Red Lyra is born, the Spanish multi-sector blockchain network and global benchmark
A group of innovative Spanish businesses from a variety of sectors has created Red Lyra, the world's first multi-sector technological platform based on blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), which will be developing new systems and services so that, for example and among other functions, any person or company in Spain can identify themselves digitally in a secure manner. The first Red Lyra service is expected to start operating in the coming months. Its founding members are: Banco de Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA, BME, Caja Rural, Cajamar, Cepsa, Correos, Ejaso, Endesa, Everis, Garrigues, Gas Natural Fenosa, Grant Thornton, Iberdrola, Icade, MásMóvil, Momopocket, Roca Junyent and Scytl.
The aim is for any company to be able to use it to validate basic services and exploit applications in a cross-channel environment, with full legal guarantees in Spain.
Lyra is a neutral, cross-cutting, multi-sector project which is open to growth, meaning that any company, administration, start-up, freelance professional or other not-for-profit entity can join up at any time and use the network to develop its projects and provide its services.
Using the potential of blockchain technology, each entity or user who joins the network will have an associated "smart contract", which is a digital document in which all the elements required for its identification and legal signature will be securely stored. Spanish notaries will be able to certify that a digital identity in Lyra matches a real identity and they will even make it possible to recover an identity where necessary.
Along with this legal guarantee mechanism, Red Lyra will provide added security through members who act as ‘nodes’ – users who validate the activity, confirming at all times its integrity and reliability. "Members admitted subsequently may also have a node, which will add more details to a user's identity". For example, "there may be a factual and exhaustive log of my transactions with all of the companies in the network,” explains Alex Puig, general manager of Red Lyra.
A cross-channel network which is useful for everyone
The identification of individuals and legal entities through Red Lyra will be useful in a broad range of business processes, including on-boarding processes in financial institutions and utilities, and facilitate transactions commonly taking place between Public Administrations and citizens: “The project is inclusive and democratic because the members of the network are the ones who decide its future and ensure that no single member has full control. It is a consortium, a collaborative network, helpful for everyone", stresses Puig.
He goes on to explain that “Lyra is set up as a semi-public, authorized blockchain technology network in Spain and is one of the global pioneers in this field, since there has never before been a project in which so many companies have collaborated to design such an ambitious digital workspace".
It is a shared network for the development of projects and provision of services which offers all the necessary identification guarantees and will also be compliant with the currently applicable data protection legislation.
"All of the partners and users act in ‘coopetition’, i.e. they cooperate with each other but they also compete, using the network, with the assurance that they will never be able to control it without the approval of all its participants”, affirms its general manager.
A neutral, not-for-profit network
The founding members by which the project was launched, who will gradually be joined by more and more entities, have created a not-for-profit association for the technological development and maintenance of Red Lyra. As a not-for-profit venture, it will be funded by members and users. “This model will enable the platform to maintain its independence and neutrality indefinitely, to guarantee the identification of actors and members and the provision of the services that any of them may wish to develop on Lyra,” concludes Alex Puig, the consortium's general manager.