LEI system needs not just Blockchain. It needs Graphchain.
LEI SYSTEM SHORTCOMINGS…
- Lack of explicit data semantics
- While LEI system is distributed in nature, the technology used to support it is of old style and inherently unsecured
- So, using LEI.INFO as the starting point, we have created a concept of Blockchained LEI system and we have made a number of POCs demonstrating its usefulness.
Why GraphChain?
HOWEVER, DESPITE OUR EFFORTS …
- It was very hard to combine the three features the LEI system required:
- Explicit data semantics
- Linked Open Data/SW data model and Blockchain security modelIn our Blockchain based POCs, the extensibility of Legal Entity data was poor (unless we used simple textual serialization for the LEI records). The queries across the entire LEI dataset were impossible or very hard. What we really needed was a standard RDF Graph database protected by a Blockchain.
What we really needed was a standard RDF Graph database protected by a Blockchain.
Related works: Marrying Blockchain to legacy databases
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BigchainDB – Blockchain database build using MongoDB
„Rather than trying to enhance blockchain technology, BigchainDB starts with a big data distributed database and then adds Blockchain characteristics - decentralized control, immutability and the transfer of digital assets.”
(https://www.bigchaindb.com/features) - MongoDB Blockchained – is essentially the same development but from MongoDB perspective: “A blockchain-enabled MongoDB that wraps the core database (MongoDB) and implements the three blockchain characteristics of decentralization, immutability, and assets.“ (“Building Enterprise-Grade Blockchain Databases with MongoDB”, A MongoDB White Paper) In both cases the essence is in the ability of the distributed database to use legacy access methods (Querying, Scalability, Operationalizability)
- An interesting extension of Blockchain concept in IOTA’s Tangle (https://www.iota.org) – going away from the sequence of blocks