Blockchain Solutions

Public and private sector entities around the world are embracing blockchain technology to help them increase the speed, efficiency and security of their business processes. Thareja works with clients to design and build custom blockchain solutions that produce maximum value for the client.

Thareja Blockchain Solutions and Services help clients:

• Increase trust by establishing a single, up-to-date, immutable set of records.
• Providing transparency by giving all authorized individuals a real-time view into transaction status.
• Eliminating dispersed record keeping and data validation issues.
• Enhancing security by encrypting all data and eliminating vulnerability points commonly targeted by cybercriminals.
• Improving agility by using smart contracts which can automate transactions and trigger follow-on actions.

Thareja takes a systematic approach to implementing blockchain solutions for our clients. Thareja uses a 5-step engagement model for implementing blockchain solutions to ensure each client realizes maximum value from its blockchain investment. The process includes the following steps:

Assessment -  Thareja blockchain team assesses the client’s current business processes and seeks to understand the client’s expectations for the project, current and future needs, and the existing technology stack and business processes. Once this is complete, Thareja works with the client to define objectives and goals for their blockchain solution.

 Planning - After securing agreement on the objectives for the engagement, Thareja proceeds to develop a strategy and project plan to achieve the client’s objectives. The strategy includes identification of the use cases that the blockchain solution will be expected to support. These use cases are then used to define functional requirements for the solution. The project plan addresses all aspects of the project from architecture of the solution to integrations with legacy systems, extensibility to meet future operational needs, and testing and launch considerations.

 Prototyping - Thareja recommends our clients incorporate a rapid prototyping step to validate the strategy and plan for implementing their blockchain solution. The prototyping step is used to validate the use cases, confirm that the solution can successfully manage the use cases, and identify any functional gaps or additional use cases that should be incorporated into the plan.

 Development - This phase includes all phases of solution implementation including testing and delivery.

Validation and Client Acceptance. - The final solution is subjected to a rigorous system validation process to ensure the solution will perform as planned under normal conditions and under stress. The process also involves validation of the data produced by the new system against legacy systems. This phase also includes user training to allow client staff to participate in the system validation and prepare for handover.

 Blockchain - Blockchain is a mathematical system of record keeping made up of blocks of transactional data which are linked in chronological order. Unlike traditional record keeping which consolidates records in a central location or ledger, blockchain uses a decentralized ledger which stores copies of records on multiple devices or nodes. Because all nodes must have the same version of the ledger, it is very difficult to retroactively change transaction records. The use of distributed ledgers and encryption make blockchain records very difficult to hack, forge or disrupt.

Block - A block is the basic container for storing transaction data within a blockchain.

 Node - A node is a computing device that is part of a blockchain network. Each node retains a copy of the blockchain ledger and reconciles that version with other nodes to ensure all nodes contain the same version of the ledger.

 Address - Each entity completing transactions in a blockchain network is assigned an unique alphanumeric address. The unique address assigned to an entity is used to send transaction to that entity or receive transactions from that entity.

Transaction - A transaction is a transfer of value between two addresses, or organizations, using a blockchain network. Although most commonly this value is monetary, it can involve and exchange of data or other forms of value.

Distributed ledger - A ledger is essentially a chronological record of blockchain transaction. A distributed ledger stores copies of the ledger on multiple devices, or nodes, in a decentralized network.

Permissioned Blockchain - A permissioned blockchain is a private blockchain that is only available to a closed network of people who are authorized to access it. This type of blockchain is typically stored on a groups of networked servers.

Permissionless Blockchain - A permissionless blockchain is a public blockchain that is available to anyone over the Internet and is stored on a global network of computers.

Mining - Mining is the process of transaction verification performed by nodes in the blockchain network before adding a new block of data to the blockchain. Private blockchains do not rely on mining and perform verification at the nodes of their private network.

Consensus - Consensus is the process within blockchain networks to verify that all nodes concur on the contents of the distributed ledger. Using a variety of algorithms, discrepancies that are not consistent with the consensus version of the blockchain are removed. This process is what effectively makes blockchain immutable. To alter an historical blockchain record requires simultaneously changing the ledger in numerous distributed nodes, defeating the encryption, and overcoming other security measures, making the process extremely difficult.

Smart Contract - A smart contract is an agreement between two parties which is written into code to execute a blockchain transaction.

Provenance - Provenance is a feature of blockchain that can be used for the tracking of the history of an asset using its immutable ledger. Provenance can be used to track the complete history of an asset such as a gemstone as it goes through various stages of value-added transformation, including the chain of custody, before its final transformation into a saleable product.

Banking & Financial Services - Leaving aside cryptocurrencies, blockchain is finding many roles in the banking and financial services industries. Most of the uses of blockchain in this vertical fall into a category called decentralized finance. Blockchain is being used to streamline processes and transactions across the financial services industry in areas such as credit, insurance, banking, and investing. Stock exchanges have begun using blockchain to settle equities transactions, companies are using blockchain to expedite foreign exchange transaction, and banks are using blockchain to make payments and issue loans. The ability to complete these processes without involving intermediaries saves time and money.

IoT and Smart Cities - Blockchain is being used to secure IoT and Smart City implementations by enhancing the security of data transmission between sensors and command and control systems. Additionally, blockchain is being used to facilitate machine to machine transactions to support the enhanced automation of production and maintenance processes.

Government - Blockchain technology is being used by governments to streamline a wide range of processes such as applying for passports, managing requests for legal documents, storing regulatory filings, maintaining property records, and securing the transfer of confidential information. Blockchain is also being evaluated as a means of managing elections.

 Supply Chain & Retail - Blockchain is streamlining the supply chain industry through the application of smart contracts. Smart contracts are a feature of blockchain whereby a transaction is processed when certain predefined conditions are met. Blockchain is enabling real-time data transfer and document management across enterprises, shippers, ports, customs agencies, logistics providers, banks, insurers, and others by digitizing and automating paperwork throughout the supply chains. Blockchain can not only provide instantaneous insight into the progress of a shipment, it can process payments once the terms of a shipping agreement have been satisfied.

Cybersecurity - Blockchain has the potential to enhance several areas of cybersecurity. By its nature, blockchain takes large data sets, breaks them into smaller blocks which are individually encrypted. This feature, combined with current cybersecurity best practices to create a formidable barrier against malicious activity.

Distributed ledger - Blockchain is being used in areas like clinical research to facilitate the transfer of confidential medical records, to protect the anonymity of clinical trial participants, and to help ensure data integrity by creating indelible records of data collected from research trials.

The biggest barriers to broader adoption of blockchain are awareness and interoperability. Many people are not familiar enough with blockchain to recognize the use cases that could be created to benefit an organization. Secondly, blockchain is revolutionary. Using blockchain requires not only investment in blockchain technology, it requires investment to establish interoperability with existing enterprise systems. Over time, both of these issues will diminish in significance opening the opportunity for much broader applications of blockchain, in a much broader range of enterprises.