The folks at the Linux Foundation have been really busy lately as they continue to launch new collaborative projects. The latest is the Hyperledger Project, an open source project to advance the blockchain digital technology (think of the Bitcoin protocol) for recording and verifying transactions.
Since announcing the intent to create a formal organization in December 2015, the Hyperledger Project has received proposed code and technology contributions from several companies, including Blockstream, Digital Asset, IBM and Ripple. Other companies are in the process of contributions of their own.
Founding members of the initiative represent a diverse group of stakeholders, including: ABN AMRO, Accenture, ANZ Bank, Blockchain, BNY Mellon, Calastone, Cisco, CLS, CME Group, ConsenSys, Credits, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Deutsche Börse Group, Digital Asset Holdings, Fujitsu Limited, Guardtime, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, IntellectEU, J.P. Morgan, NEC, NTT DATA, R3, Red Hat, State Street, SWIFT, Symbiont, VMware and Wells Fargo.
The Hyperledger Project is a collaborative effort to focus on an open platform that will meet a variety of use cases across multiple industries to streamline business processes. Peer-to-peer in nature, distributed ledger technology is shared, transparent and decentralized, making it ideal for application in finance and other areas such as manufacturing, banking, insurance and the Internet of Things.
By creating a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers, virtually any digital exchange with value, such as real estate contracts, energy trades, marriage licenses, can securely and cost-effectively be tracked and traded.