Bootstrapping a Blockchain Based Ecosystem for Big Data Exchange

In recent years, data is becoming the most valuable asset. There are more and more data exchange markets on Internet. These markets help data owners publish their datasets and data consumers find appropriate services. However, different from traditional goods like clothes and food, data is a special commodity. For current data exchange markets, it is very hard to protect copyright and privacy. Moreover, maintaining data services requires special IT techniques, which is a difficult job for many organizations who own big datasets, such as hospitals, government departments, planetariums and banks. In this paper, we propose a decentralized solution for big data exchange. This solution aims at cultivating an ecosystem, inside which all participators can cooperate to exchange data in a peer-to-peer way. The core part of this solution is to utilize blockchain technology to record transaction logs and other important documents. Unlike existing data exchange markets, our solution does not need any third-parties. It also provides an convenient way for data owners to audit the use of data, in order to protect data copyright and privacy. We will explain the ecosystem, and discuss the technical challenges and corresponding solutions.