After the success of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as defined by ernesto.net, the attention fell on blockchain technology. The technology was slowly proving to be very important and according to some, it is defined as the best thing that has happened since the internet revolution. However, just like any technology, it is not stationary but continues to evolve and to be refined. Along the way, something known as Hyperledger Sawtooth was born.

1. HyperLedger Sawtooth – ernesto.net
After the success of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as defined by ernesto.net, the attention fell on
blockchain technology. The technology was slowly proving to be very important and according
to some, it is defined as the best thing that has happened since the internet revolution. However,
just like any technology, it is not stationary but continues to evolve and to be refined. Along the
way, something known as Hyperledger Sawtooth was born.
Image source: Linux Foundation
This article looks at Hyperledger Sawtooth and why it is considered to be a step in the right
direction.
The development of Hyperledger Sawtooth
Hyperledger Sawtooth is the latest edition from the Hyperledger community, the creators of
Hyperledger Fabric. The project began at Intel Labs in 2014 through a research project known
then as Sawtooth Lake.
The project wanted to address security and scalability issues affecting the then growing adoption
of Bitcoin. It also wanted to find ways to migrate blockchain technology to the enterprise. In
2016, a milestone was achieved when the Proof of Elapsed Time consensus algorithm was
delivered as a free and safe alternative to Bitcoin’s Proof of work consensus algorithm.
Intel then made Sawtooth available to Hyperledger, which was just getting started at around that
time. The Hyperledger community grew significantly and several organizations such as Amazon
Web Services, Wind River, Ericsson, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Bitwise.io, Cloudsofts,
Context Labs, Active Ticketing, Dot BC Media, and Hacera joined the ship.
What is Hyperledger Sawtooth
Hyperledger Sawtooth is a modular enterprise distributed ledger used to build, deploy, and run
enterprise blockchain apps and networks. It was wholly designed to keep enterprise blockchains
as decentralized as possible while improving the safety of smart contracts.
Sawtooth distinguishes itself from traditional blockchains in the sense that it is highly modular.
This gives companies the opportunity to make customized policies that are tailor-made for the
specific enterprise.

2. Another major advantage of Sawtooth is that its core system is differentiated from the
application domain. Moreover, it is flexible and uses the principles of a black box. It is not rigid
on the language that developers can use to develop applications and can easily formulate rules
that are specific to the business needs. Moreover, the developers can create applications without
knowing how the core system was designed.
Hyperledger Sawtooth has the following key features:
 Dynamic consensus
 Ethereum support
 On-chain governance
 An advanced engine for transaction execution
 Multiple language support
Dynamic Consensus
Different blockchain platforms use different but fixed consensus algorithms. Bitcoin uses the
proof-of-work system. The network users compete to solve a particular cryptographic problem.
Whoever solves the problem is rewarded with Bitcoins.
Another consensus algorithm used is the proof-of-stake. It is based on the proof of ownership.
Another consensus algorithm used is the proof-of-elapsed-time.
What makes Hyperledger Sawtooth so special is that it is not hardwired to use only one
consensus algorithm. It can use any system and interchange between them. Each system has its
own advantages and disadvantages. Hyperledger Sawtooth users can choose a consensus
algorithm that is good for their specific needs.
Smart contracts
Smart contracts are small programs that execute business logic. Their functions are similar to
that of a computer. They accept an input, process and execute it, and give out an output. They
live on a layer of the blockchain where use cases that are specific to the particular business case
are required.
Although Bitcoin is largely responsible for the limited use of smart contracts, it is Ethereum that
pioneered their use. The smart contracts that are included in Sawtooth are:
 Settings – provides a platform for the storage of configuration settings
 Identity – deals with the permissions on the blockchain
 Validator registry – registers ledger validators and components important for the security
of Proof-of-elapsed time.

3. On-chain governance
The ‘settings’ option makes on-chain governance possible on Hyperledger Sawtooth blockchain.
This allows users to store on-chain configuration settings such as the consensus algorithm used.
Multiple language support
Developers can build smart contracts using several languages including Python, Javascript, C++,
Rust, and Go.
Advanced engine for transaction execution
Parallel processing of transactions in order to speed up the creation and validation of blocks
What Hyperledger Sawtooth represents
Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise blockchain platform designed based on the basics of
existing platforms such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also added more functionality, modularity,
flexibility, and scalability. It allows developers to work in a number of programming languages.
Most importantly, it supports several types of consensus algorithms.