The age of digital information has made data a lot more valuable. Many companies gather massive consumer information, consider them as their assets, and sell them to advertisers or big businesses. This takes away the consumers’ power over the information they are providing to these companies. Ocean Protocol wants to fix this imbalance.
Ocean Protocol designed a network that takes advantage of blockchain technology in providing a secure infrastructure to support a network of data sharing entities complemented by artificial intelligence (AI) elements.
Table of Contents
Background
Bruce Pon, Founder of the Ocean Protocol, started the project with a vision to create a blockchain ecosystem that is fit for the “new data economy.” With the volume of data stored by many custodians today and the transition of the world towards digitalization, it has now been more important than ever to utilize them in business operations and other public utilities.
However, the problem is that only less than 1% of all that data is analyzed. And according to experts, this massive store of data just lays dormant on silos. Tapping into big data can produce benefits, especially in AI development.
Ocean Protocol was created to establish a network where all of this data can be utilized not only for the benefit of granting better user sovereignty, but also digital innovation.
What is the Ocean Protocol?
Ocean Protocol is a decentralized data market protocol and network of AI data/services built on the Polkadot blockchain. The platform is designed to establish a network that meshes together AI and blockchain to provide a data management service that does not compromise data privacy and security.
Through the help of decentralized service agreements and access controls powered by virtual machines, users can access, monetize, and even curate data management services that they will need for their businesses. This is called Ocean’s “decentralized orchestration.”
The primary beneficiaries of Ocean’s technology are marketplaces, softwares, and other data science tools that consume a lot of data in performing their own functions. Network participants are also rewarded for sharing their data with the network without a trade-off with consumer privacy.
How Does the Ocean Protocol Work?
Ocean Protocol is an ecosystem of data providers, consumers, marketplaces and developers. Its architecture is designed to support the needs of these stakeholders. The platform enables data sharing and monetization, without compromising data ownership and transparency.
Each element of the network gives data providers the freedom to decide how their data can be published and shared. Linked marketplaces and other intermediaries can help data consumers find the information they need, as well as access other services provided by the platform for them.
Ecosystem
As already mentioned, a lot of stakeholders are at play within the Ocean Protocol ecosystem. These are the following:
- Data Providers – These are entities like businesses, government agencies, groups, or data custodians that are already collecting personal information from the public.
- Data Consumers – These are entities like businesses, government agencies, or other groups, that need data to support their operations.
- Community – This is a group of people among the public, legislators, and other advocacy organizations pushing for more user sovereignty over personal data ownership and control over its commercialization.
- Marketplaces – This is the market that acts as an intermediary between data providers and consumers, including the provision of other relevant services such as algorithms and storage solutions, among others.
- Developers – These are the people who are working continuously to develop and maintain the network, as well as build new services based on the needs of the market.
Service Execution Agreements
It is important to understand that Ocean categorizes data and algorithms as an asset. These are leveraged by the services that analyze and process all collected data and developed algorithms.
Service Execution Agreements (SEA) allow connection to the network and monetization of data services. Through SEA, data can be used by consumers and the community without exposing sensitive data to the general public.
Ocean Tokens
Ocean Token (OCEAN) is the native utility token backing the platform. It is used as a medium of exchange and reward for the keeper nodes of the network. There are plenty of ways to acquire Ocean tokens aside from buying them on exchanges where they are listed. Here are some of the ways to earn OCEAN:
- Providing Data – Data providers can earn Ocean by publishing shareable data to the network without having to surrender control over that data and without compromising data private compliance.
- Curating Data – Custodians and other entities can earn Ocean by publishing, curating, and conserving public data that can meet the demands of the data consumers.
- Participating in a Marketplace – Data marketplaces and other intermediaries can earn Ocean by connecting to the platform to connect available data with data consumers. Developers and businesses can also either come up with innovations in the services provided by the network or open their own data marketplace on the network.
- Providing Network Services – Keeper nodes do the necessary work of maintaining the network by validating and verifying the integrity of its services, as well as maintaining an accurate record of the blockchain transactions.
Staking
Ocean can also be used for staking. They can deposit their Ocean tokens in specific datasets or services to produce “drops.” Every dataset will have its own drop and the exchange rate for corresponding drops will depend on the curation markets’ bonding curves.
Conclusion
Using the blockchain to develop existing technologies such as AI can produce massive benefits in the way we perform business operations. That is why it is necessary to train AI systems even if they require huge loads of information. Ocean’s network gives stakeholders the ability to tap on every available source of information to support the development of their key processes. This benefit cannot be understated.
Ocean Protocol can also be an empowering tool for users too. In a world where they do not have control over how their data is stored and commercialized, Ocean’s promise to balance the scales to everyone’s benefit is a huge breakthrough. The project categorizes every user information provided as intellectual property, a right that enables users to freely claim ownership and control over their data.
