Digital Asset, a blockchain startup, is open sourcing its Digital Asset Modelling Language (“DAML”), the heart of projects such as the partial re-plumbing (ASX) of the Australian Securities Exchange.
The announcement was made Thursday. It allows DA to make DAML free of charge – opening up its source code, runtime system and software development kit (SDK) all under an Apache 2.0 License.
This is a significant strategy play by the New York City-based Software Firm, which has been in a difficult few months after the departure of Chief Executive Blythe Masters.
Digital Asset’s chief marketing officer Dan O’Prey said that it had always been the intention to open-source the code for skyblock guide. It was a matter of when, and not if. According to O’Prey, the goal is to open source the code now. More about Hypixel Skyblock Coins For Sale
“So, this isn’t a useless, stripped down version. This is the complete DAML that anyone can modify or fork.
Hyperledger connection
O’Prey is a cofounder of Hyperledger, and also serves as its marketing chair. He said that the move will foster closer relationships with other enterprise players. He specifically mentioned DA’s longstanding relationship to the Linux-affiliated Hyperledger Consortium.
“We are keen to collaborate with the Hyperledger open-source community. O’Prey stated that Hyperledger’s open-source license, the Apache 2.0 license (the standard license of Linux Foundation), will make integration with frameworks much easier.
Brian Behlendorf (executive director of Hyperledger) echoed these sentiments, saying he welcomed the decision to open source DAML. He told CoinDesk that DAML integration with various Hyperledger tools and frameworks is something he looked forward to.
One can draw a parallel between DA’s current move with DAML, and R3’s Corda. Originally a proprietary platform, Corda was later made open-source. This allowed for rapid growth of the Corda developer community.
O’Prey acknowledged Corda’s success, but noted that DAML is not directly comparable to Corda. He said that DAML could run on Corda to manage Skyblock coins shop.
R3 spoke out in support of DA’s decision to open up DAML. DLT is well-suited for open source as we’ve seen with other industry-leading platforms.
No tokens
O’Prey noted that DA’s unique approach to smart contracts does not compete with ethereum-based Quorum. This enterprise platform was built by JP Morgan engineers.
“DAML could run on Quorum again,” he said. He said that Solidity, which runs on the EVM [Ethereum virtual machine] and is supported by Quorum, would make it more competitive.
O’Prey stated that smart contracts need their own language, built from scratch by DA. This is in contrast to Solidity’s Javascript derivation.
He said that DAML does not use the tokenizing technology that ethereum uses to deal with digital assets. This is typically done using the ERC-20 standard. Smart contracts are able to run programs that move these tokens around.
O’Prey stated that “DAML does not use the token model at any time.” O’Prey stated that DAML considers parties and contracts first-class citizens. Therefore, financial assets are not modeled as a bearer instrument such as cash that can be moved between people. Instead, it is a representation of the rights and obligations that an agreement contains, and what could actually happen for that financial instrument in the future.
A healthy future
The firm continues to expand its reach beyond capital markets to areas such as healthcare.
Gopi Devalcheruvu (Vice President of Technology at Change Healthcare) said that DAML was a “powerful and intuitive tool” for implementing a proof of concept in healthcare payments.
Devalcheruvu stated that DAML would be available as an open-source project. He also expressed excitement about the possibility of others being able to use DAML to create blockchain solutions and increase its adoption within the community.
John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health, stated that DAML’s emphasis on privacy is essential for navigating regulations. He said, “We support the decision of open-sourcing DAML. It will help us gain acceptance through improved security and licensing, support, and support.”
A spokeswoman for DA confirmed that ASX was working with them to replace their CHESS system for cash equities.