Lelantos is the first Blockchain-based anonymous delivery system

[Tomcat]

Shops in the real world provide an opportunity to maintain privacy using cash, thus without revealing any personal data about the buyer (name, address, etc.) The exact opposite is online shopping mandates requiring all private data to be provided for billing and / or delivery. Although cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have provided a revolutionary private billing solution through pseudonymous transactions, the anonymous delivery of purchased goods is still a problem that still needs to be addressed.
A recently published article presented a new Blockchain-based system for delivering purchased goods called Lelantos, which has been proven in experimental trials to offer users complete anonymity, fair exchange and no direct seller-buyer linkages. The system is inspired by the Tor browser routing approaches, which are used to provide anonymity on the network. In addition, Lelantos applies blockchain decentralization to enable pseudonymous product delivery that is nearly impossible to trace. Lelantos also uses distributed consensus smart contract mechanisms to impose fair, undisputed transactions between trustee contracting parties.
An overview Lelantos

Lelantos is a physical delivery system that relies on Blockchain technology to keep both sellers and buyers anonymous. The system implements an integrated routing approach across multiple companies. Lelantos is a combination of three elements:
1.An interface that relies on blocked smart contracts for the intermediate process of delivering items in a fairly anonymous manner, without having to rely on any intermediary or third party;
2. A web service for advertising and registering potential delivery companies that may offer the requested service;
3. Contract bids for monitoring the status and development of smart contracts and interaction with them in accordance with the role of the contracting party.
The creators of Lelantos defined the functionality of the smart contract system and other cross-reference elements, focusing on minimizing operations to reduce the execution of code bindings to keep gas costs to a minimum. On the other hand, they analyzed the security of the main elements of the system for compliance with the required level of anonymity, fair exchange, integrity between buyers and sellers, and unauthorized take-offs. A working prototype of the Lelantos smart contract is implemented as a proof of concept as an open source project available in the GitHub repository. The anonymous delivery system is developed based on the operational threat model, which provides the following functions:
a. Fair exchange. The anonymous package delivery system is moderated with a decentralized smart contract that guarantees fair transfers of funds to both merchants and supplying companies, and that the correct package is delivered to the intended customer;
b. Buyers anonymity. Customers do not need to disclose any personal information other than their pseudonym to any of the contracting parties (ie merchants and supplier companies);
with. Failure of the seller-buyer. Any contracting party will know no more than two itinerary flights on packages, which makes it impossible to connect the buyer with the seller.
The smart contract used by Lelantos is an Ethereum-based smart contract written in Solidity. The smart contract allows customers to choose the route the package will take through a group of shipping companies of their choice. For each specific shipping company, the customer will prepare a coded message that includes the tracking number of their choice, as well as the address of the next shipping company hidden by a different number. All sent text is encrypted through the smart contract, so tracking numbers will only make sense to the client. In other words, all information about the package delivery route, the number of shipping companies will be hidden for everyone, except for the client and each of the two sequential delivery companies. With the recent rise in Ethereum prices, the price of gas has also increased.
Lelantos is by far the first attempt to provide an anonymous blockchain-based package delivery system.

 

[Carding Forum]

Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain: What Bankers Think​

International consulting company Synechron has published the results of a survey on the potential of technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services. The study was conducted in 92 institutions that operate in the capital market and banking. The experts' questions were answered by representatives of the management responsible for technological solutions.

Key findings of the study on Blockchain and artificial intelligence:​

Blockchain

• Over 55% of respondents believe that blockchain will be an extremely important technology in the financial services industry over the next 10 years.
• However, only 12% said they had already started testing the blockchain. The remaining 88% either study technology or do nothing at all.
• The main obstacles to blockchain implementation are considered by financiers to be unclear legal and regulatory aspects, untested scalability and production capabilities. Its interoperability is also a major concern.

The use of Blockchain in banks is discussed internationally. More than 40 banks from around the world have united in the R3 consortium to test the technology and are planning to launch a distributed platform for financial institutions - Corda.
In Ukraine, a Blockchian system for financial institutions may also be presented soon. Moreover, Ukrainian developers from Distributed Lab are going to implement the project "financial Internet" in one of the Ukrainian banks in three months.

Artificial intelligence

• 71% of respondents believe AI will be extremely important over the next 10 years
• 37% said that their company does not develop in this area. 34% of banks are just studying the technology, and 25% have launched a small test. Artificial intelligence is being actively implemented in only 3.5% of institutions.
• 40% said the cost of AI development and testing is the biggest obstacle to technology adoption.
• 25% cited lack of compelling use cases as a barrier. And 24% indicated a lack of understanding of AI.

How they propose to use artificial intelligence in the largest bank in the UAE - watch the video:

 

[Informalmarc]

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