Hyperledger (or the Hyperledger project) is an open source blockchain platform, started in December 2015 by the Linux Foundation, to support blockchain-based distributed ledgers. It is focused on ledgers designed to support global business transactions, including major technological, financial, and supply chain companies, with the goal of improving many aspects of performance and reliability. The project aims to bring together a number of independent efforts to develop open protocols and standards, by providing a modular framework that supports different components for different uses. This would include a variety of blockchains with their own consensus and storage models, and services for identity, access control, and contracts.
History
In December 2015, the Linux Foundation announced the creation of the Hyperledger Project. The first founding members of the project were announced in February 2016, and 10 further members and the makeup of the governing board were announced on March 29. On May 19, Brian Behlendorf was appointed Executive Director of the project.
In early 2016, the project started accepting proposals for codebases and other technology to incubate, for potential inclusion as core elements of Hyperledger. One of the first proposals was for a codebase combining previous work by Digital Asset Holdings, Blockstream's libconsensus, and IBM's OpenBlockchain. This was later named Fabric. In May, Intel's distributed ledger, named Sawtooth, was also incubated.
Early on there was some confusion that the Hyperledger project would develop its own 'bitcoin-type' cryptocurrency, but Behlendorf has unreservedly stated that the Hyperledger Project itself will never build its own cryptocurrency.
Members and governance
Early members of the initiative include blockchain-specific companies (Blockchain, ConsenSys, Digital Asset, R3), other technology companies (Cisco, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, NEC, NTT DATA, Red Hat, VMware), financial companies (ABN AMRO, ANZ Bank, BNY Mellon, CLS Group, CME Group, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Deutsche Börse Group, J.P. Morgan, State Street, SWIFT, Wells Fargo), and others (Accenture, Calastone, Credits, Guardtime, IntellectEU, Nxt Foundation, Symbiont).
Members since then:
March 29, 2016: Blockstream, Bloq, eVue Digital Labs, Gem, itBit, Milligan Partners, Montran Labs, Ribbit.me, Tequa Creek Holdings, and Thomson Reuters
May 19, 2016: Beijing AiYi Digital Finance, Broadridge, Cloudsoft, Coinplug, Cuscal, Eurostep Holdings, Soramitsu, and Skry.
In March, Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, was elected Chair of the Governing Board. Christopher Ferris, CTO Open Technology at IBM, was elected Chair of the Technology Steering Committee. Charles Cascarilla, CEO of itBit, and Craig Young, CTO at SWIFT were elected to the Governing Board.