Alibaba, the giant Chinese conglomerate has recently filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent is about managing blockchain domain names, and the proposed solution could help to increase blockchain adoption.
Blockchain promises significant value addition to society, businesses, and governments. Decentralization, immutable records, security, and transparency make this technology a potential catalyst for major transformation across many sectors.
However, as it happens with any new technology, blockchain faces challenges too. The volatility in the crypto market, regulatory uncertainties, the lack of scalability, etc. are a few key challenges that blockchain faces, and these slow down its adoption.
The lack of interoperability is one such challenge facing blockchain. Different blockchain networks use different technologies, and users of one blockchain network have no easy way to use another network.
There are several factors behind the lack of interoperability of blockchain networks, and one of them is the challenge of managing the blockchain domain names. Presently, projects involving the cross-chain implementation of blockchain uses an identifier (ID) for each blockchain network in the scope.
Such IDs have limited scope, therefore, a better technology solution is imperative to manage blockchain domain names. This is where the Alibaba patent application assumes importance.
An innovative solution to manage the blockchain domain names
Alibaba has come up with an innovative solution to this challenge. The proposed solution from Alibaba involves a “Unified Blockchain Domain Name” (UBCDN), and the solution will use it to denote blockchain domains and share information.
Alibaba proposes a computer system that will generate a UBCDN message and this will contain the domain name and an ID for the network. The patent also mentions that the UBCDN will be tied to a blockchain network owner, and it will be verified using the digital signature of this owner.
Alibaba envisages that the blockchain network owners can create human-readable UBCDNs for their networks, and this solution will work for both private and public blockchain networks. Using a globally recognized and verified UBCDN will eliminate the additional work to connect different blockchain networks.
The resulting ease of connecting different blockchain networks and transacting across them could noticeably help with blockchain adoption. Alibaba is bullish on blockchain. The company is already using blockchain in its supply chain management, which includes Alibaba’s use of blockchain in its food supply chain.
Help for blockchain adoption
Blockchain interoperability is important for greater adoption of this promising technology. However, factors like the challenge of managing blockchain domain names adversely impact the interoperability. Alibaba’s new patent solution could significantly help to achieve blockchain interoperability as well as its adoption.
