Long Finance's Distributed Futures research programme has launched a research project entitled “Timestamping Smart Ledgers – Accuracy Versus Precision”.
The research project is designed to produce materials that should help senior businesspeople and policy makers understand why timestamping matters. The research will outline current and historic methods for recording the time of an event, as well as the challenges that will be faced in the future. The challenges vary by sector. In the world of finance, these challenges include the stringent transaction timestamping requirements laid down by MiFID II Article 25 (or "RTS 25"). In geolocation, the interaction with global positioning systems, themselves subject to relativistic and quantum effects, are equally interesting. For Smart Ledgers, recording the time of transactions is a fundamental feature, yet there are a number of definitions and options that managers choose, often unknowingly, when they instruct their teams.
The research is being led by Sam Carter, Financial Sector Researcher and Quant Developer, under the direction of Professor Michael Mainelli. Michael commented on the project, “We are delighted that the Cardano Foundation is encouraging us to dig a bit deeper into an area taken for granted. While most Smart Ledgers are probably handling timestamping appropriately, there is a need to set out the terminology clearly and provide guidance on the different implications of different technical approaches to time itself”.
“Timestamping Smart Ledgers – Accuracy Versus Precision” is part of Long Finance’s Distributed Futures research programme into Smart Ledgers and wider technology. Smart Ledgers are the ‘next big thing’ in technology. They’re based on a combination of mutual distributed ledgers (aka blockchain: multi-organisational databases with a super audit trail, used since 2009 in cryptocurrencies) with embedded programming and sensing, thus permitting semi-intelligent, autonomous transactions. Smart Ledgers are touted as a technology for fair play in a globalised world. The research is intended to inform policy makers and business people making decisions about moving towards these systems. Long Finance’s Distributed Futures research programme is sponsored by the Cardano Foundation.
