Blockchain scanners (also known as explorers) allow off-chain businesses to access data that is held on-chain. Scanners are similar to oracles (see Tokenbrief #4) that make on-chain data available to the outside world. In the financial industry, blockchain scanners will have many applications such as verifying consumer identities or authorities, or to inspect transactions or balances relating to tokenized financial assets.
Tokenbridge offers TB InspecT, an application that adds value to the scanner function by enriching on-chain data to make it more meaningful to the enquiring organisation.
Blockchain scanner technology
Blockchain scanners typically run a full node (or connect to third-party full node) for the selected blockchain. Each full node contains a complete copy of the blockchain ledger which includes every smart contract, token and transaction on that particular blockchain network.
This raw data may be enhanced in some cases by the use of indexes to allow faster retrieval of linked data. The scanner will link to third parties using APIs. This obviates the need for the third party to build their own connectivity to the blockchain.
Blockchain scanner use cases
Organisations may have many reasons to get data from the blockchain.
An organisation involved in a particular transaction may wish to track the progress of that transaction. This might be a distributor following a purchase of mutual funds units, an acquiring party during a portfolio transfer, or any other party involved in transactional activity.
An organisation not directly involved in a transaction may also be interested in data about the transaction. This could be a government agency or regulator for example, with a mandated role to track transactions in certain tokenized instruments.
Organisations such as data aggregators or market data providers may also be interested in transactional or asset data to build indexes or provide market analysis.
For personalization tokens, the list of use cases is even longer, including:
- Checking a KYC token to ensure that the consumer is eligible to purchase funds – if configured correctly, this check could be completed by the scanner on a “zero knowledge” basis so that no actual consumer data is transferred
- Checking an ISA or model portfolio token to ensure that a purchase meets eligibility or model criteria
- Checking an LOA token to see if the party has been granted access to specific data
- Accessing (with the consumer’s express permission) fact find data to build a cash flow model for an advice consultation with the consumer.
TB InspecT
TB InspecT enhances the concept of a blockchain scanner in two very important ways.
First (although this is not unique to TB InspecT), it provides access to data on multiple blockchains. This aggregation function allows a third party to access a range of data not possible through visiting a single blockchain network. This is critical as tokenizers will not all select the same blockchain to tokenize their assets or data.
Second, TB InspecT will have access to a managed library of reference data not available on-chain. For example, where a fund manager has issued a tokenized fund, although much of the information about the fund itself is available on-chain (total issuance, NAV and so on), data about the fund manager itself will not be part of the blockchain data. This data will be managed centrally in a library and can be used to enhance the data requested by off-chain parties. Additionally, data may be present in the remainder of the Tokenbridge suite of applications and can be made available to TB InspecT as required.
TB Inspect can be white-labelled as required.
Role of Tokenbridge
The TB InspecT application will allow organisations not connected to any blockchain to view and use on-chain data without the need to invest in and maintain blockchain connectivity. The Tokenbridge value add is that data can be enriched and sanitized using Tokenbridge’s footprint and deep understanding in the funds and financial industries.