Enabling Enterprise Blockchain Interoperability with Trusted Data Transfer (industry track)

TL;DR

This paper proposes a trust-based interoperability protocol for permissioned enterprise blockchains, enabling secure data sharing across independent networks while preserving decentralization benefits.

Contribution

It introduces an architecture and communication protocol that derive trust from network consensus, facilitating secure inter-network data transfer in enterprise blockchain settings.

Findings

Demonstrated a proof-of-concept for trusted data sharing between two Hyperledger Fabric networks.

Showed how existing blockchain deployments can be adapted for interoperability.

Discussed security and extensibility of the proposed architecture.

Abstract

The adoption of permissioned blockchain networks in enterprise settings has seen an increase in growth over the past few years. While encouraging, this is leading to the emergence of new data, asset and process silos limiting the potential value these networks bring to the broader ecosystem. Mechanisms for enabling network interoperability help preserve the benefits of independent sovereign networks, while allowing for the transfer or sharing of data, assets and processes across network boundaries. However, a naive approach to interoperability based on traditional point-to-point integration is insufficient for preserving the underlying trust decentralized networks provide. In this paper, we lay the foundation for an approach to interoperability based on a communication protocol that derives trust from the underlying network consensus protocol. We present an architecture and a set of building blocks that can be adapted for use in a range of network implementations and demonstrate a proof-of-concept for trusted data-sharing between two independent trade finance and supply-chain networks, each running on Hyperledger Fabric. We show how existing blockchain deployments can be adapted for interoperation and discuss the security and extensibility of our architecture and mechanisms.