Improving the human condition by creating and distributing blockchain applications: Peer Ledger Inc

The emergence of technology has changed the way of living for everyone in this entire world. It has totally transformed how we work, play and do business, and provide new solutions to our problems. The world is on the verge of another big change and this change is being brought by cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology in a broader sense.

Since the rise of capitalism,central banks have always been the key players in the world’s economy. But the blockchain could enable more global distribution of economic power across citizens owning smart devices. Blockchain technology uses cryptographic tools and a distributed consensus process to create a significant innovation in traditional record keeping. This technology provides resilience and security, and on public blockchains, transparency; it is a golden permanent record of transaction activity which can be viewed by collaborating participants who see the same things. It operates using a peer-to-peer network not a central organization.

In 2016, Dawn Jutla started Peer Ledger Inc. to help corporations to innovate with private blockchains. Peer Ledger’s first product focused on building an identity bridge between existing corporate applications and new blockchain applications. Later with a seed investment from Mike Durland, and a use case suggestion from Sunil Kashyap, the chair of the Singapore Bullion Market Association, the company expanded its mandate to responsible sourcing and supplier sustainability around conflict minerals. Its products are solutions that may be bolted onto other blockchains, corporate ERPs, and supply chains whether the latter are on premises or in the cloud. 

The journey of Peer Ledger so far

Peer Ledger Inc. is a software technology company; it creates and distributes blockchain applications that improve the human condition.

Its first offering is called Identity Bridge Portal; it links blockchain accounts to externally certified real-world identities. Blockchain applications that use Peer Ledger’s Identity Bridge Portal, in high assurance industries such as pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense and government have verified, certified, trustworthy identities that enterprises can count on. Peer Ledger makes use of the public key infrastructure (PKI) system to certify identities outside the blockchain before binding them to blockchain accounts. The Identity Bridge is a portal product that enables regular users to log into blockchain applications and view account balances or other information, as well as set preferences on their security profiles for different blockchain applications. A separate interface enables administrators to issue and revoke mappings of certified digital identities to blockchain accounts, create user groups, add or blacklist blockchain applications, and set parameters for resilient file storage.

There are many companies that don’t understand blockchain so educating about blockchain is a significant part of what Peer Ledger does with its prospective customers. Industry associations are particularly proactive, seeking pilots to test early market acceptance of Peer Ledger’s products. For its next 2017/8 pilot, Peer Ledger has partnered with the world’s largest cloud supply chain provider to layer on its offerings to show stakeholders how Peer Ledger’s products work on top of existing systems to securely solve the traceability, non-repudiation, and fraud issues abundant in conflict mineral management.

The products and growth of the organization

Its first blockchain application, called Mimosi, addresses the impact of downstream companies’ purchasing power on the quality of human life in upstream areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Peer Ledger provides trading banks, and companies in electronics, aerospace and defense, automotive, medical devices, and jewelry industries among others,a tool to automate controls, including checklists, certifications, and audits around purchases and unintended funding of conflicts in mineral-rich countries. It provides a common platform for private supplier ecosystems to automate secure collaboration for compliance to regulations, and joint governments’ and industry associations’ guidance around responsible sourcing and the prevention of funding conflicts in high-risk areas. There is cross-industry collaborative interest in both products because they enable full traceability at a relatively low cost, while providing robust consensus on fully-reconciled transactions that record the flows of good, services, and payments.

The team of this 18 months old venture still feels the thrill of creation, and selling companies on embracing innovation to raise the bar on supplier sustainability around responsible sourcing of conflicts minerals, checklists management, and counterfeit controls.

Peer Ledger Inc. is developing partnerships to roll out its Identity Bridge Portal and the Mimosi product and hope to gain an established customer base, positive cash flow, and opportunities to develop further applications of its innovations as well as further innovative corporate blockchain applications.

Formula for Success

• Vision and company values: provides focus and context to company decisions.
• Talented team of software architects and engineers: enables a superb culture valuing high-quality execution.
• Investors: gives the company valuable mentorship and wings beneath its feet.
• Partners: key to the company’s go-to-market strategy.
• Community and industry support: access to valuable resources and innovation opportunities.

Knowing the key executives behind the success

Dawn Jutla, CEO and Founder: Dawn started her career selling computer solutions to industries including manufacturing, publishing, and insurance. She has a PhD in Computer Science in the area of Access Control and originated the extension to the security model behind the identity bridge product.

Peter Bodorik, CTO: Bodorik has developed custom software for industry over his entire career. His PhD is in systems engineering and he specializes in distributed systems. He is co-inventor on the ID Bridge and Mimosi patent applications.

Mike Durland, Board Director: Mike is the Board Director at Peer Ledger, and President and CEO of Melancthon Capital, a private company which provides capital and advisory services to socially purposeful emerging Canadian companies. Mike is also an active investor in TruLeaf, Deep Learni.ng, and Receptiviti.

"Peer Ledger develops state-of-the-art blockchain technologies to ensure the highest level of identity and access solutions, and responsible supply chain solutions available today.”