Recently at the Hyperledger Global Forum in Phoenix, AZ, HACERA CEO Jonathan Levi presented a live demo of a DAML smart contract running on Hyperledger Fabric… deployed to an Oracle Blockchain Platform (OBP) node.  We’re going to discuss the implications of this demo in more detail, but here’s what you need to know: 1) you can develop “standardized” tokens and deploy them on Fabric, 2) you can quickly create DAML smart contracts to develop the trade agreements between these tokens, and 3) HACERA can help you run this type of solution on ANY cloud platform.

First, Let’s Talk Tokens

It may seem anathema to enterprise blockchain developers, but tokens are the best solution for transacting payments, storing value, assigning (oftentimes fractional) ownership of underlying assets, and securing private information from and for network participants.  That’s a highly divisive statement in some corners of the ecosystem because “tokens” are widely vilified for causing the ICO-Mania (and subsequent bust) in 2017.  

And while ERC-20 tokens were easy to create and distribute (and may have potentially increased the likelihood of blockchain investor scams), let’s not throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water.  The fact is, tokenization (as a concept) is already accepted as a highly efficient construct for representing real world assets in our everyday lives.

A lot of people are already working towards the creation of a digital economy. That is, allowing the exchange of digital assets that represent underlying physical assets in the real world… complete with regulatory and market constraints.

Improve Tokens Through Community 

In order to get there, we need a standardized, community-driven framework for defining core behaviors and properties of tokens and encouraging developers to adopt these standards… regardless of framework.  

If you’re struggling with the sentiment that “tokens are good,” the concept of tokenization is solid, and all that remains is a community-led approach for the development of standards, have a look at this excellent article on Medium courtesy of Paul DiMarzio, the VP of Marketing for the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. 

But let’s pause for a moment and discuss the Token Taxonomy Initiative (“TTI”, soon to split off from the EEA and renamed the Token Taxonomy Consortium or “TTC”). The TTI’s goal is to promote “token interoperability initiatives and regulatory considerations regarding digital assets and blockchain-based technologies.” Their mission is clear: develop a standardized framework for defining tokens and ensure support from the full blockchain community in an effort to make the framework as successful as possible.  

But Fabric Doesn’t Have Tokens!

When implementing blockchain solutions, invariably there are friction points.  Tokens reduce these friction points involved with transferring associated data/information between parties in a network related to underlying assets.  Via tokens, assets are transferred between parties, governed by specific conditions (delivery of a package, etc.), and audited as required.

It’s worth noting that the most widely implemented enterprise blockchain framework, Hyperledger Fabric, does not natively support tokens.  This is not a critique of the Fabric solution, but a factual statement which may reflect the business community’s attitude towards the necessity of tokenized solutions.  Regardless, the fact remains that tokens – when implemented properly and in a standardized way – provide the frictionless scalability for recognizing, describing, assigning and transacting digital assets that no other current framework can provide.

So, what to do?  Fear not, as we have already demonstrated the ability to create standardized token definitions as proxies for “real” assets. And these tokens can be managed by DAML smart contracts running on Fabric. Most importantly, you do not have to alter a single line of Fabric code.

Introducing Unbounded SCALE™

Our solution is Unbounded SCALE™, which stands for Smart Contract Abstraction Layer for Enterprise. It seamlessly and securely supports DAML-on-Fabric across any major cloud provider (specifically Microsoft Azure, IBM Blockchain Platform, Oracle Blockchain Platform and many others).  SCALE natively supports, in accordance with its integrated DAML-on-Fabric smart contract capabilities, tokenized data transfer and privacy operations.  

With SCALE™, enterprises can quickly develop and deploy meaningful tokenized asset networks and manage trade agreements and privacy through a combination of DAML smart contracts and integrated HACERA products like DIM, Kore and Private-sea.         

Demo: Unbounded SCALE™ and the Unbounded Token Wizard

Sceptical? Please don’t take our 800+ words for it.  In the immortal words of Fred Barnard, “One look is worth a thousand words!” We invite you to watch our live demo presented at the Hyperledger Global Forum on March 3, 2020. You will see:

1. Our Token Wizard which generates tokens adhering to the latest Token Taxonomy Framework

2. Leveraging Digital Asset’s open-source DAML to create an agnostic token package

3; Live deployment of our FabToken, that is, our Fabulous Token on Fabric (deployed on Oracle Blockchain Platform).

Before you do, we thought we should mention… this demo was live and occurred in real-time. We successfully deployed a Token smart contract on Fabric running on an Oracle node in less than 3 minutes. Take a look!

If you have ANY questions… or want to discuss our token and DAML wizardry… we would love the opportunity to discuss with you.  Please contact us here!