Part I: What Is A Smart Contract?

A smart contract is a self-executing digital contract stored on the blockchain. Code in the contract ensures it is executed automatically when predetermined terms and conditions are met. As a result, these smart contracts increase efficiency and render transactions traceable, transparent, and irreversible.

Use cases for smart contracts include digital identity management, insurance claims, medical care, supply-chain management, financial services, real estate transactions, online payments, and government voting. 

But blockchain-based smart contracts run on public ledgers and do not support privacy because all records are logged openly. This allows anyone to peer into your dealings and create potentially uncomfortable or dangerous data exposure. More problematic still is that connecting even the most random-appearing addresses to the owner’s real identity is possible. For customers and businesses alike, this creates a serious concern. 

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How can smart contracts integrate privacy?

Adding privacy to smart contracts isn’t easy and has only recently become a priority. But there are solutions on the way. Leading proposals include Enigma (ENG), which uses Multiparty Computation (MPC) to calculate smart contract data without anyone being able to view the entire transaction. MPC involves two or more different people undertaking two or more different sides of an equation so that no one actor knows the full story. Related to this is the ability of Enigma to store encrypted data on the blockchain.

Solutions like this may be pivotal in the future of the internet of the future, since they balance the openness of blockchain with some basic privacy guarantees. As a company, we are continuously exploring the needs of businesses and individuals, and how privacy as discretion may be the pathway forward in order to achieve a utilitarian world.

In light of this, it's important to note that ShareRing is moving away from being a public blockchain and becoming a permissioned one.

This is because ShareRing recognizes the importance of privacy for businesses and individuals. Public blockchains allow anyone to access them, which means that anyone can see the transactions that are taking place. This is not ideal for businesses or individuals who want to keep their data confidential.

A permissioned blockchain is different in that only authorized participants can see the transactions that are taking place. For businesses and individuals who want complete data privacy, this is a more secure option.

ShareRing is dedicated to keeping our users' information secure, as well as contributing to the development of data privacy across the blockchain industry. Our goal remains the same: to reduce friction in the world by building a global blockchain ecosystem that embraces trust, privacy, and diversity.