Ledger: Top Blockchain Smartcontract Platforms And Their Differences From One Another - Articles

Top 5 SmartContract Ledger Development Platforms:

The five most popular smartcontract platforms, Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, Stellar, and Rootstock, are discussed in this section. Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, and RSK have Turing-complete smartcontracts; however, Corda and Stellar have Turing-incomplete smartcontracts. Ethereum and RSK are public smartcontract platforms (i.e., permissionless), meaning anyone can join the network at any time.

8 Key Distinctions Between The Major Blockchain Ledger Platforms:

Corda has permissioned type of ledger, and supports smartcontract function, meaning you can write and deploy smartcontracts in Corda Blockchain. Corda is an open-source blockchain platform for developers to create permissioned distributed solutions. Tezos is an open-source blockchain platform used worldwide to build decentralized blockchain networks.

 

Hyperledger Hub is a project developed by The Linux Foundation to openly develop centralised and decentralized blockchain platforms. Hyperledger Sawtooth is another scalable blockchain platform in the Hyperledger Hub, designed to develop distributed ledger applications and networks. Enterprises are using Hyperledger Sawtooth to create systems that are both scalable and reliable, as well as deploy blockchain solutions that are highly secure.

 

This platform provides users with a safe, scalable platform for supporting their confidential contracts and private transactions. Hyperledger users can build secret channels to specific members of a network, which allows the transaction data to be seen by only selected participants. Hyperledger Fabric also supports the Open SmartContract Model, which can support a variety of data models, such as Accounts and Unspent Transaction Output, or UTXO, models (see the sidebar).

 

Unlike Ethereum, which uses Virtual Machines (VMs) to execute smartcontracts (i.e., EVMs), Hyperledger Fabric smartcontracts utilize Docker containers to execute the code. EVM is compatible with other blockchains like Solana and Avalanche, which allows developers to migrate their smartcontracts across platforms. With well-written rules, well-defined development guidelines, and Ethereums native coding language called Solidity, it has proven comparatively simple to deploy smartcontracts and Dapps to the platform.

 

Ethereum is also better than any other smartcontract platform when it comes to developer numbers (200,000), making its developer community one of the most vibrant and responsive. The Ethereum network envisions using blockchain technology to not only support a decentralized payments network, but to also store computer code that could be used to fuel decentralized, tamper-proof, financial contracts and applications.

 

Ethereum is yet another blockchain use-case which supports bitcoin (BTC) and in theory, it is not supposed to actually compete with bitcoin. BTC and ETH are both digital currencies, but Ethers primary goal (ETH) is not to establish itself as an alternative monetary system, but rather to facilitate and monetize operations on the Ethereum networks smartcontracts and decentralized applications (dapps) platform. Tezos In development since 2014, Tezos is a more mature platform supporting decentralized applications, smartcontracts, and newer financial instruments like NFTs, which can be thought of as a modern variant on trading cards tied to a digital asset.

 

Cited Sources:

https://www.itransition.com/blog/smart-contract-platforms 

https://geekflare.com/blockchain-platforms-for-finance-applications/ 

https://pixelplex.io/blog/smart-contract-platforms/ 

https://cointelegraph.com/blockchain-for-beginners/smart-contract-development-platforms 

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/031416/bitcoin-vs-ethereum-driven-different-purposes.asp 

https://www.cronj.com/blog/smart-contracts-platforms/ 

https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/Top-9-blockchain-platforms-to-consider 

https://www.blockchain-council.org/blockchain/top-10-blockchain-platforms-you-need-to-know-about/ 

https://blog.logrocket.com/top-blockchain-development-frameworks/ 

 

Ledger: Can a Power Systems Rely on Blockchain Technology? - Articles

Source: https://www.cigre.org/article/GB/the-application-of-blockchain-technology-in-power-systems

Existing system challenges can be resolved by using the Blockchain digital ledger technology to assist multiple power applications at the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption stages. Trading renewable energy certificates and credits based on actual energy usage can be automated using blockchain ledger technology.

Context:

Blockchain “Distributed Ledger Technology” (DLT) is capable of managing and storing transactions involving numerous parties. DLT can be used for any multi-step transaction-based application that demands security, traceability, and visibility because of its immutable, secure, and transparent nature. By removing the need for a middleman and connecting the buyer and seller directly, blockchain technology lowers the expenses and fees associated with transactions.

In the P2P network, blocks that are identically stored for each market participant are used to store any transactions. The owner's digital signature authorises each transaction in this digital ledger, ensuring its authenticity and protecting it from fraud. Based on who may add data to the chain and access the distributed ledger, there are three different types of blockchain platforms: Public, Private, and Consortium.

Can blockchain be implemented in power grids? - Articlesonblockchain

Using blockchain digital ledger has many advantages, few of them are secure, transparent, and robust network with a tamper-proof data record accessible to all participants in the network. With these features, the existing difficulties in the power system can be addressed in the production, transmission, distribution, and consumption phases.

How does blockchain help renewable energy? - Articlesonblockchain

• The actual transactions between the producer and consumer for consuming the renewable energy can be automated.

• Payments in the P2P microgrids can be created through Blockchain smartcontracts.

• For coordination of wholesale power trading, blockchain removes the necessity of middle man management like brokers, indexing agencies, specialised energy trading, or risk-management software.

• Interactive dashboards on customer utility, grid interactions, payment information, and energy consumption can be managed efficiently using the blockchain distributed ledger technology.

What Infrastructure used in blockchain technology for energy trading? -Articlesonblockchain

The critical components for implementing blockchain technology are full nodes (computers), partial nodes (smartphones or smart meters), a communication network, and a software platform.

Conclusion:

Blockchain digital ledger technology has the potential to drastically improve energy markets. However, because present implementations are on a small scale, extensive work is required before any wider implementation can be a serious disruptive force in this field.

Note: For case studies on Power Systems Rely on Blockchain Technology refer to below links:

[0] - https://www.cigre.org/article/GB/the-application-of-blockchain-technology-in-power-systems

[1] - https://www.ceew.in/cef/masterclass/explains/the-role-of-blockchain-technology-in-the-power-sector

Ledger: Blockchain Smartcontract Ledger Platforms - Article

Source: DCX Learn

Here are some of the blockchain smartcontract development platform list and explained about it concisely: 

Ethereum

Due to its peak in popularity, Ethereum is currently in second position on the cryptocurrency market and practically rules the field of smartcontracts. Ethereum will be at the core of everything if decentralisation and Dapps start to dominate the current world.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a comprehensive 256-bit virtual machine that is strong but easy to use, is responsible for the Ethereum smart contract functionality. The Ethereum smartcontract's use of the solidity programming language is another noteworthy feature. The ERC20 token smartcontract, ERC721 smartcontract, ERC1400 smartcontract, and other Ethereum standards are just a few examples of how this smartcontract might be created.

Hyperledger

The Linux foundation introduced Ethereum, and Hyperledger is the next in line. This hyperledger has a number of frameworks, including hyperledger burrow, hyperledger fabric, hyperledger sawtooth, and hyperledger indy.

The fact that many programming languages may be used to create a smart contract on this platform, which is open-source and supported by IBM, led developers to choose it. Both plugin modules and high performance are supported by this Hyperledger platform. Go language is used to construct smartcontracts in one of hyperledger fabric's well-known frameworks.

Cardano

Smartcontracts are also developed using this Cardano platform. Cardano's primary goal, however, is to guarantee security and, through its innovative methodology, aims to deliver great scalability. The Plutus programming language, which is based on Haskell and functions as a functional programming language on this platform, is used to create smartcontracts.

EOS

The ultimate goal of the EOS is to facilitate industrial-scale decentralised apps by becoming the hub of decentralised operating systems. The most alluring feature of this platform's promise is its ability to: 

* Remove transaction fee 

* Conduct millions of transactions per second

In this case, WASM language is utilised to code in this platform, which helps to boost scalability. Speed, efficiency, safety, openness, and debugability are provided by this language tool.

TRON

The TRON platform's solidity language-written smartcontract may be implemented for enterprise-grade applications in any public or private network. Due to its high performance, increased scalability, high-performance storage, compatibility with EVM, multilingual support, and transaction as PoS capabilities, this platform is widely utilised.

NEM

The NEM platform uses code written in the popular JAVA programming language, which is convenient for many developers. This common programming language feature makes it less vulnerable than other coding-based smartcontracts.

A new version of NEM has been published to enhance blockchain functionality.

NEM's Mijin v.2 upgrade strengthened the security of the NEM blockchain. Since etherum can only process about 15 transactions per second, but NEM can handle about 100 transactions per second, this functionality freed up capacity for many additional capabilities in the NEM blockchain.

Stellar

Due to its simplicity and ease of use when compared to Ethereum and NEM, Stellar is thought of as one of the best blockchain platforms to develop smartcontracts. This platform is used by many businesses since it makes international payments easier. This platform is the oldest because it was introduced in 2014, according to some sources. Later, in 2017, it worked along with IBM and KlickEx to offer a cheap way to conduct international business.

Waves

The Waves platform, which was introduced in 2016, offers a way to apply blockchain technology. Additionally, it simplifies the creation and execution of smartcontracts. Although this platform's community is still modest compared to others', it is particularly ideal for crowd sales and ICO. And even if the platform isn't very customizable, it requires the creation of tokens and smartcontracts even though there won't be much need for technical terminology. The transaction procedure on the Waves platform is extremely quick and scalable.

NEO

NEO was created by "OnChain," a blockchain R&D business with offices in Shanghai, and is also referred to as the "Ethereum of China." NEO's mission is to spread the "Smart economy" network. Digital assets, digital identity, and smartcontracts all add up to a smart economy.

The NEO platform smartcontract, commonly known as "The SmartContract 2.0," is composed of three pieces and is written in Javascript and Solidity.

They are:

• NeoVM
• InteropService
• DevPack

Tezos

Because they are written in the Michelson programming language, Tezos smartcontracts are distinctive. The Tezos project increases the security and dependability of smart contracts by employing formal verification on this platform, where the smartcontract code can be mathematically shown to adhere to specific criteria.

The unique benefit of this Tezos platform is that no specialised tools are required to construct business-oriented DApps, compilers won't be required to convert programmes into unintelligible bytecode, and it's simple to examine the smartcontract code.

Minter

The use of the Telegram Open Network's smartcontract is enabled via transactions involving the mint coin on the minter platform. A Telegram project is Telegram Open Network (TON). The TON Virtual Machine (TVM) technology is employed in TON smartcontracts, and ICOs are the primary technical instrument on this platform. Well, there are three distinct levels of language that this TON SmartContract can be written in: 

They are, 

• Func - a high-level smart contract language similar to C++.
• Fift - a stack-based prefix notation language.
• Fift assembly - a low-level language that Func programs are compiled to.

Counterparty

This platform incorporates data into Bitcoin transactions, i.e. it uses the cryptocurrency's blockchain and allows contracts to be developed on it.

Polkadot 

It is an alternative to blockchain and is famous for its ability to host parachains, chains within chains, allowing more transactions than usual.

Ledgers: Uses of Blockchain Smartcontracts - Article

Uses of Smart Contracts:

Blockchain Smartcontracts can be used in almost all fields, starting from healthcare to supply chain to financial services. Some examples are as follows:

Voting system:

Smartcontracts provide a secure environment making the voting system less susceptible to manipulation. Votes using smartcontracts would be digital ledger-protected, which is extremely difficult to decode.

Moreover, smartcontracts could increase the turnover of voters, which is historically low due to the inefficient system that requires voters to line up, show identity, and complete forms. Voting, when transferred online using smartcontracts, can increase the number of participants in a voting system.

Healthcare Industry:

Blockchain can store the encoded health records of patients with a private key. Only specific individuals would be granted access to the records for privacy concerns. Similarly, research can be conducted confidentially and securely using smartcontracts.

All hospital receipts of patients can be stored on the blockchain and automatically shared with insurance companies as proof of service. Moreover, the digital ledger technology can be used for different activities, such as managing supplies, supervising drugs, and regulation compliance.

Supply chain Industry:

Traditionally, supply chains suffer due to paper-based systems where forms pass through multiple channels to get approvals. The laborious process increases the risk of fraud and loss.

Blockchain can nullify such risks by delivering an accessible and secure digital version to parties involved in the chain. Smartcontracts can be used for inventory management and the automation of payments and tasks.

Financial services Industry:

Smartcontracts help in transforming traditional financial services in multiple ways. In the case of insurance claims, they perform error checking, routing, and transfer payments to the user if everything is found appropriate.

Smartcontracts incorporate critical tools for bookkeeping and eliminate the possibility of infiltration of accounting records. They also enable shareholders to take part in decision making in a transparent way. Also, they help in trade clearing, where the funds are transferred once the amounts of trade settlements are calculated.

Cited Source: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/valuation/smart-contracts/

Ledger: Challenges of Blockchain Smartcontract - Articles

Source: blog.pwc.lu

Below are the few of the challenges of blockchain smartcontracts:

Time & Money: Smartcontracts cost time and money to write, Whether they're drafted by a lawyer or reviewed by one, or even if they are written by an HR professional, contracts require a good deal of energy and are not an inexpensive undertaking.

Immutable: One of the main challenges blockchains faces is the immutability of smart contracts. Immutability means that the rules of a protocol cannot be modified once smart contracts are deployed on the blockchain. It is the truth that they assist in locking out the bad actors that may change the smartcontract information.

Usability challenges: Unlike traditional software development, smartcontracts require developers to have business knowledge and understand non-traditional programming languages, primarily Solidity. They also must comprehend formal methods of cryptography and networking.

Attacks: Attacks such as the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) attack and the Parity Wallet hack have cost millions of dollars simply as a consequence of naïve bugs in the smart contract code. 

Impact challenges: Visa at present can handle around 24,000 transactions every second. Ethereum, the largest blockchain for smart contracts, can handle only 14 transactions a second. To increase the impact and efficiency of smartcontracts in our society, the speed of information sharing on the blockchain needs to accelerate, the security needs to be bolstered, and its accessibility to coders and the public alike needs to increase.