1/ @quant_network + @MIT IETF RFC Proposal for Open Digital Asset Protocol (ODAP) an open blockchain agnostic protocol, enabling Interoperability of assets and messages across DLTs as well as Oracle functionality with the use of decentralised trusted compute base gateways $QNT

2/ First some related info on how the Internet works

The Internet is a network of networks, made up of many different autonomous systems (AS), which are large networks or groups of networks with the same unified routing policy and normally each run by an ISP or large enterprises

3/ Within each AS, various Interior Gateway Protocols are used to exchange routing information between gateways (routers). Examples include Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP)

4/ For communication between different autonomous systems around the world then Exterior Gateway Protocols are used - the most common being BGP and is the protocol that makes the Internet work. Each AS connects to other AS through BGP Peers via gateways (routers). Each BGP Peer..

5/ advertises the routes that are local to their AS. BGP wasn't designed with security in mind. Accidentally advertised routes through incorrectly configured routers can break large parts of the Internet. In 2004 a Turkish ISP TTNET accidentally advertised bad BGP routes..

6/ to its neighbours which claimed that TTNet was the best destination for all traffic on the Internet. As the routes spread to more AS a massive disruption occurred, creating a 1 day crisis where many people across the world were not able to access some or all of the Internet.

7/ Not all are accidental though and attacks called BGP hijacking can be used by attackers to deliberately create bad BGP routes to redirect traffic. In 2018 this was used to redirect traffic that was meant for Amazon's DNS which allowed attackers to steal $100k worth of crypto

8/ There won't be one blockchain to rule them all, there will be many different platforms and interoperability will be crucial. Blockchain platforms can be viewed as an autonomous system (blockchain AS). Just like different Interior Gateway Protocols are used in different AS in..

9/ the Internet today, Blockchains also have their own protocols, consisting of various consensus protocols, sybil protection mechanisms etc. Like the Internet they are all isolated islands which need to interoperate together to achieve the true potential.

10/ This is where the proposed ODAP protocol comes in, it is a blockchain agnostic protocol that enables interoperability between different blockchain platforms through gateways, similar to how BGP protocol enables communication between different AS through gateways (BGP Routers)

11/ It not only connects different blockchains together but also existing non-blockchain networks to create a Network of Networks. The protocol will enable applications to utilise and modify multiple blockchains or DLT systems through a single programmatic interface.

12/It proposes a standard framework enabling resource addressing for DLTs using the URL syntax. This opens up the possibility of the Internet of Trust, connecting the Internet directly to blockchain where traffic can be routed from the Internet through gateways to connected DLTs

13/This ultimately will allow websites to be natively created and served directly from blockchains, without the need to have, run and maintain web servers, web services, SSL certificates etc and all running in a completely trusted, extremely resilient / tamperproof environment.

14/ Whereas BGP has many security vulnerabilities, this protocol has the highest levels of security designed from the start, incorporating a decentralised trusted computer base model where gateways will employ hardening technologies and tamper-resistant crypto-processors...

15/ such as Trusted Platform Modules and Software Guarded Extensions (such as Intel's SGX) and requirement of TLS 1.2 or higher whilst supporting numerous credential schemes (such as OAuth2.0, SAML), encrypted payloads and access control to resources through client identification

16/ Quant's implementation of this protocol is Overledger Network, a Network of Networks providing scalable interoperability for any DLT and existing network through Overledger Gateways. Any DLT or existing network can be created through connectors (ODAP interfaces) which ..

17/ are also open source. Multiple gateways can be queried if required and their results compared to provide complete end-to-end trust from application to blockchain.

Further info can be found https://medium.com/@CryptoSeq/how-the-overledger-network-community-treasury-powers-the-network-of-networks-b716b01d8284

18/ It has also been designed to meet strict regulatory requirements for Financial institutions to meet AML / KYC / FATF Travel rule requirements and other security requirements required for banks and governments. https://medium.com/@CryptoSeq/the-network-of-networks-scalable-interoperability-to-unleash-the-true-potential-of-blockchain-c54e7d373d2d

19/ This enables the connection of the Internet directly to blockchain, providing the foundation for the Internet of Trust, using a secure decentralised trustless protocol to connect all DLT's and existing networks together, to enable Blockchain to achieve it's true potential.

20/ Neil Smit, Vice Chairman at Comcast (2nd largest broadcasting and cable tv company in the world) recent appointment to the board of Quant will not only bring connections with Intel and their SGX platform but also has the lots of experience in large-scale Internet networks.

21/ You can read the IETF proposal here - https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-hargreaves-odap-00

This related article is also a good read, particularly part 6

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2019.00024/full

Exciting times ahead and the sheer scope of this project is incredible

$QNT