The enterprise software market is massive, with a forecasted $200 bln to be spent on application integrations by 2019. On average, enterprises deal with dozens, if not hundreds of disparate and isolated custom applications and software service providers to satisfy their needs. Blockchains bear hope for a more interoperable future, with ecosystems founded on open source protocols that allow companies to quickly engage in financial applications, supply chain management and other core services without fracturing business processes across a multitude of applications and software providers.

CommerceBlock is one of the first platforms on which such a future can be built. By leveraging a carefully crafted combination of protocols, CommerceBlock allows enterprise customers to execute their business processes and extract value from the collective utility of fully interoperable public and private Blockchains.

The journey of enabling such business processes was started by CommerceBlock co-founders Nicholas Gregory and Omar Shibli who have implemented Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 175 (BIP-175), an open-source standard that enables businesses to conduct trade on public Blockchains without exposing their business logic or contract details to the wider network.

Asset mobility

Asset issuance and management are core components to many business processes. In the CommerceBlock ecosystem, businesses will be able to seamlessly issue, exchange and track assets across federated sidechains.

For example, a property owner can issue convertible debt assets which can then be traded by hedge funds, investment banks, private equity firms and other investors. The design of the system will be such that CommerceBlock validates and processes transactions, but all contract details are completely hidden from their view. This design reduces the counterparty risk that software providers generally hold.

On-chain derivatives

Currency hedging is another essential tool businesses use to manage their risk. CommerceBlock understands this need and has begun to design a protocol based on the Lightning Network that would allow for businesses to hedge their currency risk using Bitcoin backed derivative contracts. These protocols will lay the groundwork for non-custodial derivative exchanges that do not carry the hot wallet risk that has plagued exchanges like Mt. Gox and Bitfinex.

The CommerceBlock token sale

Ultimately this is just the tip of the iceberg. The CommerceBlock ecosystem will have a plethora of tools for all sorts of business processes, be it asset issuance, escrow, currency hedging or other products traditionally reserved for commercial banking customers. Beginning on Nov. 28, this ecosystem will be accessible through the CommerceBlock token (CBT). The token sale is being conducted on the CommerceBlock issuance platform where 40 percent of one mln CBTs (ERC-20 tokens) are available for public sale with a fundraising target of $25 mln.