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Amazon Managed Blockchain

Amazon Managed Blockchain is a fully managed service that makes it easy to join public networks or create and manage scalable private networks using the popular open-source frameworks Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.

Blockchain makes it possible to build applications where multiple parties can execute transactions without the need for a trusted, central authority. Today, building a scalable blockchain network with existing technologies is complex to set up and hard to manage. To create a blockchain network, each network member needs to manually provision hardware, install software, create, and manage certificates for access control, and configure networking components. Once the blockchain network is running, you need to continuously monitor the infrastructure and adapt to changes, such as an increase in transaction requests, or new members joining or leaving the network.

Amazon Managed Blockchain is a fully managed service that allows you to join public networks or set up and manage scalable private networks with just a few clicks. Amazon Managed Blockchain eliminates the overhead required to create the network or join a public network, and automatically scales to meet the demands of thousands of applications running millions of transactions. Once your network is up and running, Managed Blockchain makes it easy to manage and maintain your blockchain network. It manages your certificates and lets you easily invite new members to join the network.

Get started with Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum using Amazon Managed Blockchain.

Benefits

Fully managed

With Amazon Managed Blockchain, you can quickly create blockchain networks that span multiple AWS accounts, enabling a group of members to execute transactions and share data without a central authority. Unlike self-hosting your blockchain infrastructure, Amazon Managed Blockchain eliminates the need for manually provisioning hardware, configuring software, and setting up networking and security components. With Managed Blockchain’s voting API, network participants can vote to add or remove members. Once a new member is added, Managed Blockchain lets that member launch and configure multiple blockchain peer nodes to process transaction requests and store a copy of the ledger. Managed Blockchain also monitors the network and automatically replaces poorly performing nodes.

Choice of Hyperledger Fabric or Ethereum

Amazon Managed Blockchain supports two popular blockchain frameworks, Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum. Hyperledger Fabric is well-suited for applications that require stringent privacy and permission controls with a known set of members, for example, a financial application where certain trade-related data is only shared with select banks. Ethereum is well suited for highly distributed blockchain networks where transparency of data for all members is important, for example, a customer loyalty blockchain network that allows any retailer in the network to independently verify a user’s activity across all members to redeem benefits. Alternatively, Ethereum can also be used for joining a public Ethereum blockchain network.

Scalable and Secure

Amazon Managed Blockchain can easily scale your blockchain network as the usage of applications on the network grows over time. When a network member requires additional capacity for creating and validating transactions, the member can quickly add a new peer node using Managed Blockchain’s APIs. Managed Blockchain provides a selection of instance types that comprise varying combinations of CPU and memory to give you the flexibility to choose the appropriate mix of resources for your workload. Additionally, Managed Blockchain secures your network’s certificates with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) technology, eliminating the need for you to set up your own secure key storage.

Reliability

Amazon Managed Blockchain improves the reliability of the “ordering service,” a component in the Hyperledger Fabric framework that ensures delivery of transactions across the blockchain network. Hyperledger Fabric’s default ordering service does not store a complete history of transactions, making it hard to keep track of and recover transaction history when needed. Managed Blockchain’s ordering service is built using Amazon QLDB technology and has an immutable change log that accurately maintains the complete history of all transactions in the blockchain network, ensuring that you durably save this data.

Managed Blockchain use cases

Trading and Asset Transfer

Trading requires many organizations such as importers, exporters, banks, shipping companies, and customs departments, to work with one another. Using Amazon Managed Blockchain, financial and trading consortiums can easily create a blockchain network where all parties can transact and process trade-related paperwork electronically, without the need for a central trusted authority. Unlike other processes that require trade-related paperwork to go back and forth between the stakeholders, taking 5-10 days to complete, transactions in a blockchain network built using Managed Blockchain can process instantly.

Retail

Retailers are often looking to improve customer loyalty programs by partnering with other retailers, banks, and third-parties to offer a more comprehensive selection of customer rewards that can be redeemed across an extensive network of partners. Using a central agency as an intermediary for processing reward transactions can often slow down the process, taking 5-7 days. With Amazon Managed Blockchain, a group of retailers can easily implement a blockchain network that allows them to share and validate rewards information quickly and transparently, without needing a central authority that processes rewards transactions between retailers.

Supply Chain

Small businesses often rely on distributed supply chain networks where no single entity controls the end-to-end movement of goods across the network. As an example, jewelry stores often need to track the provenance of gemstones to ensure their authenticity and value. Using Amazon Managed Blockchain, such businesses can quickly implement a blockchain across their supply chain network, providing greater transparency, and real-time recording and tracking of goods from one party to another. Each supplier or distributor can be a member of the blockchain network, maintain their own distributed ledger, and independently track all information related to the movement of the goods such as timestamp, port of entry, and volume of goods received. Given that all members maintain an independent copy of the distributed ledger, all parties can trust the true origin and touchpoints of the goods, without relying on a central authority.