Ethereum cryptocurrency enthusiasts launch HackIon hackathon in February

The British bank Barclays and the London startup Clearmatics have prepared a task for the participants of the HackIon hackathon, whichwill be held from February 5 to 6, 2019 in London. The organizers of the event invited programmers to develop ways to connect the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain (ETH) to private commercial networks, for example, Hyperledger Fabric.

Barclays employee Dr. Lee Brain spoke about the hackathon’s goals:

“We want to explore connection methodsdecentralized blockchains to other networks to make them interoperable. The hackathon will give us the opportunity to experiment with the protocol of the Ion platform, created for the development of cross-chain smart contracts.

Interoperability – this is importantcharacteristic for any system that transmits data. If decentralized networks can communicate directly with each other, their efficiency will increase and users will have new opportunities. For example, Ethereum coins can be exchanged for shares or bonds presented on the Hyperledger network.

According to an employee of the strategic departmentClearmatics development Sarah Finan, first of all, it is necessary to create communication between the ETH blockchain and the Hyperledger Fabric network, because this will strengthen the business cooperation of the two companies – Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and Hyperledger Foundation. Specialists from Barclays Bank will also participate in the hackathon, but their task is to develop applications to connect the Ethereum network to the Corda blockchain.

Ion project employees already have experience in the fieldcreating interoperable systems. In May 2018, they participated in the development of a project to issue derivatives on the Ethereum network, which could then be traded on the Axoni blockchain. Last year, the company began working on creating interoperable applications for the Hyperledger Fabric network. With their help, it will be possible to perform atomic swaps (cross-chain transactions) between different networks. The technology will be tested during simple financial tasks, in particular foreign currency exchange. For currency exchange, the concept of “payment versus payment” (PVP), then the developers will test in practice another principle of monetary settlements: “delivery versus payment” (DVP) for exchanging non-currency assets (for example, securities) for foreign currency ones.

To participate in HackIon you need to fill out the registration form on the Clearmatics website. Hackathon organizers will review your application and send an Eventbrite ticket code to your email.