Decentralized Applications on NEM

The Blockchain Optimized for Business Data

Catapult is a full-featured blockchain engine that can power both private and public networks with its unique smart contract plugins. These plugins enable bulletproof digital asset creation, decentralized swaps, advanced account systems and business logic modeling.

In its next phase, Catapult will become the core NEM engine.

First appeared on medium

What’s New?

Besides making big improvements to speed and scalability, Catapult introduces Aggregated Transactions and Multi-Level Multisignature Accounts. These offer new uses that have never been available on any blockchain.

Aggregated Transactions — Decentralized Swaps Are Here!

Aggregated Transactions merge multiple transactions into one, allowing trustless swaps, automatic cross-chain transactions, and other advanced logic. Catapult does this by generating a one-time disposable smart contract. When all parties have approved the transaction, all of them are executed at once. Catapult is the only blockchain with this feature.

Decentralized Swaps

In this example a buyer wants to purchase a license (such as media usage rights) for 3,000 XEM. The license is listed for sale on an exchange, but she prefers to keep all her private keys off exchanges. Catapult automatically creates three transfers needed to make a trustless swap.

3,000 XEM transfers to the seller. The license transfers to the buyer. A 6 XEM exchange fee transfers to the exchange.

Catapult executes all these transfers simultaneously as one transaction. This built-in escrow means all the transfers succeed together or they all fail together. Note that while transactions may be facilitated by exchanges, they never hold your keys, so the funds can’t be seized or interrupted.

Automatic Transaction Fee Payment

Alice sends $50 USD to Bob using a payment app. But she doesn’t have any XEM to pay the blockchain transaction fee. Catapult can automatically convert USD to XEM to pay the fee.

Now Alice and Bob can use the Catapult blockchain without ever having to buy or hold XEM. Since the app creator can put their own branding on the open source payment app, Alice and Bob may not even know they are using Catapult.

Multi-Asset Escrowed Transactions

In this example Alice is buying concert tickets with XEM. Since she is buying during a special promotion she also gets a voucher for a concert T-shirt. On other blockchains these kinds of combined trustless transactions are impractical. Catapult makes them easy and secure.

Multi-Level Multisignature Accounts

Another new Catapult feature is multi-level multi-signature accounts. For the first time on any blockchain, this adds “AND/OR” logic to multi-signature transactions. You can also think of this as “nested signatures.” This allows a huge variety of business logic.

Fraud Detection

This example shows how a high security account can be made easier to use. Transactions are only approved from a hardware wallet OR your phone AND a fraud detection AI. This allows a variety of security configurations at the protocol level to keep businesses and their customers hack-free.

Account Recovery

You can set up your account so it can be recovered only with the approval of signatures from specified accounts, such as your friends and family. Combine the branches any way you like.

Manufacturing and Supply Chains

Catapult accounts can do a lot more than send currency. They can send any digital data, like certificates and reports. Catapult’s multi-level multisignature accounts can interact with things like shipment scanners and automated manufacturing devices.

In this example a manufacturer is shipping a product such as a pharmaceutical. The product receives its Quality Approval only when its blockchain record shows it has a production date, safety inspection, and was shipped at the correct temperature. Sensors in the shipping container report temperature data every 5 minutes and consolidate it into a daily report.

Catapult’s Performance Advantage: A Four-Layered Architecture

Catapult is fast because it’s built with a four-layered architecture. This keeps each layer free from getting slowed down by the others. So API calls and data queries can respond quickly even with high traffic. It also allows developers to update any of these tiers without disrupting the others, improving security.

More Catapult Use Cases

Together, all these features make Catapult a complete blockchain solution for a huge number of use cases:

Currencies

International Remittance

Exchanges

Bank Accounts

Securities Trading

Registrations

IOT Micropayments

Insurance

ICOs and Utility Tokens

Loyalty Rewards Points

Inspection Records

Notarizations

Copyright Management

Sharing Economy

Trading Cards

Voting

Customer Relationship Management

Compliance and KYC Records

Logistics Tracking

Telecom Accounts

Medical Records

Automatic Accounting

User Identity Verification

Time Logs

Scientific Data Records

Encrypted Messaging and Storage

Social Media

Catapult can back up its claims with months of field-tested performance. No vaporware here. It’s built and it works.

In the coming weeks we’ll add more explanation of the many use cases Catapult opens up and how companies are currently using it.

Learn More

To learn more about Catapult, or register to participate in the Developer Preview, visit our partners at http://mijin.io/en/catapult.

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