Q&A: Big data’s role in medicine, supply chains and smart cities

Can monetizing our data help speed up the world’s response to future pandemics, and make cutting-edge smart cities a reality? We asked an expert.

Data is incredibly valuable. But right now, it’s being underutilized — and few of us have control over our digital footprint.

Here, CyberVein’s global marketing director Pavel Jakovlev explains the network’s vision for big data, its use cases, and how everyday consumers can monetize their personal information.

1. Put simply, what does CyberVein do?

CyberVein, just like Google, is always in beta. We have incredible developers and strategists, who are working on bespoke data management solutions for a variety of use cases: medical data handling, smart city initiatives, logistics/supply chains and Internet of Things. We would love to see our technology being used anywhere a fast data transfer is required in a decentralized manner.

2. How does data monetization work?

There's an ongoing debate about data ethics. More specifically, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a number of Netflix documentaries, like The Great Hack and The Social Dilemma, people are becoming aware of just how much data they are exchanging for services provided by Google, Facebook, Twitter and others. This message is also being propagated by Brittany Kaiser, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, who became a data ethics advocate and set up the Own Your Data Foundation. 

We are taking this notion even further by enabling people and data owners to monetize their personal data. Data submitted to our platform is managed via a virtual machine to ensure it is kept safe, and then priced in a market-type environment. Once the data is purchased, data owners receive payments in CVT tokens. We may disregard our data, but it can provide valuable insights, train machine learning algorithms, and subsequently create better products and services for our society. 

In addition, our recently launched product CROSS is the world's first big data-backed non-fungible token (NFT) issuance platform, which will record data exchange transactions whenever they are made. Our ambition is to drive the development of the big data ecosystem and to create additional value for businesses and governments around the globe.

3. What are the benefits of creating a marketplace for data?

It may seem like there’s a never-ending conflict of interest between corporations and individuals. On one side there’s a desire to collect unfathomable amounts of data to satisfy business needs and build better predictions, while the other side is becoming more concerned about waning levels of privacy. Therefore, creating a marketplace for better data exchange is not that simple. There have been many attempts before, but some obstacles, mainly regulatory, remain. Our idea is to reconcile both sides by creating distributed storage, where actions take place on chain and are therefore immutable, yet private data remains private.

Once achieved at scale, people and data owners would be able to take control of their data and choose what to do with it. We may still regard our social and behavioral data as insignificant, but medical data can be really valuable. For example, Estonia managed to build a permission-based decentralized database for its health records, allowing its citizens to track who accessed their data. Imagine replicating that on a grander scale, with an actual marketplace where you can submit your data, help train an algorithm, and get paid for it.

4. Could CyberVein benefit the medical industry in the coronavirus age?

The COVID-19 crisis exposed some basic human needs. We all want to be safe, we all care about the safety of others — but in that rush to cover our basic needs, we lost trust in each other. The personal protective equipment marketplace became the Wild West. Opportunists were eager to drive up prices, and people cared little about the quality. 

What CyberVein can do is bring the trust back to the marketplace with our technology. As well as enhancing track and trace systems, we can also record product standards onto the blockchain — making the specifications immutable. This would improve the authenticity and integrity of supply chains, and solve data problems that still exist in the PPE market.

Longer term, CyberVein’s solution can also bolster the interconnectivity of medical databases. Imagine this to be a privacy conserving toolbox where doctors, medical practitioners and academics optimize their research by accessing data with permission. For the healthcare sector, better access to research and shared knowledge means more preventive measures and a faster response to future pandemics. 

5. Can you explain how the Data Analytics and Valuation Engine (DAVE) works?

CyberVein’s Data Analytics and Valuation Engine (DAVE) focuses on providing value to its members — data-intensive companies. The DAVE Alliance offers three core solutions:

• A data, storage space, or computing power (GPU) marketplace, where users can purchase said resources with CyberVein’s CVT tokens.
• A data derivatives pool, where users can purchase derivatives of data extraction and big data concepts.
• A decentralized token exchange, where users can swap member companies’ tokens directly with each other.

DAVE’s objective is to continuously provide value to member companies and individuals, who are eager to combine their resources in a bid to monetize their data. In its core, DAVE propagates data ownership and security. This initiative is in line with CyberVein’s vision to solve three major problems in the big data space: information siloing, data ownership and security, and data monetization. 

What’s even more exciting is the fact that transactions will be backed by NFTs. DAVE’s algorithm will allow parties to hedge their risks on CROSS, our NFT issuance platform. NFTs will have contracts and zips. Contracts contain information about the actual products, while zips will contain datasets. All NFTs issued on the CROSS platform will be voted on by the DAVE community, with the right governance in place to ensure that investors' interests are protected. 

6. You’ve been involved in some pretty big projects so far. What were the highlights?

Definitely our medical data project. We built an interconnected platform that combines medical information from decentralized databases without compromising the privacy of doctors or patients. Big data in healthcare can be widely used to track epidemics and deliver clinical treatments. It can play an important role in improving people's health and wellbeing, and meeting the world’s growing health needs. 

The platform allows doctors and patients to view their medical history in a more straightforward way through the patient holographic view. The system records a patient’s diagnosis, medication, past examinations, treatments, surgeries and other data. Compared with traditional methods, big data applications can give patients a more friendly diagnosis and treatment experience.

7. You use a distributed ledger where there’s no need for block confirmation. How does that work? 

For speed! One of our technology’s key characteristics is the DAG storage chain. It creates safer data storage, with better efficiency, no block confirmation and low transaction fees. Because there is no block confirmation, it eliminates the need for miners. 

DAG also supports asynchronous verification and parallel processing of each node. With this, we are solving the scalability issue — more nodes means faster speeds and greater scalability. Therefore, out tech performs better when scaled. Plus, the database backup on DAG storage chain provides an extra layer of security. We refer to our no block confirmation as Proof of Contribution — similar to Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.

8. Why is it important to partner up with other data-intensive blockchain projects?

We are building a data exchange, where other data-intensive blockchain projects can commit their resources in a market-like environment. Companies are set to benefit from increased exposure, leverage combined opportunities, and build better practices for data usage. Projects and their respective token holders will be able to swap tokens directly, commit their resources to the overall compute and storage data pools, as well as bid for different data sets in an open marketplace. All transactions will be pegged to NFTs.

We have the likes of IOST, CyberMiles, IoTeX and others joining the DAVE initiative and we look to onboard more projects. In the imminent era of 5G/6G connectivity, data is the ultimate currency, the new oil as some may say. With DAVE deployed, users can choose CyberVein's DAG storage chain or Filecoin's IPFS for storage. Likewise, users can choose to use CyberVein's cloud computing, or opt for Golem's GPU platform.

9. In the years to come, what will smart cities look like?

Smart cities are hypercomplex data-producing systems that rely on constant interconnectivity and data exchange. We will surely see more traditional services become digital and plug into the overall mesh of a smart city’s interconnectivity. We can imagine shopping, logistics and delivery services becoming more user centric and, in turn, more digital — based on an individual’s behavioral data. 

With millions of individuals to cater to, a smart city’s system would have to optimize its processes to find the best possible way to fulfill the predictive wish lists of individuals. This could be something as basic as stacking their smart fridges with fresh food and delivering it in time, likely in a driverless delivery vehicle. A simple daily groceries run can result in billions, if not trillions of micro-transactions within one system. 

This system cannot rely on one centralized database, so naturally, a distributed ledger would be used. However, it needs to be lightning fast in recording and synchronizing the data. This is what we, at CyberVein, are building with our lightning fast PISR database, and our DAG storage chain, which further increases throughput per second. 

10. How can people get involved with the CyberVein ecosystem?

The first step would be to join our community and talk to us. We are present on most social media platforms. We have strong communities in different countries and talk to our fan base on Telegram, WeChat and Kakao. We organize a ton of AMAs too! You can find more info about us on our website or by searching the above mentioned platforms for CyberVein.

The second step would be to stay up to date with different announcements. We are really excited about the DAVE initiative and will soon open it up to individual resource contributors. 

The third step, and this is mainly for blockchain companies working within the realm of data storage and cloud GPU — let’s talk. In addition to providing development resources, we commit to supporting DAVE members with marketing, communications, and public relations activities. Continuous community engagement campaigns are crucial for DAVE. 

With regards to CROSS, our NFT issuance platform, anyone will be able to issue their own NFTs and add the necessary info about their project or business, making sure that it stays there due to its immutable nature. 

We strongly believe in uniting with like-minded individuals and companies who are eager to combine their resources in a bid to monetize their data. Here’s how this process looks in practise:

• Companies or individuals join the DAVE Alliance, access the PISR database and CyberVein mainnet. 
• Within the DAVE ecosystem, any entity can use big data storage, access academic research, or utilize applications from various service providers (IoTeX, Filecoin, Sia, Streamr, Golem, Tron) to improve efficiencies.
• The CROSS platform packages business scenarios into NFTs according to the asset types, asset legal status, cashflow and other variables. NFT features may include collectibles, financial products, insurance, bonds, bills, membership cards, shares, KYC, donations, product supply chain tracking, and so on.
• DAVE compares the asset with thousands of other cases in the framework. Subsequently, the NFT is published on the CROSS platform for trading, exchange, and auction.

CROSS’ core technology enables NFT issuers to back any business scenario and not just collectables. This is our key differentiator, our USP.

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