Application of Blockchain in the Financial Field

Coloredcoin, by carefully tracking the ins and outs of specific bitcoins, can distinguish them from other bitcoins, which are called colored coins. They have some special attributes that have a value that is independent of the face value of the bitcoin. With this feature of color coins, developers can create other digital assets on the bitcoin network. The color coin itself is bitcoin, and storage and transfer do not require a third party, and can utilize the existing bitcoin base network.

TØ is the application of Bitcoin blockchain in the financial field. It is a private and public equity trading platform based on blockchain launched by American online retailer Overstock.

Ethereum

The goal of Ethereum is to provide a blockchain with a Turing-complete language in which contracts can be created to write arbitrary state transitions. By simply implementing the logic in a few lines of code, the user can create a blockchain-based application and apply it to scenarios other than currency. Ethereum's design philosophy is not to directly "support" any application, but Turing's complete programming language means that theoretically any contractual logic and any type of application can be created. In summary, in addition to the function of Bitcoin, Ethereum has the following design goals:

Turing's complete contract language

Built-in persistent state storage

At present, there are hundreds of contract projects based on Ethereum, and more famous are Augur, TheDAO, Digix, FirstBlood and so on.

Augur is a decentralized forecasting market platform based on Ethereum blockchain technology. Users can use the digital currency to make predictions and bets, relying on the wisdom of the masses to predict the development of the event, which can effectively eliminate the risk of the counterparty and the centralization risk of the server.

Due to space limitations, projects based on the Ethereum Smart Contract Platform are not introduced. There are also many blockchain projects based on the code of Ethereum, but almost all of them are closed-source projects, which can only be inferred by some public features, so they are not discussed in this article.

Fabric

Fabric is a blockchain framework developed by IBM and DAH and is a project member of the Superbook. Its function is similar to that of Ethereum, and it is also a distributed intelligent contract platform. But unlike Ethereum and Bitcoin, it is a framework from the beginning, not a public chain, and no built-in tokens.

Hyperledger is an open source project initiated by the Linux Foundation in 2015 to promote blockchain technology and standards. Its members include: ABN AMRO, Accenture and more than a dozen different interests. The goal is Let members work together to build an open platform to meet a variety of user stories from multiple industries and streamline business processes.

As a blockchain framework, Fabric adopts a loosely coupled design to modularize components such as consensus mechanism and identity verification, so that it can easily select the corresponding module according to the application scenario during the application process. In addition, Fabric uses container technology to put smart contract code (Chaincode) in Docker, so that smart contracts can be written in almost any high-level language.

Here are some of the design goals of Fabric:

Modular design, replaceable components

Smart contract running on Docker

At present, there are many proof-of-concept (POC) projects using the Fabric architecture for development. There are some attempts by financial institutions, but since the project has just started, there are no mature applications.

Onchain DNA

Onchain DNA (Onchain Distributed Networks Architecture) is a blockchain architecture developed by Shanghai-based blockchain startup “Distribution Technology”, which can support different application types and scenarios such as public chain, alliance chain and private chain. Quickly integrate with business systems. Distribution Technology is also a member of the Superbook.

Unlike Ethereum and Fabric, Onchain DNA implements support for multiple digital assets at the bottom of the system. Users can create their own asset types directly on the chain and use smart contracts to control their distribution and trading logic. For most blockchain applications, digital assets are essential, and developing a smart contract-based business process for every digital asset is wasteful and inefficient. Therefore, it is necessary to provide direct digital asset functionality from the bottom of the blockchain. For applications that do not require digital assets at all, it is also possible to write arbitrary custom logic based on the smart contract functionality provided by Onchain DNA.

The design goals of Onchain DNA are as follows:

• Underlying support for multiple digital assets

• Turing's complete smart contract and persistence status

• Cross-chain interoperability

• Finality of the transaction

At present, many financial institutions have adopted the Onchain DNA architecture to develop blockchain proof-of-concept products, such as banks, brokerages, payment, and registration and settlement institutions. In addition, there are some blockchain projects that have already landed, such as small ants and legal chains.

Antshares is a decentralized network protocol that locates the publicized chain of assets, digitizes the assets and interests of the physical world, and conducts financial transactions such as registration and distribution, transfer transactions, and clearing and settlement through peer-to-peer networks. It adopts a community-developed model that is architecturally consistent with Onchain DNA, allowing for cross-chain interoperability with any Onchain DNA-based blockchain system.

The legal chain is the world's first large-scale commercial legal deposit blockchain, an underlying evidence based on Onchain DNA blockchain technology, and is involved in the establishment and operation of evidence recording and preservation systems. The system does not have a central control point, and once the data is entered, a single institution or node cannot be tampered with to meet the requirements of judicial deposit.