Ardor is the latest in the growing field of contenders for blockchain as a service (BaaS) providers. Ardor provides the blockchain infrastructure for businesses and institutions to leverage the strengths of blockchain technology without having to invest in developing custom blockchain solutions. Instead, Ardor offers a main chain that handles blockchain security and decentralization plus customizable child chains that come ready to use, right out of the box, for various business applications. The developers of Ardor are the same company behind the open source Ethereum’s ERC20 protocol to build on top of the Ethereum blockchain. They pay fees in Ether. To test Ardor’s capabilities and serve as an example of an operating child chain, the Ardor developers have created Ignis. Ignis will implement all of the customizable features that come from the Nxt code base. Essentially, Ignis will be a proof of concept and could be the first of many more child chains on the Ardor platform. The Ignis ICO recently raised $15 million in funding for development. In the future, Ardor child chains could be used to create equity trading platforms, digital file transfer services, private enterprise blockchain applications, and many more use cases. Ardor’s strengths are quick time to setup and wide customizability, making it a great option for companies looking to leverage blockchain without the resources to dedicate to custom development. Ardor has many architectural advantages. One of them and perhaps the most influential one is that it has been created using Java; one of the most widespread programming languages in the world today. This is definitely a step in the right direction seeing as it becomes ten times easier for a commercial application to succeed if the development language is one which most programmers can relate to.
Waltonchain is a genuine, trustworthy and traceable business ecosystem with complete data sharing and absolute information transparency. It is created by the combination of technologies of RFID and blockchain, which push forwards the integration of block chain and the Internet of Things. Waltonchain combines blockchain with IoT (specifically RFID) to create a management system for supply chains. The project is named after Charlie Walton, the inventor of RFID technology and a pioneer in the space. Logistics systems are complex and commonly involve several different parties. As these systems grow, it becomes increasingly tough for businesses in the same vertical to coordinate with each other. On top of that, individual entities may have different processes that further hinder the ability to transfer data back and forth. Waltonchain uses RFID identification to track products during each step of production and distribution. The data associated with each item is stored on an immutable blockchain that ensures its accuracy no matter where in the process it is.The Waltonchain team is loaded with supply chain experience. Do Sanghyuk, one of the co-founders, was previously the Director of the Korean Standard Products Association. The other co-founder, Xu Fangcheng was the Supply Chain Management Director of Septwolves Group Ltd. The team is getting support from their Chief Scientist Advisor, Kim Sukku – a former vice president of Samsung. Waltonchain has no shortage of partnerships – several of which are with Chinese provincial governments. The team is working with the Fujian government to create a “smart maritime” blockchain incubator, and with the Jinhu government to build smart air purification and monitoring systems. The Waltonchain architecture makes use of a novel consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Stake & Trust (PoST). Waltonchain innovates on the traditional proof-of-stake (PoS) model and integrates a node reputation based system into the consensus mechanism. PoST provides for adjustable difficulty for each node, to ensure that integrity in the ecosystem is rewarded. Waltonchain also gives sub-chain developers the option to choose their own consensus mechanism, for example, sub-chains can strictly just have PoS as a consensus mechanism, and not PoST. Waltonchain, by use of its RFID technology, has introduced a novel way with which blockchain can solve not only the inefficiencies found with supply chain management, but also IoT.