Japanese blockchain software provider Tech Bureau has announced the release of the second version of its mijin blockchain software. Called Catapult, the release took nearly three years to develop and test, and consists in a full-featured, blockchain engine delivering a new version of the NEM protocol for running both permissioned and mixed public/private blockchain networks.
Catapult is introducing aggregated transactions and multi-level and multi-signature (multisig) accounts, features that are not available on any other blockchain and which will accelerate enterprise blockchain adoption, the company said. It also features smart contract plugins enabling bulletproof digital asset creation, decentralized swaps, advanced account systems and business logic modeling.
Catapult’s aggregated transactions feature means that the platform can combine a number of transactions into a one-time disposable smart contract. When all parties agree to the contract, it is executed automatically. The feature allows for multiple users to send different assets, essentially trustless swaps, in a single transaction.
The multi-level multisig feature enables multisig on Catapult’s multi-tiered architecture so that a more complicated business logic can be managed on the chain. Multisig is built into smart contracts such that a contract can’t be initiated and/or transactions can’t occur until all appointed cosigners agree to the contract. If all cosigners do not agree to the contract by the deadline, mijin automatically deletes the contract.
The new platform was designed to support the needs of large technology firms, whether for electronic money systems, user authentication, land and property registration, logistics tracking, food traceability, or other uses.
Tech Bureau is also launching a self-service, on-demand developer lab for companies and individuals to easily get started on Catapult without the need to manage their own infrastructure.
Tom Beno, CEO of Tech Bureau North America, said the release represented “a key milestone on the roadmap” with the developer lab laying the ground word for the company’s mijin enterprise cloud offering.
“Entering this new phase, we are closer than ever to realizing the promise of bringing the latest version of our blockchain technology to both private and public networks such as NEM,” said Beno.
mijin v.1 was launched in September 2015 and has been used by over 300 individuals and companies, Tech Bureau claims. In February, the company announced that Japan Net Bank and Fujitsu were testing blockchain technology integrations using mijin and the Hyperledger platform.
The proof-of-concept project was focused on assessing the practicality of using blockchain technology for a paperless system for contract administration.
Mijin was tested in December 2015 by Japan’s largest trust bank, SBI Sumishin Net Bank, to add to their online banking services.