We are excited to announce a new feature that we are sure will benefit many Smart Contract developers around the world. As we have detailed in our white-paper, Itheum enables for the direct sale of structured personal data using on-chain proofs to facilitate data trade with the highest integrity of the data (veracity) and a complete provenance and lineage audit trail.
As we embark on our mission to become the world’s first decentralised data brokerage; we have conceptualised, designed, built and released many innovative features that facilitate the on-chain trade of personal user data. Peer-to-Peer Direct Sales, Data NFTs, Data Coalitions (bulk sale of data via DAOs) and Data Streams are features that have already been released to our Testnets (on Ethereum, Polygon).
Today; we are pleased to announce that we are adding another innovative feature to our decentralised Data DEX platform. This feature is called “Personal Data Proofs”.
In the decentralised DApps ecosystem (DeFi, DAOs or any other application use cases enabled via DApps); Smart Contracts enable for agreements between parties to execute based on “indisputable truths”. For example, in a DeFi exchange, a trade transaction between two parties can happen backed by the on-chain state data that confirms that the transaction can indeed proceed (e.g. party A has the tokens to transfer and Party B is entitled to receive the tokens based on some pre-agreed above condition). So Smart Contracts enable for trust-less interaction to happen between multiple counter-parties. Traditionally, transactions such as these in finance require a trusted intermediary such as a Bank to coordinate.
But Smart Contracts do have a key limitation in that the data they have access to on-chain to facilitate such trust-less behaviour is very limited. We only have data around transaction history and other such on-chain information (e.g. voting outcomes etc). For more complex trust-less applications to migrate to the blockchain, we need “richer, real-world data” to flow into Smart Contracts. ChainLink provides this real-world data via their Decentralised Oracle Networks and enable the technology of “hybrid smart contracts”. These hybrid smart contracts use the real-world oracle data to make decisions and carry out transactions between parties. ChainLink enables smart contracts to tap into real-world data like exchange price feeds, weather and sensor data and allows for the contracts to mediate transactions between multiple parties based on outcomes resulting from smart contract code execution backed by real-world data.
But if Blockchain technology was to branch out and handle many more mainstream use-cases, we will need a wider variety of real-world data to flow into the smart contract world. One type of data in particular that is not available today (even via Chainlink oracle networks) but is crucial for richer blockchain use-cases — is Personal Data.
As described in the white-paper section titled “Types of Direct Sale” — the Itheum platform enables Data Creators to place their personal data for direct peer-to-peer sale on-chain. One of the underlying qualities of this type of trade is that a “proof of the personal data” is stored on-chain. This proof is then used (by a Buyer) to verify that the data’s veracity is untampered before the trade actually happens.
This feature enabled by the Itheum Data DEX can also be used as a “personal data proof” by smart contracts to execute specific rules that enable transactions on-chain to happen that are backed by personal data.
This revolutionary concept is best explained with an example:
Home Loan Application — Real Word Scenario
Jack wants to buy a house. He heads over to his bank and requests for a bank loan. The bank needs to carry out a detailed assessment to make sure Jack is actually eligible for the loan (i.e. can he make repayments? what is the risk he will default on it? etc). The bank does a credit check on Jack and finds that his credit history is good. The bank’s home loan broker then does an extended personal due-diligence assessment. Jack is asked to provide his financial history, income history and other details about his spending habits, family, dependents and work history. This information is collected using a detailed bank loan application form the bank has prepared as a standard document. Once Jack fills the form he needs to attest the form as holding true information (via a form of statutory declaration that is legally binding). The bank assesses the details on the form and makes a decision to give Jack the loan. Jack uses the loan and buys a house.
Now let’s imagine that we want to port this entire scenario to the blockchain and remove as many intermediaries as we can (the bank, the credit history provider, the home loan broker etc.)
Home Loan Application — DeFi Scenario.
Jack wants to buy a house. He visits a DeFi Lending DApp that is a DAO (modelled after a real-world credit union but fully decentralised) that allows for borrowing based on voting based approval and on-chain evidence of collateral (e.g. other assets that Jack owns in the same DeFi DApp or other DApps). Jack requests a loan and the DApp begins its automated due diligence process. As part of this process; the DApp invokes another DeFi DApp’s Smart Contracts that allows for deep credit history checks (possibly via deep index lookups or via “the Graph” for more advanced lookups). The credit checks come back positive for Jack. The DeFi Lending DApp then refers Jack to an application form built and run using Itheum’s data collection and analytics toolkit. It includes all the regular questions asked by banks during loan applications that needs to be asked to an applicant directly (e.g. what is your employment history? your spending habits? your family details and other financial responsibilities? basically all the personal information that is needed to make an informed decision about a borrowing risk but cannot be obtained using blockchain lookups). Jack completes the form and his responses are stored inside the Itheum Data DEX as a “Data Pack”. Jack then Advertises this Data Pack on-chain and the proof of his response is published on-chain and sent to the DeFi Lending DApp as a “personal data proof” and attestation to his responses to the form. The DeFi Lending DApp now has all the information it has to take his application to the final DAO voting panel. The members of the DAO have all the attested information and proof to make a decision on the home loan (collateral confirmation, positive credit history, application form due-diligence responses and on-chain proof). The DeFi Lending DApp is happy with the application and approves the loan and Jack receives the money.
Itheum provides the complete platform for these kinds of personal data proofs that can be used for on-chain decision making. Think of Itheum as the next layer of data inflow into the blockchain world. Core blockchains provide transaction data, ChainLink provides real-world event data and Itheum provides personal data proofs direct from the end-user. When used in unison; we can replicate many real world scenarios using smart contracts and remove redundant intermediaries.
About Itheum
Itheum empowers data ownership in the Web3 and Metaverse ecosystems and creates new market value for your data. It enables this by providing “decentralized data brokerage” technology. It’s a suite of tools that enable high-value data to be bridged from web2 to web3 and then be traded via peer-to-peer sales. It allows for “viral adoption” via our creative “Data NFTs” (provide “inner value” to NFTs and enable royalties / limited supply) and “N.F.Me” technology (a living Metaverse avatar representation of you — wrapped as an NFT and backed by personal data) and our innovative Data Coalition DAOs (which bulk sell your data). It also aims to be fully privacy-preserving, regulation-friendly and cross-chain; making it the most comprehensive core blockchain data infrastructure available in the market with use-cases in both the enterprise and consumer space.
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