Baseline Protocol

Basic

• On March 19, 2020, a group of 14 companies released and open-sourced the Baseline Protocol to the world. The Baseline Protocol initiative formed as part of the Ethereum OASIS Open Project. 
• From their blog (10-4-2020):

"Baseline is a protocol and an open-source initiative that combines advances in cryptography, messaging and blockchain to execute secure and private business processes at low cost via the public Ethereum Mainnet."

• From The Block (3-2-2020):

"The new protocol will allow enterprises to access decentralized finance (DeFi) services built on the Ethereum blockchain without having to publicize all their private information."

• One Pager by Consensys can be read here (4-2020).

Tech

• Whitepaper can be found [insert here].
• Code can be viewed [insert here].
• Built on:
• Programming language used:

Transaction Details

• Capacity (TPS):
• Latency:

How it works

• From a deep dive by Lime Chain (8-6-2020):

"The Baseline Protocol can be split into several distinct phases.

The first phase is a peer-to-peer exchange of documents. In this phase, the parties interacting secretly exchange the documents that will govern their further work. In the Radish34 use case, these are the RFQ and Proposal.

The second phase is called “Baselining a document”. In this phase, a proof is generated that the business process was followed and is sent to the blockchain. In order for this information to be private, the terms of the business process are written into a zero-knowledge cryptographical construct called a circuit. Imagine the circuit as the process definition in code. 

When a document is being baselined, a zero-knowledge proof is generated and fed into the business process circuit. The zero-knowledge proof gives away no data, but through the circuit, one can be sure that the business process rules were followed. 

In the case of agreeing on a contract, the business process rules are simple – “have the two parties signed.” Software developers can design much more complex rules and circuits accommodating for more complex scenarios. If the proof successfully passes all the checks, it is stored on the blockchain as an immutable reference point between the two companies."

Other Details 

• From The Block (3-2-2020):

"The protocol makes use of messaging, digital signatures, a zero-knowledge algorithm, and other techniques to create a common frame of reference that teams need to keep things in sync. At the same time, each step in the workflow is compartmentalized, and a person working on certain steps would have no information about the other steps."

• How the Baseline Protocol synchronizes between different systems of record can be read here (3-4-2020).

Upgrades

• From Cointelegraph (27-8-2020):

"Baseline Protocol announced on Aug. 26 the release of its v0.1 reference implementation."

Roadmap

• Can be found [Insert link here].

Audits

• Bug bounty program can be found [insert here].

Usage

• Is trying to use it's protocol for medical tests (10-4-2020).

Projects that use or built on it

• From Cointelegraph (27-8-2020):

"Currently, over 600 companies and individuals are actively participating in the initiative, which coordinates with the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance’s Mainnet Working Group. Most notably, Coke One North America, or CONA, announced that it will use Baseline Protocol techniques to enhance transparency in cross-organization supply chain transactions."

 Pros and Cons

Pros

• From Cointelegraph (27-8-2020):

"Johann Eid, product manager for Chainlink noted that Baseline’s v0.1 release showcases how blockchain can serve to keep systems of record in sync without concerns around data and business logic privacy."

Cons

• From Cointelegraph (27-8-2020):

"For example, enterprises wanting to use baseline protocol techniques need to give up the ability to query common data, since there are no common datasets on a blockchain network.

Additionally, Wolpert mentioned that an issue created by baselining data is that organizations must keep databases in sync. If an organization changes its data, the other company’s data must be altered immediately. An alert would be required to ensure that data is kept consistent between organizations, which will be a coming addition."

Competition

• From a deep dive by Lime Chain (8-6-2020):

"The first alternative that comes to mind is using a centralised system to store the records of the communication and synchronization between the companies involved. Such a centralized solution will render one of the parties “ruling” over the others and having unfair access to all the data. Although a neutral third party can be used, this service is very costly and gives yet another actor access to sensitive data.

A second approach would be to develop a custom solution for each party of the exchange and connect them together. This solution will be costly to develop and will be difficult to scale when you need to accommodate new players. The new players will need to develop their own custom solution to join the network.

The third solution would be the usage of an access restricted enterprise blockchain network. Although this offers the desired decentralization and unification required, it hardly meets the highest standards for security, privacy, and performance – at the end of the day, your counterparty nodes are storing your data.

The Baseline protocol uses an always-on public blockchain network (currently Ethereum main net) to keep the parties synchronized and following the rules. Through the use of cryptography, the sensitive data never leaves your internal storage place, while both sides are guaranteed to follow the rules through the use of zero-knowledge proofs. The data exchange only happens in an encrypted peer-to-peer manner on a need-to-know basis. This way, The Baseline Protocol allows you to have the security of your data while still being sure that all the parties involved in the process are always in sync."

Team, investors, partners

Team

• From a deep dive by Lime Chain (8-6-2020):

"The Baseline Protocol was started as POC between EY Blockchain, Consensys, and Microsoft. In March 2020, the effort was open-sourced and launched as an OASIS project enabling other collaborators to join in. Since then, several new maintainers like Limechain and Unibright have been added. The work is openly governed and the code stays in the Baseline Protocol Github repository."

• From The Block (3-2-2020):

"The project is transitioning from a close-knit team consisted just of the two firms to a larger one with participation from Microsoft, AMD, ChainLink, Core Convergence, Duke University, Envision Blockchain, MakerDAO, Neocava Splunk, UniBright, Provide, and W3BCLOUD."

Investors

• Accenture has become a sponsor (14-9-2020).