DISCLAIMER : I am in no way associated with the OneLedger team. Neither am I a financial advisor, nor is this meant to be financial advice. Whatever follows, just reflects my understanding of the project, and my personal opinion on its future outlook. As global adoption of blockchain technology is beginning to gather pace, we are already glaring into some critical technological challenges, some of which are already limiting the scale of enterprise-level blockchain adoption. One such challenge is that today, Currently blockchains exist as isolated networks introducing two major restrictions, among others: blockchain interoperability is practically non-existent. Today, if we want to transfer digital assets chains, we have to do so by transferring the assets to intermediary exchanges, using their in-house wallets and ledgers to swap assets, and then transferring the new assets to their corresponding blockchains. This process is, of course, time consuming, costly and involves substantial third-party risks. , where digital assets can be moved across different blockchains without the need to trust a third-party, are being worked on, but are still far from being ready for widespread adoption. No practical way to transfer value between different blockchains. directly ‘across’ centralized Cross-chain atomic swaps Today, to deploy dApps across multiple platforms, developers need to write smart contracts in multiple languages, depending on each platform of choice. This is, again, expensive, resource-intensive, and time-consuming, thereby making dApps practically infeasible, and largely ineffective for businesses. Inability of businesses and individuals to deploy distributed applications (dApps) across multiple blockchain platforms. easily There are a number of projects, such as Cosmos, Polkadot, Aion and Overledger, that are currently working on different aspects of blockchain interoperability, each proposing different mechanisms and solutions to facilitate cross-ledger operations. However, there is one particular project that has taken a uniquely interesting route to making blockchains interoperable: OneLedger. What is OneLedger? is universal blockchain protocol enabling: OneLedger Cross-ledger access through business modularization High performance scaling using sharded and consensus mechanism modified practical Byzantine Fault Tolerant OneLedger aims to enable businesses and individuals to build applications through OneLedger’s modularization tools, which will then communicate with OneLedger protocol using its gateway. Application Programming Interface (API) Overview of the high-level interactions of OneLedger protocol with applications and other public blockchains; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) OneLedger protocol communicates with the , which in turn could be synchronized with any other public distributed ledger (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger etc.) that supports and sidechains hashed time lock contracts (HTLC) payment channels. An interesting feature of OneLedger protocol’s consensus mechanism is that using and , Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) identity management business owners can launch their own permissioned or permissionless sidechains, with their own uniquely identified role-based network consensus. OneLedger’s mission is to be the that facilitates businesses’ adoption of the blockchain technology, and enables them to integrate the technology into their specific business applications. enterprise blockchain cross-ledger solution What Makes OneLedger Unique as a Blockchain Interoperability Solution The three most intriguing features that set OneLedger apart from the other projects working in the blockchain interoperatbility space are: that support HTLC and payment channels, regardless of their consensus protocol. These sidechains can be configured with unique network consensus. OneLedger allows anyone to launch or sidechains, that can be synchronized with other public distributed ledgers (like Ethereum, Bitcoin etc.) permissioned permissionless Using the identity management system allows enterprises to control node participation in consensus, restrict read and write access of users on their network, and keep track of users’ assets on the network. This identity management is carried out across multiple distributed networks by assigning a to each user, where the private key would be used to digitally sign all messages from a user on the network. OneLedger uses a Smart Identity Management System to allow configuration of unique for private sidechains for enterprises. role-based consensus master private/public key pair This eliminates the need for developers to write smart contracts in multiple languages, if they are to be deployed on multiple blockchains, as is the case today. Using OneLedger’s , developers can write a for their dApp, and deploy the dApp simultaneously on multiple public blockchains. Software Development Kit (SDK) ‘master smart contract’ OneLedger Architecture OneLedger architecture; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) The idea here is not to go too deep into OneLedger’s architecture, but rather to look at some of the key components in their architecture, and how they fit into the overall consensus scheme. OneLedger Business Center contains the that would enable users to map their business modules onto the blockchain. Using OneLedger’s , developers can write a for their dApp, and OneLedger Business Center OneLedger Business Application Development Kit Software Development Kit (SDK) ‘master smart contract’ deploy the dApp simultaneously on multiple public blockchains. It is here, in the where OneLedger aims to connect businesses with independent module developers to help develop software plug-ins to integrate multiple modules for the required business flows. OneLedger Business Center, Identity Management System OneLedger uses a to allow enterprises to: Smart Identity Management System define roles and a trust hierarchy for nodes that participate in consensus on their permissioned network, and control read and write access for node operators on their permissioned network. This identity management is carried out across multiple distributed networks by assigning a to each user, where the private key would be used to digitally sign all messages from a user on the network, thus linking users to their role in the business. master private/public key pair Business Logic Modularization using role-based consensus; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) Effectively, where each role is linked to an independent node that may or may not participate in consensus, depending on the pre-configured business logic. enterprises are able to configure role-based consensus methodology OneLedger protocol also uses to create: public key authentication highly configurable for individuals and institutions, digital wallets for businesses and consumers based on transaction history and behaviour on the network, and credit scores for tighter consensus if disagreements arise. arbitration mechanisms Private and Public Sidechains OneLedger consensus protocol communicates with sidechains that could be of two types: OneLedger allows businesses to launch their own permissioned or permissionless sidechains, that can be configured with unique network consensus. Private sidechains: Private sidechains could be synchronized with public sidechains for any public blockchain (like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger etc.) that supports and Effectively, OneLedger protocol users can perform an arbitrary number of transactions on the sidechains before a user chooses to withdraw their digital assets back onto the public main chain of their choice. Public sidechains: hashed time lock contracts (HTLC) payment channels. public main chains offload consensus to the corresponding OneLedger public sidechains, providing a scalable off-chain solution. OneLedger Consensus Protocol To integrate business logic with private and public sidechains, OneLedger uses a three-layered consensus concept. OneLedger’s three-layered consensus protocol hierarchy; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) Consensus begins with where a generalized smart contract, defining roles and their respective behaviours for consensus participation, is compiled by businesses or individuals. This generalized contract is then translated into a contract recognizable and executable for the public blockchains that the contract is expected to run on. Business Initialization, The next layer, , aims to execute interactions between roles as defined in the contract. To achieve channel consensus, sidechain consensus based on is conducted within the channel, among all its participants. Sidechain consensus is reached when of the participating nodes have agreed. A channel can, of course, run through two different business models, in which case sidechain consensus is reached when both business models have reached consensus. Channel Consensus Byzantine Fault Tolerant Partial Synchronization more than two-thirds Once consensus is reached in a channel, data is written to the block, broadcasted to all nodes in the channel, and the corresponding state is stored. The last layer, , is required when a transfer between public chains is requested. This initiates the at the beginning of sidechain consensus. Public Chain Consensus sidechain pre-consensus OneLedger sidechain consensus in conjunction with public chains; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) The pre-consensus block drives a proposal to the relevant public chain where a vote is conducted by validators of the public chain to lock or unlock digital assets. If the public chain vote is successful, and more than two-thirds of the sidechain nodes agree, the pre-consensus block will be committed and added to the ledger. Team and Advisors has extensive cumulative experience in blockchain protocol and consensus algorithm development, high-performance computing, information security, cloud computing and business intelligence. OneLedger’s team The of OneLedger, , is the Chairman of , and has over 13 years of cumulative experience in blockchain technology and enterprise architecture. Prior to being an active member of the Hyperledger and blockchain community, David has also worked at Lab as a Java/WebSphere Commerce Developer, and at as a Lead Commerce Consultant. Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Cao Canada China Blockchain Professional Association (CCBPA) IBM Toronto Xerox The of OneLedger, , is the Founder and CEO of , a blockchain startup developing a blockchain-enabled social credit rating system for the world. Alex is also the former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of , a smartcard-based fare payment system for public transit systems in Ontario, Canada. Chief Technology Advisor (CTA) Alex Todd Trust 2 Pay PRESTO The of OneLedger, , has previously worked as a Senior Consultant at and , and as a Software Engineer at and . Stephen is an expert in distributed application innovation, and Solidity smart contract development. Lead Engineer Stephen Li Morgan Stanley Deutsch Bank IBM Microsoft OneLedger also has a strong advisory board, instilling confidence in the future direction of the project. Some of the most prominent names on the advisory board include — a former IBM Center of Excellence Post-doctoral Fellow in High Performance Computing, — CEO at , and — Co-founder of and founding shareholder of . Matthew Niemerg Trevor Koverko Polymath Jor Law VerifyInvestor.com Homeier Law PC OLT Token Usage and Distribution OLT is OneLedger’s native token that would be utilized by three main participants in the OneLedger ecosystem: Businesses and individuals would pay OLTs as a transaction fee to the nodes to use any services on the OneLedger platform. Users: Participating nodes will receive OLTs as network fees. OneLedger would allow everyone to run a node initially. However, as the ecosystem matures, an OLT staking amount would be required to establish nodes in order to maintain network integrity. Nodes: Developers need OLT tokens to deploy their modules and code to OneLedger Marketplace with a smart contract defining the terms of sale. Developers: OLT token usage between network users, nodes and developers; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) OLT token distribution; taken from OneLedger whitepaper found here (PDF) 100 million OLT tokens will be premined, with a token sale hard cap of US$ 15 million for 35% of the tokens. 25% community reserved tokens will be utilized for developer grants and community engagement. Apart from the tokens distributed in the token sale, all tokens have predefined lockup and vesting periods as detailed in . OneLedger’s whitepaper Roadmap OneLedger is still in the early phases of its development roadmap, with a lot of significant milestones planned in the next couple of years. Some of the most important milestones are the launch of Ethereum and Bitcoin sidechains, MVP launch for crosschain consensus, launch of API gateway, and the launch of Alpha version and the first version of OneLedger’s platform. Following is the roadmap that OneLedger is going to follow through 2018–2019: Q3–Q4 2017 Final whitepaper Theoretical Proof of Concept Q1-Q2 2018 Launch Ethereum sidechain testnet Synchronize Ethereum sidechain with OneLedger protocol engine Implement and optimize cross-chain consensus Add more public chain support Launch MVP with crosschain consensus Q3-Q4 2018 Enable Bitcoin sidechain to allow for cross-chain support Complete decentralized cross-chain exchange protocol Complete implementation of modularization tools and compilers Implement OneLedger’s Identity Management System and Smart Contract Authorization System Launch API gateway Launch Alpha version of the OneLedger platform 2019+ Release first version of the OneLedger platform Integrate with more blockchain protocols Expand business network Conclusion Opportunities OneLedger seems to offer a very practical and scalable approach to enable . businesses to operate in a blockchain-agnostic fashion OneLedger would allow , which is a huge improvement on the way dApps function today. dApps to run on multiple platforms with one master-contract Because of the unique elements of OneLedger protocol, it is in a in the blockchain interconnectivity space. unique position to explore uncharted territory OneLedger has a very modest which means that the at this stage of platform development. token sale hard cap of US$ 15 million, project is not over-valuing itself OneLedger has a very experienced team and advisory board led by David Cao . Concerns OneLedger is still in the early phases of its development, with the . How the team delivers on its ambitions, remains to be seen. Alpha version of the platform planned for Q3-Q4 2018 Bottom Line OneLedger is a blockchain infrastructure project with a very experienced team and advisory board, a strong use case, and a modest token sale hard cap of US$ 15 million. I am optimistic on the future outlook of OneLedger and will definitely keep an eye on it! Further Reading on OneLedger : Website http://oneledger.io : Telegram http://t.me/oneledger : Whitepaper http://oneledger.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/oneledger-whitepaper.pdf
