It will come as news to nobody that people don’t make good use of their assets. And in fact, quite a few people have no clue what their assets are actually worth, or even – as is habitual in the post-Soviet world – have no clear idea what the word ‘asset’ actually means. Even the world of making payments – despite the existence of thousands of payment systems all over the world (and why do we need them all?) – is disastrously sloppy, if we compare it with the crisp efficiency the Internet handles the transfer of information. Dig just a little deeper, it turns out that transactions involving securities leave the average guy in the street bamboozled and out-of-pocket – and if the discussion moves on to real estate, the whole thing becomes a maze of red tape. Today, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are seen by many today as the kind of ‘disruptive technologies’ which could upset the applecart. If we read the news headlines, we’re told that these processes will not only become simpler and cheaper, but also as straightforward as sending an email. That’s why just a few years ago here at Distributed Lab we began a mission to set up a financial web. Although it’s tricky to forecast the entire thing in detail, but we can reliably set out its main principles – what it has to do, and what it shouldn’t attempt to do.
- Any two or more parties should have the opportunity to collaborate privately and securely, and each of them should have confirmed proof of completion of the transaction.
- At any moment, at the request of the parties, access to external auditors may be granted, who shall be guaranteed to receive all necessary information.
- In order to complete their collaborations, the parties are NOT obliged to join or take part in any kind of system, or await confirmation from any other third parties (blockchain validators) or purchase any kind of third asset (such as, for example, any kind of digital coin).
- The number of participatory parties to the agreement is unregulated, and depends entirely on mutual agreement.
- No transaction of any kind may be altered without the agreement of all parties involved.
- Users must have the right to manage their assets individually (using a key), or jointly, according to pre-decided rules.
- The conditions for carrying out transactions must be apparent to all parties prior to the opening of collaboration; shall be a part of the collaboration; and may not be altered retroactively.
Please note that these principles are not always identical to what is perceived in the phrase “everything’s handled in blockchain”.
We’re absolutely certain that a future of this kind is only possible if there is open-source program software that’s distributed licence-free – so that every organisation can use the financial web in the way it needs to.
We’re looking for people who are inspired by the chance to change the world – and we’d like to see them joining our ranks here at Distributed Lab – no matter what kind of work they do.
Pavel Kravchenko, cryptographer,
founder of Distributed Lab
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