MultiChain Releases 2.0 Beta, Adds SAP and HCL as Partners

MultiChain, the enterprise blockchain framework created by Coin Sciences, has released its beta version 2.0 and added over 40 new partners, including big names like SAP and HCL Technologies.

Version 2.0 includes new features such as "Smart filters" - MultiChain's take on smart contracts - as well as support for structured data to be embedded and indexed in the chain, and easy management of off-chain data.

"MultiChain has full off-chain data functionality built in so it makes life a lot easier for developers who are already using this kind of technique but had to cobble things together themselves with multiple pieces," said MultiChain founder Dr. Gideon Greenspan.

MultiChain's smart filters approach has elements in common with both R3 Corda's way of doing things, and also how ethereum works; indeed, the main enterprise blockchains all have slightly different ways.

Drilling down a little, Greenspan explained there are two types of MultiChain smart filters: transaction filters and stream filters.

"The stream filter is particularly good for straightforward data validation, so any kind of use case where you are putting structured data on the blockchain and you want to make sure that the data is clean," he said.

Transaction filters are well suited for creating niche financial systems running on the blockchain which require some special logic for that case.

Prominent among the new partners is German software giant SAP, which boasts more than 335,000 customers in 180 countries.

The company will be adding MultiChain to the SAP cloud offering, along with Hyperledger Fabric and Quorum, the ethereum-derived enterprise platform.

MultiChain's tracking and verification capabilities have already been put to the test by SAP in a pilot scheme around the authentication of returned prescription drugs, prior to these being reintroduced back into the market.