Disney creates Dragonchain blockchain that supports multiple types of nodes and cryptocurrencies, becoming the largest supporter in the blockchain field (Attached Dragonchain architecture design book)

The Walt Disney Company, ranked 71st on the Forbes Global 2000 with annual revenues in the tens of billions of dollars and total assets of nearly $100 billion, has recently shown a keen interest in using blockchain technology for online sales, television operations, and of course, their world-famous theme parks.

For theme parks, the most obvious benefit of a blockchain system is that it will be easier to track inventory, sales, shipments, and even people. However, the blockchain currently being developed by Disney, called Dragonchain, has innovated existing blockchain implementations. According to Dragonchain's design document (full document download), it introduces a 'context-based verification'. This blockchain will have various types of nodes, among which the 'Level 5' nodes will be interconnected with existing public blockchains (such as Bitcoin). It is worth noting that Dragonchain provides a 'public checkpoint' or 'proof of existence' for blocks in the permissioned ledger.

Other levels of Dragonchain nodes: Level 1 nodes are business nodes that process transactions and can decide whether a transaction is approved or rejected. Level 2 nodes are enterprise verification nodes that can determine the validity of data submitted by Level 1 nodes. The goal of Level 3 nodes is to ensure the required diversity of information sources - first of all, to check whether any nodes have been compromised. Level 4 nodes also call for a third-party verification of data/'independent witness', one point:

“Level 4 nodes are hosted by external partners and will cryptographically sign all Level 3 verification records they receive. This capability allows Level 4 nodes to act as an independent witness to Level 3 verification.”

Finally, there are Level 5 nodes, which, as described previously, an enterprise can use to implement other forms of verification for its own purposes.

Another feature of Dragonchain is that it does not have a single currency (token) like the Bitcoin blockchain. Instead, they believe that organizations or institutions need a base currency, which is then managed by independent nodes. The purpose of Dragonchain is to consider the use of multiple currencies. Quoting the tenth page of the Dragonchain design document:

“This architecture should not be defined as a ‘base’ currency, or a currency that the system itself runs on. If such a use case arises (and indeed this sees value in the availability of a currency that nodes can use for payment verification), the idea is that a node should be configured to create and maintain that currency, which will allow for more flexible market development.”

Most interestingly, Dragonchain will apparently support multiple cryptocurrencies in private blockchain transactions, using their transaction class header fields. At least initially, the network will use cryptographic addressing and passwords based on Bitcoin, and part of the logic behind this is to use existing infrastructure, including Counterparty and hardware wallets for authentication within organizations.

Blockchain of blockchains

Different organizations or institutions will use Dragonchain for different purposes, but there is one aspect that makes Dragonchain very useful - Dragonchain can serve as a kind of 'blockchain of blockchains'. In this way, various third-party vendors can bring market solutions based on Dragonchain, or integrate with existing Dragonchain implementations. Or, perhaps more easily imagined, third-party vendors can come up with interesting applications such as tracking inventory, event attendance, line congestion at theme parks, and so on.

“[...] Each business problem will generally have its own node and its own blockchain to solve it. The blockchains are connected to each other by reaching consensus.”

As such, Dragonchain will find immediate use among companies that commission design, and it will inevitably open up new business opportunities for Disney and other blockchain companies that integrate such a system.

Dragonchain aims to have a ‘simple architecture’ and be used by businesses that lack ‘blockchain expertise’. While banks and other large financial institutions have been talking about the value of blockchain and that they don’t need Bitcoin, Dragonchain looks to fit in nicely with the idea of ​​integrating various cryptocurrencies, and even with the idea of ​​businesses using systems like Counterparty to instantiate their own tokens. From a crypto enthusiast’s perspective, this is refreshing.

The code currently available in the Dragonchain Github library has multiple functions, including trading on Dragonchain, querying Dragonchain, and processing blockchain. A complete Dragonchain implementation requires a clear purpose and the technical strength of each level to modify each node accordingly. The biggest requirements are Python and Postgres, both of which are cross-platform.

The currently available Dragonchain implementation seems best suited for large-scale operations such as Disney, however, a 'lite' version of Dragonchain will eventually be developed as the software is open sourced.