In December Bitcoin Magazine reported that a group of top tech and finance companies are joining forces with the Linux Foundation to develop a new open source blockchain separated from the Bitcoin blockchain. Digital Asset Holdings, the fintech startup headed by the financial superstar Blythe Masters, contributed its Hyperledger mark.

Last week, IBM started to reveal some details of its blockchain projects and strategy. John Wolpert, IBM’s blockchain offering director, said that Hyperledger code will become an open source industry standard, and developers will be able to build applications on top of Hyperledger. At the forthcoming Block Chain Conference on February 10 in San Francisco, Wolpert will give a keynote presentation titled “How to Make Block Chain Real for Business.” The address will focus on IBM’s point of view in this space and its contribution to the open source community led by the Linux Foundation.

Things are moving fast in the Hyperledger space. The Linux Foundation is announcing new members from across the industry, technical updates to the new Hyperledger Project and a formal open governance structure. “Think of it as an operating system for interactions,” says the new Hyperledger Project website. “It has the potential to vastly reduce the cost and complexity of getting things done.

“The Hyperledger Project has ramped up incredibly fast, a testament to how much pent-up interest, potential and enterprise demand there is for a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “Working on its own, even the largest global corporation could not match the speed at which our new members are moving blockchain technology forward. Such a broad effort and investment is sure to have a great impact on our personal and professional lives.”

A board of directors will guide business/marketing decisions and ensure alignment between the technical communities and members of the Hyperledger Project. Technical contributions to the project are welcome at any time, from anyone, and will be reviewed by the newly formed Technical Steering Committee (TSC), which is composed of industry-leading technical experts. Nominations are currently open for TSC members.

The announcement notes that the Hyperledger Project is a collaborative effort to focus on an open platform that will satisfy a variety of use cases across multiple industries to streamline business processes. Peer-to-peer in nature, distributed ledger technology is shared, transparent and decentralized, making it ideal for application in finance and countless other areas such as manufacturing, banking, insurance and the Internet of Things (IoT). “By creating a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers, virtually any digital exchange with value, such as real estate contracts, energy trades or marriage licenses, can securely and cost-effectively be tracked and traded,” says the Linux Foundation.

The Hyperledger Project has received proposed contributions from several companies, including Blockstream, Digital Asset, IBM and Ripple. Other community members are contemplating contributions of their own.

“The formation of Hyperledger marks a milestone in the advancement of distributed ledger technology,” said Digital Asset CEO Blythe Masters. “Digital Asset believes that it is vital for shared infrastructure to be open to critical inspection and collaboration, and this initiative will be pivotal in driving the global adoption of solutions to real-world problems.”

The updated list of Hyperledger founding members consists of 28 top companies in the technology and financial services space: ABN AMRO, Accenture, ANZ Bank, Blockchain, Calastone, Cisco, CLS, CME Group, ConsenSys, Credits, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Deutsche Börse Group, Digital Asset Holdings, Fujitsu Limited, Guardtime, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, J.P. Morgan, NEC, NTT DATA, R3, Red Hat, State Street, SWIFT, Symbiont, VMware and Wells Fargo.

“The development of blockchain technology has the potential to redefine the operations and economics of the financial services industry,” said Richard Lumb, chief executive of Accenture’s Financial Services. “It emerges at an important time, as the industry strives to be leaner, more efficient and more digital. Open source development will accelerate the innovation and help drive the scalability of this technology, and we are proud to support the Hyperledger Project.”

Other statements by Hyperledger founding members focus on the non-banking applications of blockchain technology.

“We at Fujitsu are confident that blockchain technology will accelerate disruptive change, not only in the financial industry, but also in many other industries where it will be put to active use,” said Fujitsu Senior Vice President Takahito Tokita.

“We believe blockchain will quickly mature and spread to more industries,” said Masayoshi Ogawa, President of Hitach’s Financial Information Systems Division.

Other statements are available in the Linux Foundation press release. It appears that the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Project is moving very fast and is on its way to become a leading force in the blockchain technology development space.

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation wants to be the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption.

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