The significance of the blockchain technology is undeniable, but where to actually apply it in the real world? For what industries will it be valuable? Thanks to this technology and platforms such as Ethereum, data is stored transparently and with better security. Not only are they resistant to external forces, but we are also able to control them.
As a technology, blockchain has immense potential for various organizations, making them more transparent, democratic, effective, transparent and, most important of all, capable of reaching a level of security that will change how many industries operate.
Hydro uses the blockchain by storing and tracking records of ownership over their respective digital platforms, so only the owner can access the platform , like signatures and facial recognition in the physical world can. But Hydro raindrop is just the beginning for Hydro blockchain. in the future, Hydro blockchains will manage and verify online data that could enable us launch platforms that are entirely secure by Hydro algorithms, make self-driving cars safer and secure, helps us protect our online identities, and even track the billions of devices on the internet of things. These innovations will change our lives forever and it’s all just the beginning.
Hydro first product release is called “Raindrop” — a transaction performed through a smart contract that validates and authenticate private system access publicly. The technology is intended to provide additional security layer for sensitive financial data that is increasingly at risk from hacking and breaches.
Hydro Raindrop involve whitelisting of each user you desire to authenticate with the Hydro API. Requesting a challenge string from the Hydro API. Perform the raindrop, which happens outside of the Hydro API, on the Hydro Smart Contract. Authenticate on the Hydro API. Once the raindrop has been completed and confirmed in the blockchain final authentication can be performed. Raindrop has been a huge success. It allows anyone running a private API to secure access using a public blockchain
The Hydro Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) app is a version of raindrop that was design to secure any platform globally using the power of the public blockchain to authenticate users. This dApp is superior to any traditional 2FA and email based 2FA, because it uses cutting edge cryptography and Hydro smart contracts to provide an immutable and instant verification for any user anywhere in the world. and will be the most predominant 2FA used in financial services within the next few years.
With the Hydro 2FA client app, there is no single point of failure because the server is decentralized and it leverage on the power of the public blockchain. This version of Raindrop allow any client of these applications, to potentially impacting billions of banking, brokerage, and e-commerce customers worldwide?
The Hydro 2FA has the same dynamics as the third-party apps, but with infinitely better security. A partner site simply needs to hook-in one API call on the Hydrogen API library to get setup. Then they link to the app store to have their users download the Hydro app. It is free to offer, free to download, and free to use.
We have devised a cryptography technique that uses the public Hydro blockchain built on Ethereum to create a unique identity for the user. This acts as a decentralized security mechanism that is not dependent on a single entity such as Google or Authy (if their servers are compromised so is your 2FA). With Hydro, the public ledger is used seamlessly to secure the access. In a world first, the user is leveraging the power of the blockchain without even knowing they are using the blockchain. This is the FUTURE of dApps.
Other product of Hydro Blockchain aside raindrop are
Document Security — Ice
• Blockchain Fingerprint — Snowflake
• Decentralized Transactions — Tide
• Machine Learning — Mist
Hydro Raindrop everywhere
Blockchain Fingerprint — Snowflake
Snowflake addresses the key issue of Know-Your-Customer (KYC) compliance that applies to nearly every major market in the world. The blockchain can add a valuable element to the prospect of identity management and validation.
This phase focuses on a global identity passport linked to the blockchain, to aid financial services platforms in preventing fraud and performing KYC checks in an open and transparent way. With the Snowflake, users of a Hydro app can store a ‘digital fingerprint’ that is unique and immutable, similar to the popular avatars created in the CryptoKitties blockchain game.
As more and more users are linked to platforms and applications that leverage Hydrogen, a blockchain-based identity passport can vastly increase security, as well as the ease and transparency of data flow from one institution to another. Under such a system, only information that is explicitly necessary is communicated between parties.
Document Security — Ice
Hydro Ice is a blockchain-based service that can stamp documents & contracts and record document-related events. This can bring some much-needed transparency and validity to the financial document and contract signing process.
Currently, financial applications rely heavily on cumbersome offline notarization, or online digital signatures via platforms like DocuSign. Notarization has a large cost. According to a chart put together by the National Notary Association, notaries can charge between $2 — $10 in many states, while others can set their own uncapped fees. Even with large fines, notarization is subject to massive fraud. Seals can be forged, notaries fail to stamp every page in a document, and there is no guarantee that there are witnesses or the notarization ever happened in person at all. Digital signatures and seals can be even worse. They require no verification the signer is who they say they are, merely single authentication login credentials. They are also subject to phishing schemes, so much so that DocuSign has published a whitepaper on the topic.
What if immutable stamps, seals, and notarization can complement these off-chain tactics? A financial ecosystem would be a much safer and more trustworthy place.
Smart contracts and the execution conditions therein can be tied to the execution of off-chain transactions. This framework provides key factors of transparency and robustness to the traditional payments and transfers arena. For example, if an application in Thailand built on the Hydrogen APIs is used to to process a $1,000 transaction (through a credit card, money transfer, or other off-chain means), multiple counterparties may be required to approve the validity of the transaction on the Hydro blockchain. The transaction happens off-chain, but things like fraud prevention, escrow services, and progress tracking, happen on-chain within an infrastructure that links traditional transactions to conditions enforced by smart contracts.
In this phase, the Hydro team will also explore the creation of a Hydro-based payments solution within the proprietary Hydro wallet.
Decentralized Transactions — Tide
Tide is integral in our pursuit to help solve the “unbanked” and “underbanked” epidemic worldwide. According to data compiled by The World Bank, only 62% of the world’s adult population has a bank or other financial account, meaning 2 billion people worldwide do not have accounts. According to the FDIC, 20.1% of all U.S. households are underbanked, indicating they have a bank account but elect to use services such as check cashing, money transfers, payday loans, and pawn shops as alternative forms of banking and credit. This equates to 51 million adults in the U.S. If we assume 20.1% of all households are underbanked worldwide, that equates to a staggering 1 billion adults.
Machine Learning — Mist
Mist marries the critical value of AI-based insights (which are typically kept within centralized private networks) with the power of blockchain technology. Financial services platforms will be able to leverage machine learning models that are optimized in distributed networks.
This will provide a modelling framework linked with the blockchain, to give decentralized AI and machine learning-based insights that can power platforms, bots, and smart financial applications globally. Kaggle, a company purchased by Google in 2017, is a popular platform to host global AI competitions to train data sets uploaded by companies, academics, and individuals. Imagine the power of a similar framework within a global API platform that can reference trillions of transactions and user interactions.
The goal of Mist is to empower financial services organizations with robust data science that they cannot attain internally, so they can provide the most intelligent fintech applications to users around the world.
Finally Hydro’s project is so huge, every dApp will have no reason not to board on the project.
@Sunadari