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Summary Comparison of GRAFT Blockchain to Other Payment Solutions

GRAFT VS RIPPLE AND OTHERS: FOCUS ON BUYERS, MERCHANTS, AND THEIR PRIVACY

SINCE GRAFT USES CRYPTONOTE PROTOCOL, HAS THE MONERO COMMUNITY INDICATED SUPPORT FOR GRAFT?

ARE TENX AND OTHERS CRYPTO CARDS COMPETITORS?

HOW GRAFT IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND WHY IS IT BETTER FOR PAYMENT PROCESSING APPLICATIONS

HOW IS GRAFT DIFFERENT FROM DASH?

CASH, DEBIT, CREDIT, MOBILE, BITCOIN, OR GRAFT?

FEATURE COMPARISON – GRAFT VS. OTHER CRYPTO-CURRENCIES FOR PAYMENT PROCESSING APPLICATIONS

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The Goals of GRAFT project

Our main goal is making the cryptocurrencies as convenient as plastic cards, while keeping the payment secure and private. We do this on both sides of the transaction: the buyer and the seller (merchant). In order to achieve those goals, we need a smooth transition from traditional payment methods, such as credit cards, to more progressive ones, like cryptocurrency. It is naive to believe that buyers and sellers will suddenly forget about plastic cards, which have a strong presence in the market and don’t go away anytime soon. Thus, Graft combines both methods and makes the payment process simple and available in any situation. The buyer can pay with their cryptocurrencies directly wherever it’s possible, but use the plastic card, which is linked to the wallet, in any other place that is not yet familiar with crypto. The same is with the seller. Using single point of sale app, merchant can accept various crypto-currencies and credit/debit cards.

In addition to these main goals, we are designing more services that will be provided by GRAFT network to improve the lives of sellers and buyers. For example, obtaining an instant credit by the buyer, or creating merchant tokens, which will be used by sellers as “private cryptocurrency” for important business functions such as store credits, loyalty rewards, gift certificates, and discount coupons.

There is another interesting and promising feature, which is in conjunction with merchant tokens elevates Graft from “another payment network” to a universal payment platform. This feature is called vchain, from the combination of words “virtual”, “chain”, and “blockchain”. Using vchain, sellers can connect several points of sale located in one store, or even create a network (“chain”) with multiple stores. Buyers can also use vchain to manage multiple wallets linked to each other and transfer funds for free between multiple accounts, which is useful for family or corporate accounts.

And finally, a few words about security and privacy. GRAFT uses the CryptoNote protocol, which is by far the highest achievement of modern cryptography. CryptoNote provides incomparably better privacy features comparing to any other blockchain protocol. Payments recorded on the GRAFT blockchain can not be viewed, traced, or linked to particular identity without consent. CryptoNote completely conceals from prying eyes almost all the attributes of the transaction: the buyer’s address, the amount of payment, and the address of the seller. On top of that, GRAFT adds another feature that is unique and has not yet been implemented by anyone else: hidden transaction fee amount. Thus, serious buyers and sellers, who really care about privacy of their financial transactions, for the first time have an opportunity to make their payments in cryptocurrency or cards without the risk of spying from competitors, criminals, or just random observers.

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How to Become a GRAFT Service Broker: Implementing Centralized Features on Decentralized Network

It is not a secret that some payment functions cannot be fully decentralized, even if they are “placed” on top of blockchain technology. One example is credit card payment processing which implies a lot of compliance with various regulations, both local and international. But we still want to use those cards, and we would like them to work together with cryptocurrencies. GRAFT Network resolves this dilemma by introducing service brokers which implement specific features that cannot be fully automated by decentralized network. This short article explains how service broker work in a form of instructions for a newbie.

First of all, there are several types of service brokers:

  • Credit card accept broker
  • Instant cryptocurrency accept broker
  • Instant cryptocurrency exchange broker
  • Payout (exchaging cryptocurrency to fiat currency and transferring to bank account)
  • Identity verification broker

    Any existing company-service provider (such as credit card payment processor or cryptocurrency exchange) can become a GRAFT service broker, and thus magically extend their business from “traditional” centralized world to the world of decentralized crypto payments.

    1. Setup

  • Integrate with appropriate GRAFT DAPI and test using testnet;
  • Install your own full supernode or make a lease agreement with one or more full supernode owners.

    2. Advertise

  • Define your service offer: Client type (wallet, POS, or both), Region (country) or list of regions, Service fees (information about fee structure and/or exchange rates) Identity disclosure requirements (what elements of user identity are required in order to execute the service request);
  • GRAFT Network will broadcast the advertisement messages to all supernodes and make it available to all wallet and/or point of sale clients connected to the network and matching the target audience criteria, along with your reputation score calculated by full supernodes based on historic data stored in the blockchain.

    3. Process

  • When a user needs particular service, the GRAFT software will automatically choose the service broker based on the best match or the user criteria and the broker offer. Once your service is selected, just process the service requests and credit or debit the user’s account as a result;
  • Share service fees with the processing supernode owner if you “lease” the supernode, or earn extra fees if you own the supernode.

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    Graft vs Ripple and Others: Focus on Buyers, Merchants, and Their Privacy

    Focus on Buyer and Merchant NeedsRipple’s is mostly focused on bank settlements, while Graft provide solutions to buyers and merchants. Buyers can pay anywhere with cryptocurrencies or plastic card using Graft wallet app. Merchants can receive payment from anyone using point of sale accepting both cryptocurrencies and plastic cards. Faster payment confirmations are provided by Graft supernode authorization sample, a process that is more similar to Dash masternode scheme. Unlike Dash masternode, however, Graft supernode is not a “wrapper” or a second tier as it is designed to be a monolithic code base that implements both real time authorization and blockchain settlement (mining) features. Such an architecture improves security of the real time authorization process, as payments cannot be settled “off supernode chain” by the “lower” level blockchain network nodes, without supernodes knowing about their existence. Thus, all Graft transactions are authorized instantly without requiring additional fee, by supernodes that are automatically selected by the network using combined proof of work and proof of stake algorithm. Focus on Absolute Privacy Ripple consensus protocol is different, and its main problem is that it does not provide privacy features: untraceability and unlinkability of payment transactions. Unlike Graft blockchain, all transaction information on the Ripple ledger is public. Ripple does not provide the privacy and untraceability that are demanded today by potential Graft users – both buyers and merchants. When we pay with credit card, we share our secret payment information (like credit card number) with some entities – the merchant, the issuing bank, the payment processor, the payment acquiring bank – but those entities are relatively trustable so they try not to share our secrets with the entire world, and no one else can see our transaction history without our or their permission. Oftentimes, however, they fail to keep our secrets (think Target and many other retail mega breaches). With Ripple or Bitcoin or most other cryptocurrencies that are not based on CryptoNote protocol, the story is exactly opposite: there is no central authority that “knows” our secret “card number” (private key), but at the same time anyone in the world can trace our payments on the blockchain and link them to our identities with minimum efforts. By Implementing CryptoNote and other features, Graft brings the level of untraceability of payment history similar to traditional credit and debit card system, while adding decentralization, privacy, and security, which are the features of any cryptocurrency that are absolutely impossible to achieve using traditional credit card payment technology.
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    Since Graft uses CryptoNote protocol, has the Monero community indicated support for Graft?

    While Graft supernode code is being written from scratch, the blockchain CryptoNote implementation codebase is forked from Monero. We do not anticipate a direct and immediate Monero community support. However, we believe that our project attracts people from CryptoNote communities as it adds a lot of features that are not available in existing CryptoNote implementations. One example of such a feature is real-time authorization (instant confirmation). Another example is hidden transaction fee amount, which is exposed to public view in all existing blockchains. This table compares Graft with Monero, Bitcoin, Dash, and other cryptocurrencies. However, there are even more important features that are not simply enhancements of the CryptoNote protocol. No one needs just another blockchain, even if it provides better privacy. But Graft is much more than just “another blockchain”. Graft is innovative payment application platform which supports various payment and payout methods, either traditional or innovative. While providing “reference”, default implementations of applications and services, Graft ecosystem is open for any software vendors and service providers. We believe in diversity of payment methods and cryptocurrencies.
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    Graft Pre-Sale on NEM Platform

    We are very happy to announce that Graft token pre-sale will be conducted using a token based on NEM Mosaic, a smart contract token platform. The Graft NEM based tokens (Graft:token) will be exchanged to GRF coins once Graft network becomes operational, which is preliminary scheduled for the end of the year. We are seeking to sell 135,000 Graft:tokens for 353.7 BTC. Pre-sale will start on September 15th 2017 at 15pm UTC and end on September 22nd 2017 at 15pm UTC. The pre-sale price of one Graft:token (0.001843 BTC / 0.028 ETH / 28.06 XEM) is 30% less than the final sale price which is set to 0.00262 BTC / 0.04 ETH / 40.09 XEM.

    The Graft coin is called Graft (GRF), and is the “fuel” of the Graft platform. GRF are cryptographic tokens that will enable purchasers to transact and operate services on the Graft platform when it is launched by Graft. GRF is required for participation in Graft network activities, including but not limited to operating the full supernodes, which provide instant confirmations and other important network services. The total supply (maximum number) of GRF is 18,446,744. The majority of GRF will be created as a block reward by supernode operators during several years of mining. Since Graft uses combined Pow/PoS algorithm, 500 GRF will be required to deposit as proof of stake in order to operate the full supernode. For more details about its uses in the network, please see Graft white paper or/and Frequently Asked Questions.

    At the time of the pre-sale, the Graft platform will not have been launched. Purchasers in the pre-sale will acquire Graft:token (NEM based smart contract tokens) in exchange for BTC, ETH, or XEM. 135,000 Graft:tokens pre-sold in this manner can be exchanged to GRF coins created in the Graft genesis block. Graft will allocate equivalent amount of GRF purchased in the pre-sale in the genesis block. The genesis block will constitute the inception of operation of the Graft network.
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    Is Graft payment more secure and private than credit card payment?

    It depends on how you pay or accept payment. Graft platform offers multiple ways to pay (for a buyer) as well as various methods of accepting payment (for a merchant). if buyer pays by Graft plastic card linked to the buyer’s Graft cryptocurrency wallet, he or she relies on merchant, merchant’s payment processor, and acquiring bank, who are not always the best experts in keeping our data safe (remember all those endless mega card data breaches like Target). However, If such a card payment is accepted by a merchant that also uses Graft network and Graft point of sale app, this payment is more secure and private because the Graft card is recognized and handled by the Graft network as internal transaction. This is almost the same as paying with GRAFT itself (graft coins). “Almost” because there are still some “standard” risks associated with using a plastic card, even Graft card, since the card is issued by a centralized institution (otherwise, it wouldn’t be accepted everywhere, including merchants who don’t work with Graft network yet). GRAFT (coin) is the most secure, private, and least expensive way to transfer funds (although it is important to note that payment is always free for a buyer, because Graft is the only platform that charges transaction fees to the merchant just like in the “real world” of payments, but there are also “authenticated” transfers that are absolutely free for both sender and recipient). GRAFT is the most private and secure way to pay because the payment does not leave the network where all the elements of transaction – sender address, recipient address, transaction amount, and even transaction fees – are encrypted and hidden from public view. Nevertheless, Graft blockchain is still public, and transaction is validated by multiple supernodes. Such a level of security and privacy is achieved by using CryptoNote protocol and additional technology designed by Graft.  
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    Graft mobile wallet and point of sale apps do not maintain a full copy of the blockchain for obvious reasons. Does it mean the wallet content is stored on supernodes which may compromise its security and privacy?

    There are multiple elements of the Graft user wallet:
    • Private spend key – secret – required to spend money; stored in the wallet app
    • Private view key – “semi-secret” – required to see the balance and previous transactions
    • Payment address – public – required to receive money
    In Graft, the Private spend key is always stored at the client (wallet) and never shared with the supernodes. Therefore, it is not the same as credit card when you share you card account number with the merchant, payment processor, and the bank every time you make a payment. If one of them is breached, your credit card can be stolen and used to make fraudulent payments. If any or even all supernodes are “breached”, they don’t have your private spend key so no one will be able to “use” your Graft account.
    The Graft wallet balance is a “hidden” set of previous transactions. It is calculated by scanning all the previous transactions which are stored on the public blockchain but invisible without view key. Since mobile wallet app does not have direct access to the blockchain, the private view key is temporary shared with a single “proxy” (relay) supernode in order to retrieve the wallet balance; the supernode will not store this view key in any database so even if it’s “breached” the view key will not be disclosed in most cases. However, even if the view key is disclosed, it only allows to see transactions, not to spend any money.
    Users (either buyers or merchants) with higher requirements for privacy can host their own private “proxy” supernode with full copy of blockchain. This way they will never share their view keys with the random “foreign” supernodes. Most probably, due to limited processing power and other resource limitations, such a private proxy supernode will not be able to participate in transaction processing and earn any block rewards or transaction fees, but it will still be able to validate transactions and view balances privately by scanning the local copy of the blockchain. For users who cannot or don’t want to host their own supernode but still don’t trust the entire network, Graft creates a special (free) cloud service with trusted proxy supernodes that are protected by multiple levels of security.
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    In order to process real-time authorization (instant confirmation) Graft network puts a “lock” on buyer’s account. How does it not violate one of the main goals of any cryptocurrency system – untraceability?

    First of all, untraceability is not a feature of any cryptocurrency. As of today, CryptoNote is perhaps the only protocol that enables full privacy and untraceability. The beauty of Cryptonote is that it hides the details of transaction while still preventing double-spending. This is achieved through the use of key image which is unique “fingerprint” that represents the spending address and amount without disclosing any details about the buyer or the amount. By providing the key image for upcoming transaction to the network of supernodes, the buyer’s wallet will temporarily “lock” its “account”, so no other transaction with the same key image can happen until the locked transaction is settled or the lock is removed. If the buyer will try to finalize the transaction with the key image different from the one used in the original lock, such transaction will be rejected by the supernodes. On the other hand, the key image does not contain any information about the buyer, buyer’s wallet, or recipient (merchant). In addition, any traces of communication between the buyer (wallet app), the merchant (point of sale app), and the supernodes (selected proxy and sample supernodes) during authorization phases are completely removed once transaction is settled (written into the blockchain). Even transaction fees paid by merchant to authorizing supernodes are hidden from public view, which is another major privacy improvement comparing to all previous CryptoNote implementations that do not hide transaction fees.