Blockchain Technology - Easy and Practical Example To Understand How It Works

If you have heard of blockchain, it iscertainly related to cryptocurrency. Although, blockchain is not only used for that. It is application in many other sectors other than banking and finance. In fact, Blockchain is a type of DLT and offers us a solution of decentralization of the data, complete traceability and immutability of the information contained in each block.

The objective of this technology is to generate trust between unknown parties, and consequently, transparency and security in transactions.

Blockchain Use Cases

There are many real applications of blockchain technology in companies. Its application transcends financial transactions.

It is possible to apply blockchain to any logistics solution in which there is data that we do not want to share with all parts of the process. It also has a very interesting utility in an electoral context, since the votes would be totally safe, immutable and anonymous. And, in these sad times of pandemic, it is important to highlight the relationship that has arisen between blockchain and COVID-19.

Easy Blockchain Example To See How It Works

Today, getting a perishable fruit with the best flavor, the best quality, and the greatest freshness is not an easy task. In fact, it is very common to find varieties of products designed to have a high production and to be durable. It is also true that we can choose "better" perishable fruit but at a considerably higher price. In this regard: what real guarantee does the end consumer have on the highest quality of this product? And what does the freshness of a fruit have to do with blockchain technology? 

The real case of blockchain application that we propose is a fruit production that begins in its place of planting, and will end in a supermarket in a different location.

We will start by defining the participants of this transaction and then define the assets to be exchanged in it, and finally, we will define the transaction that will be registered in our blockchain.

Participants

The participants in this transaction would be all the parties interested in having the fruit with the best flavor, and this goes from the producer to the client, passing through different auditing entities, to the temperature control devices during transport.

These participants being so diverse, not all of them need every information that we keep in our blockchain, therefore there will be participants who only know a part of it, whilethe producer and the final distributor will know the entire chain.

The Participants Would Be The Following:

• Fruit grower
• Transport company
• Financial entity
• Temperature and humidity control device
• Auditing entity
• DO certifying entity
• Distributor 

Assets

We will define the assets of the transaction as all the data that we will save in our blockchain: from a certificate of denomination of origin, a record of the time of maturation, to a history of temperature and humidity during transport.
We will have the following assets:

• Certificate of denomination of origin
• Optimal ripening certificate
• History of temperature and humidity

Transactions

Now, all that remains is to decree rules that all participants must comply with and that will determine what operation each of them can perform and what part of the information they will know in detail.
In this case, the transactions could be the following:

• Producer quality certification
• Notification of collection for transport
• History of temperature and humidity
• Certification of denomination of origin
• Quality certification of the auditing entity
• Product purchase notification

Smart Contract And Its Operation 

Once we know the participants, the assets and the transactions, we go on to break down all the operations that the smart contract would perform, that is, the immutable agreement stored and executed in the blockchain.

i. Deployment of the smart contract and request for payment to the distributor: in this step the producer of our fruit displays the contract on which we are going to operate on the blockchain. In this operation, you only request payment.

ii. Quality controls: set by the producer, in terms of time of collection, maturation, seeds used, that is, everything related to the product would be stored in this block.

iii. Quality audit: in this step, the auditing entity will check that the product complies with the standards and will store it in a certificate in the next block, finding out that everything stored in the previous block agrees with the data collected by them.

iv. The transport company: marks the order as collected and verifies that the packaging is correct for transport and certifies it in the next block in the chain.

v. Temperature and humidity control: a device connected to the Internet is programmed to monitor the condition from this point on, and then send the data to be storedin all the successive blocks. If the transport were long, this node would be replicated as many times as necessary to store the constant control of the quality factors.

vi. Delivery of the product: the transport company marks the shipment as delivered.

vii. Certificate of DO: then the certifying entity of the denomination of origin, upon receipt of the shipment, will validate that all the requirements to grant the certificate have been met.

viii. Finally, the distributor: our supermarket makes the payment requested by the producer and marks it on the blockchain. In this block the communication with the smart contract ends and the payment is made.

We Are Experts in Blockchain Solutions

At Hyperlink InfoSystem, we have a team of Blockchain experts dedicated to the development of decentralized applications (DApps) on Blockchain. We implement all kinds of solutions with the blockchain.

The blockchain is going to be one of the protagonists of the economic recovery and the adaptation of companies to the "new normal”. So, if you don't want it to take you by surprise, you should contact us at Hyperlink InfoSystem for excellent blockchain solution.