By the Validation Cloud Team, featuring Provenance Blockchain Foundation’s VP of Engineering, Ira Miller
Earlier this year, Validation Cloud launched its Appchain Series to highlight the immense commercial potential of appchains, identifying them as the most significant catalyst for enterprise adoption of Web3 ever. To support this claim, Validation Cloud curated a selection of network ecosystems that are on the bleeding edge of appchain adoption in our Appchain Spotlight Series. In this installment, we’ll introduce Provenance Blockchain Zones, and their disruptive applications in financial services (and beyond).
If you haven’t already, we’d encourage you to read our previous posts Introduction to Appchains and Infrastructure Implications of Appchains, which provide helpful context for this series.
Provenance has built a strong reputation as a disruptive force in the financial services industry, trusted by leading fintech companies and asset managers such as Apollo and Hamilton Lane. With over $9 billion in assets on-chain, Provenance is uniquely positioned to transform the way financial assets are issued, transacted, and serviced. With the Quick Start guide, Provenance makes it easy for fintech companies and institutions to get connected to the blockchain.
At the core of Provenance’s success is its team of Web3 innovators and leaders, including CEO Morgan McKenney. As a key leader, McKenney is instrumental in bringing Provenance Blockchain’s mission to life. The Provenance Blockchain Network enables institutions to seamlessly and securely conduct transactions at scale, paving the way for a new era of digitally-native financial assets. With its visionary leadership and cutting-edge technology, Provenance Blockchain is set to revolutionize the financial services landscape.
“Zones” are appchains within the Provenance Blockchain Network. Zones are permissioned by an operator (i.e. a person or entity that runs a node) and fully interoperable with the Provenance Blockchain Mainnet. This allows financial service enterprises who desire or are required to operate within a private and permissioned environment to do so independently while also having the ability to exchange assets and workflows with the Mainnet as needed, ensuring interoperability and efficiency.
“We designed Zones to meet the specific needs of regulated financial services, providing institutions with the ability to easily stand-up a private permissioned Zone, while also ensuring their full access to the open-source innovation and the development occurring on decentralized blockchains,” said Ira Miller. “Core to Provenance Blockchain is interoperability, which enables institutions operating a Zone to move assets, tools, and entire services in and out of the public blockchain as needed. Provenance Blockchain is purpose-built for financial services and provides institutions with the flexible infrastructure they require.”
Financial service businesses looking to build on blockchain technology without compromising control or to achieve certain jurisdictional regulations should look to Provenance Blockchain Zones. Businesses building Zones have complete control over who participates in their Zone, ensuring business and transaction requirements are met. While Zones are independent from the Mainnet, Zones allow businesses to seamlessly move assets and workflows between Zones and the Provenance Blockchain Mainnet.
This independence from the Mainnet allows for fees to be drastically reduced in Zones, as Provenance Blockchain does not charge gas fees for transactions within a Zone. Gas fees only apply when engaging with the Mainnet. A main benefit of Zones is that you get the controls of a private blockchain while still gaining access to the open-source tools made available by the Provenance Blockchain ecosystem developer community. Because Provenance Blockchain is built for financial services, Zones benefit from a blockchain built to support high compliance standards and the ability to control privacy settings.
Zones let a company manage their digital asset perfection and ledgering privately on a blockchain with the full integrity of proofs secured by the public mainnet. This approach means that the provenance of their assets is ensured, which is important when a company brings a portion of these assets to the Mainnet for exchange with third parties.
In addition, Zones have the ability to selectively disclose certain information to the Mainnet by publishing a special query gateway contract. This allows for the selective disclosure of information onto the public network about the private assets for use in Mainnet smart contracts. One example of how this can be used is the aggregate pricing of loan pools, where the volume of update transactions as payments may not make sense to push into Mainnet, nor the specific loan balances, due to information privacy concerns.
Learn more about Provenance Zones here.
Validation Cloud is uniquely positioned to successfully deploy, manage, and scale Provenance Blockchain Zones. We have architected our infrastructure to be highly elastic across our global regions of operation. As the load of the Zone increases or new Zones emerge, we can dynamically add validators to different regions of the world, and through the Node API platform, provide multi-region access to your Zone.
Contact Validation Cloud at info@validationcloud.io to learn more and explore our platform here.
Validation Cloud is a Web3 data streaming and infrastructure company that connects organizations into Web3 through a fast, scalable, and intelligent platform. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Validation Cloud offers highly performant and customizable products in staking, node, and data-as-a-service. Its team brings extensive experience across Web2 and Web3 from the likes of Coinbase, Kraken, Workday, Accenture, Crypto.com, Voyager, and more. Learn more at Validationcloud.io | LinkedIn | X