Nodes in 3 clicks: Citizens Reserve partners with Blockdaemon

The effort of setting up and maintaining a blockchain node is still a hurdle, but not an unsolvable one.

On 10 October at the Los Angeles BlockCon, Citizens Reserve, the industry-by-industry blockchain solutions firm that recently unveiled the SUKU "supply-chain-as-a-service" ecosystem, announced a partnership with the Comcast-backed Blockdaemon blockchain orchestration platform.

Blockdaemon's goal is nodes in three clicks, letting anyone deploy a public node on Bitcoin, Ethereum or Stellar as quickly and easily as possible. It also allows for the equally easy creation of permissioned networks, utilising Ethereum, Quorum or Hyperledger Fabric. Essentially, decentralisation-as-a-service.

As a blockchain network, SUKU is naturally dependent on nodes to maintain its ecosystem, but the challenges associated with setting up one's own node present a potential hurdle for users.

Blockdaemon's tools might be a much more attractive way of bringing users into the ecosystem. It also routinely checks to make sure all nodes are working properly, further taking a load off the end user to let them focus on their own applications rather than worrying about running a node and the wider system.

What it looks like

For SUKU users, this will appear as an invitation to spin up a node in only a few clicks after they sign up.

"Blockdaemon is a critical partner for our network, as this integration provides the key elements needed to onboard customers that may not have prior blockchain experience in a quicker, more efficient way, as well as helps to fully decentralize the SUKU platform," explains Citizens Reserve CEO Eric Piscini. "This will be especially key in integrating small and medium-sized businesses into our supply chain network who often have limited access to enterprise technology in general, but especially advanced technology such as blockchain."

It will also be key to helping third parties build their own solutions within the SUKU ecosystem without necessarily needing to deal with the technical rigours involved in setting up nodes.

"We are excited to support a groundbreaking project – Citizens Reserve – on their mission to develop solutions that provide visibility, access and engagement for the supply chain industry," said Konstantin Richter, Blockdaemon founder and CEO. "Blockdaemon provides the on-ramp for developers to connect with the SUKU platform, so Citizens Reserve can focus on evolving how supply chain technology can be utilized, making it easier for companies to address supply chain needs globally. We look forward to helping them succeed in setting the standards for this ecosystem."

It's a solid take on overcoming some of the more technical adoption hurdles of blockchain technology – in this case, the obstacles associated with meaningfully running a node – beyond the world of cryptocurrencies and wallets.

Both SUKU and Blockdaemon are also supported by industry heavyweights. Blockdaemon is backed by Comcast, whose interest in node services might be somewhat apparent, while SUKU has recently added Chairman of the CoinDesk advisory board Michael Casey and Earn.com co-founder and CFO Lily Liu to its own board of advisors.

Through solutions like Blockdaemon and its growing partnerships, the decentralised Internet might be gradually taking shape.

Disclosure: At the time of writing the author holds ETH, IOTA, ICX, VET, XLM, BTC, ADA

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