Top 3 enterprise Blockchain platforms
While different Blockchains have different capabilities - scalability, decentralization, security, etc, let us have a look at the top 3 platforms for enterprise Blockchain applications
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Blockchain began with decentralizing the financial sector and is now well positioned to solve some inherent problems that existed in the traditional systems of businesses and corporates. While different Blockchains have different capabilities - scalability, decentralization, security, etc, let us have a look at the top 3 platforms for enterprise Blockchain applications:
1) Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger Fabric is an open-source, permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, designed for enterprise use. It is a part of the larger Hyperledger project and is backed by large enterprises such as IBM. Hyperledger Fabric has a modular design & can be used for complex use cases. It is a permissioned Blockchain system and not a public Blockchain. While the basics of Blockchain remain intact, the platform supports private channels of communication between network participants, allowing for enterprises to prevent anyone to access this data. Therefore, it allows for higher transaction speeds. It does not have a native cryptocurrency (as most business cases might not require) and has the ability to use smart contracts (they call it as 'chaincode').
2) R3 Corda
R3 was launched in 2015 and currently comprises of world’s largest financial institutions that has created an open-source distributed ledger platform known as Corda. Now, this platform comes in two versions — Corda open-source and Corda Enterprise. Although Corda was originally built to serve banking industry, recent use of Corda in sectors such as supply chain, healthcare, trade finance and government is now emerging. Corda has neither built-in token nor cryptocurrency, but it is a permissioned blockchain because Corda limits access to data within an agreement to only those permissioned, but not to everyone in the entire network - on "need to know" basis. Corda’s consensus system can handle the complex financial agreements. Corda development can be done in Java or Kotlin and the resources in these languages are easily available.
3) Ethereum
Ethereum is an open-source and permissionless blockchain platform that lets anyone build and use decentralized applications that run on blockchain technology. It is designed for mass consumption versus restricted access (typically a requirement in enterprise use-cases). Ethereum is known for its smart contract functionality and flexibility, it is used widely across multiple industry use cases, and it has the largest number of use-cases available today. While network scalability is one of the key advantages of Ethereum, the high gas fee is a disadvantage.
Between the available platforms for enterprise blockchain applications, there isn’t much of a difference. Rather, businesses must select the appropriate platform based on their requirements. In the end, it comes down to the goal and purpose of considering Blockchain for the use case.