SAN FRANCISCO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Blockstream, the leader in advanced blockchain technology and applied cryptography, today announced the availability of Confidential Assets, a new feature in its Elements blockchain platform. The powerful new Confidential Assets feature facilitates the issuance, management, and transfer of multiple asset types in a manner that enables cryptographically-enforced confidentiality, while simultaneously offering the same best-in-class security and auditability that the Bitcoin blockchain provides. Today's release also comes backed by a real-world use case showcasing how developers can leverage the feature in their businesses.

Confidential Assets enables blockchain users to manage multiple asset types within a transaction, while encrypting both the asset types and transaction amounts between the transacting parties. This means that blockchains built with Confidential Assets can be publicly verified to be accurate, while giving parties involved in a transaction control over the privacy of their exchange, including the ability to selectively disclose the hidden asset values and types. Confidential Assets extends powerful capabilities to users and enables new functionality to support marketplaces where trading of different blockchain assets is desired.

"In today's increasingly digital environments, privacy and security of financial transactions is more critical than ever. Our latest release of Confidential Assets enables users to protect financial information about their transactions and commercial activity in a public blockchain," said Dr. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream. "By enabling multiple asset types and putting control of privacy into the hands of the users, we are empowering solution providers and businesses to build blockchains for their most valued use cases."

In addition, through a strategic partner program, DG Lab, a subsidiary of Digital Garage, has both contributed to and made available an open source demo built on top of the latest Elements blockchain platform. The demo illustrates the strength of the engineering collaboration in building a foundation for blockchain-based applications for the enterprise.

"Utilizing the new Confidential Assets capabilities of Elements, we're delighted to release the world's first working demonstration of the real-time exchange of asset tokens on a blockchain with preservation of the essential requirements of commercial confidentiality," said Kaoru Hayashi, CEO of Digital Garage. "By contributing engineering resources directly to upstream open source projects like Bitcoin and the Elements Project, we're able to leverage our expertise in blockchain technology to bring these exciting innovations to our home market."

This announcement is being made at the commencement of the prestigious Financial Cryptography and Data Security international event happening this week in Malta where Blockstream engineers will be presenting the Confidential Assets academic paper, which explains the innovations and cryptography in greater detail.

Elements is an open source blockchain platform that extends the Bitcoin protocol with advanced features. The latest Elements codebase is now available as a free, open source download for individuals or enterprises ready to build their own proof of concepts. To learn more about this announcement, visit https://blockstream.com/2017/04/03/blockstream-releases-elements-confidential-assets.html.

About Blockstream
Blockstream is the leader in interoperable blockchain technologies (sidechains), and applying innovative uses of cryptography for commercial privacy within blockchain infrastructures. Advancing the most mature, fully tested, and secure blockchain infrastructure in production with one of the most experienced teams in the industry, Blockstream partners with companies around the world that are seeking a path to production for digitized assets and new cryptographic financial systems. Learn more at https://blockstream.com/

SOURCE Blockstream

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