C&A Foundation, Instituto E and COPPEAD-UFRJ, developed a blockchain-based solution called Fair Fashion. Designed using the Hyperledger Fabric framework, this solution promotes visibility and accountability in the fashion supply chain, with the goal of improving working conditions and the efficiency of processes in the production chain. 

This is done through the publication of indexes that explain correlations between demographics, working conditions, and stability in the supply chain based on traceability of order matching with a monthly census with workers at the end of the production chain.

The Fair Fashion solution works on three fronts:

Firstly, Fair Fashion offers workers an app to report their work conditions. By answering a monthly questionnaire, the respective workers involved anonymously provide an update on the working conditions behind all orders placed during the month. 

The second tool is an app for the actors on the business side to trace orders status and conditions. The orders placed by brands are captured by suppliers and then by factories, providing visibility to all production processes as well as the accurate and transparent order status for the entire chain.

Finally, a Dashboard that integrates the data obtained by the two sources of Fair Fashion’s apps provides an overview of all available data. On the Dashboard, each stakeholder – brands, suppliers, or workshops – has its customized visualization. 

Chained and dependent, the solution consists of two interfaces, the business interface and the social responsibility interface. Together they offer the cross view of data necessary to establish the interdependence between flows, and therefore accuracy in verifying the exposed indexes.

The business interface integrates the flow between brands, suppliers, and workshops. It allows the organization to monitor the order status – the number of products produced and delivered, current order status, and its immutable history. It may check, in an organized manner, all documentation of the establishment, including whether it is up to date or pending, and, finally, monitor the current situation of employees.

On the other hand, the social responsibility interface is a reflection of the survey answered by workers through the app. It provides the workshop’s evaluation according to the workers’ perspective, considering the following segments: physical space, health, safety, labor relations, and working conditions.

All information in both interfaces can be viewed on the Hyperledger Fabric-powered blockchain.

The Fair Fashion solution provides benefits for all stakeholders in the chain and, ultimately, for the sector in general since it is based on efficiency and social impact. By collecting data with higher frequency, greater accuracy, and less cost, brands have visibility throughout the chain, enabling preventive actions and helping to predict deliverability and storage. Workshops and suppliers monitor their productivity and social indicators and can improve their dialogue with brands and society. Finally, by answering an anonymous and confidential survey about working conditions, workers can report their situations, guarantee job stability, and participate in a consolidated network that gives a voice to their needs and realities, which are not always assisted.

Fair Fashion is a project sector initiative along with C&A Foundation/ Laudes Foundation, E institute and COPPEAD-UFRJ.  It is released in its first version. We’re facing the homologation phase for scale implementation. We are advancing tests on brands and actors that aim for this type of innovation in their chains. 

Let’s change the fashion industry together. Contact us to find out more details about the solution and how to be part of it here: https://blockforce.in/

Cover photo by Kris Atomic on Unsplash

While supplier management has garnered particular attention in recent weeks thanks to COVID-19-related demand surges, manufacturing disruptions and quality concerns, vetting and signing news suppliers has long been a challenge. The whole process is slow, costly, and fraught with risks and errors. It creates friction and delay between buyers and sellers.

Chainyard and IBM Blockchain set out to streamline that process with Trust Your Supplier, a network built on Hyperledger Fabric, an open source enterprise blockchain platform. The solution went live in November, 2019, and is gaining steam quickly as a new model for using blockchain as a trust platform for sharing business information securely and efficiently.

Trust Your Supplier creates a unique “digital passport” for each supplier’s identity on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. This ID can be shared with any permissioned buyer on the network to save time validating and onboarding a new supplier. Several third-party verifiers are on the network, including Dun & Bradstreet for business data, EcoVadis for sustainability, and RapidRatings for financial risk. These third parties can provide further audit or verification services to create an even more comprehensive picture of any vendor. As a result, buyers and sellers can save time and money and keep their supply chains humming by accessing a single repository with verified accurate data.

To date, 25 major corporate members from Anheuser-Bush InBev to UPS have joined the network. Members cover many major industries including aerospace, consumer packaged goods, electronics, logistics, pharma, tech, and telecom. All told, the members’ suppliers number in the hundreds of thousands. And they’re all committed to modernizing their procurement with the new system. Initial results show:

• Vendor onboarding cycle time cut from an average of 60 days to 3 days
• For buyers: 50% less cost to verify and maintain a supplier’s information
• For sellers: much faster time to first sale

The Hyperledger team has worked closely with Chainyard and IBM Blockchain on a detailed case study about developing and rolling out this network, from concept to PoC to full production deployment. The case study also offers details on the long-term goals of the network and how it could support other key business processes. 

In 2020, Smart Block Laboratory, a Linux Foundation Silver Member, Hyperledger General Member and business partner of IBM, developed a payment solution based on Hyperledger Fabric that allows banks and users to conduct cross-border transfers in real time with low commissions, use cryptocurrency in settlement operations and instantly exchange Fiat for cryptocurrency. The functionality also includes a social network for investors. The solution is a blockchain infrastructure for digital banking called Cryptoenter.

The challenges to a common digital banking infrastructure

Rapid digitalization of the banking sector and distributed ledger technologies have put forward new requirements for banking services. However, there is still no single digital space between individual banking solutions. There are a number of hurdles:

• Most of the current back office systems are not able to provide complete data describing the client’s activities between digital interactions.
• Most often, banks use digital solutions of third parties, thereby risking losing control over their customers’ data.
• IT infrastructure costs are high.
• Implementing new banking tools and training employees is expensive and difficult for companies.
• There is competition, often encouraged by regulators, between banks and Fintech  companies operating in areas such as private equity management and lending.
• Territorial expansion and attracting new users are both complex and costly.
• Likewise, opening and operating branches is expensive, and those in remote and sparsely populated areas don’t deliver much in the way of profits. 

 Turning to blockchain

We believe that anyone anywhere in the world should have access to quality banking services. Transfers between banks/users should be instant, and the world needs a single payment solution for cryptocurrency and Fiat. To deliver on those ideas, many banks have already started integrating the blockchain and accepting cryptocurrency.

We decided to use Hyperledger Fabric to build a common infrastructure solution. We opted for Fabric for its performance, scalability and trust. The main feature of Hyperledger Fabric is its focus on corporate applications. The platform has been designed to ensure high transaction speed and low cost.

In Cryptoenter, Hyperledger Fabric is used as a distributed database.It processes information quickly regardless of network load. It allows each user to make instant payments for goods and services using cryptocurrency.

Second, Hyperledger Fabric provides a high degree of privacy: due to competition and laws protecting and regulating personal data privacy, organizations dictate the confidentiality of certain data elements, which can be achieved by dividing data into a blockchain. The channels supported in Hyperledger Fabric allow users to transmit data only to the parties that need to use it. In Cryptoenter, Hyperledger Fabric allows users interact with each other both within one bank and within several banks

By using Hyperledger Fabric as the basis of the infrastructure for digital banking, Cryptoenter allows all users of banking services to remain customers of banks, while their data is protected by banking security systems, which increases the level of confidence customers have in our payment service. Therefore banks are validators in the network, acting as guarantors of transactions.

And the use of Hyperledger Fabric made it possible to create a P2P lending mechanism, which allows users to issue loans to each other at favorable interest rates with or without collateral.

Conclusion

Hyperledger Fabric allowed the Smart Block Laboratory team to create a unique infrastructure solution that is relevant for all financial market participants, which will not only bring the level of interaction between participants to a new level, but also create new economic ties.