Intel announces trial of newly developed blockchain technology in games

IT giant Intel is trialing blockchain in the Fantasy Sports market.

The experiment involves trading digital assets that represent shares in different teams. Each competing team has shares and in-game currency called "mikels."

Game participants can trade stocks with other players or alliances. The shares corresponding to the points won in the game have a buyback price. The team with the most currency at the end of the trial is the winner.

Intel proposed the concept at an internal meeting of the Hyperledger Project this month. The open-source blockchain initiative, led by the Linux Foundation, includes 30 members, including international banks, industry startups and large technology companies.

An Intel representative said:

The game is currently open to players from Santa Clara-based companies, which are using the trial as an opportunity to test blockchain technology within their companies.

“We’ve carved out this market for internal testing, which is soccer trading. But it’s a game like NCAA basketball. Our expectation is that it will give us a real customer application experience.”

He noted that the company’s blockchain is not yet production-ready and is undergoing performance optimization.

Intel has kept a low profile on its development of bitcoin and blockchain technology, but it once developed special chips for a bitcoin startup, 21 Inc, to improve mining efficiency.

Reporter reports:

Intel insiders have expressed interest in developing mining chips (computer chips used to audit bitcoin transactions) for consumer products, although the exact status of the development is unclear.

When asked about the details of the trial, Intel said it had no further details to share at this time:

"Intel regularly explores the potential of new technologies."

Complete ledger

Intel has a "complete ledger," but company representatives said it still needs to be refined and finalized.

The initiative is said to be the result of internal research at the company, during which experiments were conducted using consensus algorithms.

During the meeting, company representatives revealed some of the research and development methods used, and explained that the company's consensus protocol is "very similar to the protocol used in the Bitcoin blockchain."

However, in Intel's design, Bitcoin's proof of work (POW) is replaced by a system called proof of process (POP), which uses a decentralized network of computers to protect the blockchain's computing power.

Decentralized Market

Intel is interested in various blockchain technologies currently on the market. Its representatives said the company sees value in audit-free ledgers that do not restrict user access.

“Intel cares about open markets and use in consumer applications, not necessarily cryptocurrencies or anything like that”

Intel has used a variety of consensus algorithms to experiment with different features of these designs. The company's R&D staff is focusing on scripting languages, transaction rule making, and APIs.

As for the company's blockchain technology, it is currently written in Python because the company is currently concerned about scalability and modularity.