Blockchain Enabled
Commerce Network (beckn), as the name suggests is a blockchain enabled
de-centralized protocol. It provides a specification that enables creation of
decentralized networks. It also provides APIs, Data Models, Reference
Architectures, Transaction Mechanisms and Global Standards for the purposes of
adoption by Digital Platforms.
Usually, a intermediary
allows the providers and consumers to come together and interact by providing a
centralized mechanism. Beckn provides the providers and consumers to discover,
identify and transact with each other without the need for a real central
intermediary. It can be thought of as a set of rules that are mutually agreed
upon by several platforms that allows their users to discover, order,
fulfilment and post-fulfilment activities between each other. This protocol is
not specific to any sector, technology or industry. The taxonomy of any
application of any industry can be represented using the standard data model of
beckn.
The idea was born in
Nov 2018 and the first formal transaction actually happened in Sep 2020. The
open network went live in Jul 2021. The first open ecommerce network platform,
ONDC went live in Dec 2021. Other protocols based on beckn, like DSEP –
Decentralized Skills and Education Protocol and DHP – Decentralized Health
Protocol were launched in Dec 2021.
The official website
of beckn is https://becknprotocol.io/
The beckn ecosystem had
consumers and providers. A consumer is the one who will ideally want to place
orders for products and services published on a platform that user the beckn
protocol API calls to try and fulfil this request. There might be multiple such
platform known as beckn application platforms (BAPs). To fulfil these, beckn provides
beckn provider platforms or BPPs. BPPs use beckn protocol for purposes of
discovery, ordering, fulfilment and post-fulfilment.
beckn ecosystem has
multiple consumer platforms and provider platforms, which talk to each other
via beckn protocol. This communication is facilitated via a open registry. This
registry acts as the public key infrastructure (PKI) that stores public keys,
endpoints of all participants of the network. The sender digitally signs the
messages using their private keys and the receiver looks up the public key of
the sender on the registry to digitally verify the signature. Hence, this
registry is the trust infrastructure for this inter-platform communication.
The below diagram
shows the beckn ecosystem architecture. The first 2 layers are the ones implemented
by an organization who want to provide the server side applications for the consumers
and the providers. The last 2 layers are the actual specification and support for
an entity to get certified to join the network. Every entity that wants to be
part of the network, must be part of one or more of the layers listed in the
left column.
In the very middle of
the diagram is the actual infrastructure and security that transforms beckn
compliant platforms into actual live transacting entities in an open network.
Some of the actual
applications or networks formed out of beckn include the Kochi Open Mobility Network
and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). beckn holds great promise across
industries in terms of cost reduction, ease of joining, decentralized transactions,
easy interoperability and an ability to build more innovative applications.
