The main Spanish banking, energy and telecommunications companies, among other sectors, have established Alastria, the world's first regulated national network based on blockchain.
This non-profit consortium was presented today simultaneously in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and Malaga. It will develop the Distributed Ledger Technology (DTL), which is set to become the new data exchange ecosystem and which will enable and accelerate the digital transformation of different industrial and business sectors in the coming years thanks to its agility, veracity, security and efficiency.
The Alastria consortium has been created to accelerate the creation of digital ecosystems by providing a common collaborative platform: the Alastria network. Since its very creation, the consortium has been made up of about 70 of the largest companies and institutions in different sectors (*full list of Alastria partners and Executive board at the end of the press release).
Among its founders are also professionals such as notaries and lawyers who will ensure the security and veracity of information through the identification of natural and legal persons. Not in vain, the digital ID will be the main focus of Alastria in its beginnings through the standard of Digital Identity "ID Alastria", which will allow citizens to have control over their personal information in a transparent way following the guidelines set by the European Union.
Alastria is an open platform for more companies, startups, SMEs, large corporations, universities and other actors from all sectors in Spain to join. Those interested in joining can access further information at www.alastria.es or send an email to members@alastria.io.
The Alastria network will provide a shared platform on which the various participants, and in particular large companies, will be able to create digital representations of the assets with which they work in their usual economic activity, also known as "tokens". With these "tokens" it is possible to develop new products and innovative cutting services, in addition to being able to develop current processes faster, safer and more efficiently. In this way, the network accelerates the digital transformation of current processes and enables a new paradigm of collaborative and multisectoral innovation in a very efficient way.
Alastria's objective is to transcend the business sphere and has held meetings with representatives of the Public Administration and Regulators, who have expressed their interest in collaborating with the consortium. In this sense, Alastria has requested the opening of collaboration channels to identify cases of use in public agencies and monitor those services that are in the process of study and analysis. To promote awareness and adoption of the network, Alastria is organizing training sessions for the Administration.
Furthermore, the development of the platform will not remain in the growth of its number of partners, but in the own development of the technology, which will be open. In this way, the Alastria consortium will make resources and contacts available to the community so that the ecosystem can grow and expand its potential benefits to more companies and users.
Beyond companies, Public Administration, Regulators and the developer community, the university community will play an important role in the Consortium. At present, several agreements have already been signed with renowned centres and, in addition, it will be an open process in which a significant number of institutions and university centres will be added. The aim is to establish agreements that promote research, experimentation and training.
Julio Faura, president of Alastria, said: "It is not easy for so many important companies to decide to bet a project together from the very beginning. That's the best proof of the incredible potential that this technology and the consortium have. He added: "We should be proud that a pioneering and unprecedented project throughout the world has been born in Spain, which places the industries of our country at the forefront of digital transformation.”
Alex Puig, Alastria's CEO, said: "Blockchain has the potential to become the biggest breakthrough in history in the way we share any digital element, whether it's a document, a service, a show ticket or money. In this regard, he stressed that the birth of the Consortium was necessary because "the Internet is being reinvented so that we can share and do business in a verified and secure way, but it is necessary to have a standard that allows all industries and the developer community to work with the same base.”
What is blockchain?
The blockchain technology, born in 2009, represents an evolution of network communications as they are known today. The Internet and the world wide web have been transforming our lives for decades. Information has never been so accessible and instantaneous. However, the system is not perfect and the network currently suffers from unreliability of data, security shortages and lack of verification of those involved in the communication.
Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DTL) is probably the most disruptive technology since the arrival of the Internet and could transform industries by decentralizing trust, generating an exchange of goods and services without the need for third parties. This would be possible because the information circulating through shared accounting records will be verified, as will those at the extremes.
The information contained in this technology is entered by means of an unalterable registry (guaranteed by cryptography), replicated in all participants by means of a standard communications protocol, which is accessible to all of them, eliminating the need for acknowledgements of receipt and reconciliations. This allows the participants to offer and receive services with legal effectiveness in the Spanish environment and in accordance with European regulations.
Specifically, the Alastria network, a semi-public blockchain, is made up of nodes - computers hosted by several participants - and provides shared accounting recording services. In this way, the partners of this network will be able to develop services and products within Alastria with total confidence and security. The fact that each member's digital identity is certified and guaranteed allows them to use smart contract technology (smart contracts) on which they can offer services and exploit applications in a cross-sectional environment and with full legal guarantees in Spain.