Smart Contract Transfer Platform: Connecting to the Platform
Connecting to the Platform:
As previously mentioned, let’s assume that participants are connecting to the network via nodes. Each participant type will have the permissions configured in a way to enable that participant type to perform the role they would in the real world.
Please see below for a conceptual depiction of how this would look:
What is a Node?
A node is something that is a little difficult to conceptualize to a non-technical audience particularly in this situation where I am trying to describe a hypothetical design using undefined technology. Previously I directed to here for an explanation and I stand by this as a good high level explanation. To try and expand this explanation a little I’d like to use the following examples:
Bitcoin: Take the Bitcoin network as an example, the nodes in this context are Bitcoin mining machines. Bitcoin Miners connect into the network by enabling their machine to solve complex algorithms effectively enabling the network to utilize their processing power and act as hosts. Each miner effectively provides a tentpole for the network to hang on as well as validation to the transactions. The more miners that connect to the network, the further it can expand. In this circumstance each node has full transparency to the network and it transactions. This is a public blockchain in its purest form and we can now take this concept and put a lot more rules around it.
Uber: To conceptually understand a node one doesn’t necessarily need to be an expert in blockchain technology, so lets take a look at a non blockchain example, Uber. In this case one could think of nodes as users that have downloaded the application. Each application profile interacts with the Uber network in a specific way, offering the service of driving their car, or, requesting the service of someone else to drive them. The network requires users to interact with it in a specific technical way, i.e. by downloading a particular piece of software. Then based on the configuration of that software (entering your details) it interacts with the network in a particular way based on the type of user. Uber effectively depends on ‘nodes’ to become a useful network and there are a lot of parallels between that and the way blockchain networks work.
In the context of this platform you can imagine the operator of the node fulfilling a certain participant type so that when they are setting it up they will be joining the platform with specific permissions that fall within one of the participant types specified above.
Variations on Connecting:
Above is the vanilla scenario where each participant is able to operate a node. In reality there will need to be variations on this to allow for the relationships and logistics of the real world.