AMA Review | Jasmy Solves Personal Data Security Issues with Distributed Storage

At 20:00 on January 9, 2021, Jasmy’s President Kazumasa Sato and CFO Hiroshi Harada were invited to speak about Jasmy’s application scenarios, team background, core technology advantages, economic value of data, and its economic model during an online live broadcast at the MXC Matcha Community. They highlighted Jasmy’s commitment to providing users with an infrastructure that can safeguard personal data, and delivering optimal platform solutions for cross-industry customers via the Jasmy Platform combining both blockchain and IoT technology.

The following is a transcript of the sharing session by Kazumasa Sato and Hiroshi Harada:

Moderator: Could you briefly introduce the Jasmy IoT Platform and what are its application scenarios?

Kazumasa Sato:Jasmy is an IoT platform company dedicated to providing users with an infrastructure that allows anybody to use data safely and securely. The Jasmy Platform has been developed to achieve this goal. The Jasmy Platform aims to help users regain sovereignty over their personal data so that everyone can use his or her data safely and securely. To achieve this, we have combined Blockchain and IoT technology to provide the optimal platform solution for customers around the world, and across industries.

In Japan, we have started to work with the biggest Japanese call center — Transcosmos, MaaS solution provider for Toyota and Panasonic — Witz, the famous laptop brand — VAIO. Besides, we also work with regional governments to develop business.

The project details are as follows.

We have developed the Secure PC with owner recognition function based on our unique blockchain technology and device management ideas, which enables the PC to not accept commands other than the owner. Furthermore, it enables each administrator to manage operation by capturing separate log data.

Even if the device is attacked, the risk can be kept within a certain range, so that it will not cause great loss to the company or the individual. In addition, we believe that Secure PC can solve the problems of thin clients, such as the complexity of installation and operation, as well as productivity problems due to poor performance or slow response.

We see an increasing demand for high-level security regulations coming not only for remote working but also for the financial industry in Japan. Additionally, we provide an application that enables customers to safely and securely own call logs and response histories that are normally stored on the contact center server. We will develop this next-generation application for contact centers together with Transcosmos, the industry leader in Japan.

Through switching the operators’ working places from call center to home office, we believe that this measure cannot only reduce the risk of infection during the pandemic, but also reduce the operating cost compared to the conventional way. We foresee greater business development in the future by solving corporate data security issues using Jasmy’s technology. Apart from cooperation with Transcosmos, we also built a business alliance with Witz. Together we are going to provide a new service called “Community-based Town MaaS”. On our platform, it is possible for service providers to use the personal data of autonomous driving users in a safe and secure way to provide various services. This will not only improve customer convenience but also reduce the cost of managing personal information.

By using behavioral data from residents and tourists, such as shopping, diet, transportation, distance, etc., we will consider new services based on the futuristic MaaS.

As we have already entered into contracts with listed companies in Japan, there is a market for our business. We have started the deployment of our products with our business partners. And we can foresee the regular increase in demand for our services. As the business of our partners increases, our business scale will continue to expand.

Moderator: Could you give us an introduction of the team behind the Jasmy IoT Platform? And also the investors?

Kazumasa Sato: Jasmy is mainly created by the members from ex-Sony. Representative director Kunitake Ando has launched VAIO, Xperia (smart-phone), created Sony Life Insurance and laid the foundation for the Jasmy’s expansion to the current scale. Kunitake Ando has created an ecosystem for innovation for many Japanese companies. He is also the Chairman of the University of Nagano.

President & CEO Kazumasa Sato has built a career centered on marketing at Sony. After being deeply involved in the IT network business as a representative director of Sony Style, he was also involved in the branding of the entire Sony Group as the head of the Sony Design Department.

Vice President Masanobu Yoshida, has a track record of introducing the iPhone to Japan as Managing Executive Officer of SoftBank Mobile after building his career as a hardware engineer at Sony.

Senior strategist Tadashi Morita is a core member of Sony Computer Science Laboratories and is familiar with the security of the non-contact IC card technology Felica. Felica is a technology that is most popular and has been used in Japan for 20 years without huge security problems.

CFO Hiroshi Harada has built an 11-year career at KPMG as a CPA. In addition to accounting, finance and tax, he is also familiar with IPO and IR.

As mentioned earlier, our partners include a number of Japanese listed companies including Transcosmos, VAIO and Witz.

Moderator: What are the core technology advantages of Jasmy IoT Platform?

Kazumasa Sato: Jasmy Platform users will get a “Private Data Locker” through SKC (Secure Knowledge Communicator). Once the owner is identified, data will be securely stored in his or her private data locker. Data owners can also manage and track data provided to the company.

SKC has the following key functions:

1. Personal authentication and registration function. Users can enjoy the Jasmy platform and its services after personal authentication and account registration
2. Users can accumulate and manage personal data, and authorize data transactions and track the provided data according to their wishes
3. It allows companies and organizations to have moderate access to and use personal data when necessary, subject to obtaining the individual’s permission

We have also developed another core service, SG (Smart Guardian), which allows users to register IoT devices on a distributed network in a simple and secure manner. Also, an environment that can only be accessed by the owning user is realized.

SG has the following key features:

1. Connect registered devices to their owners via SKC without additional authentication
2. Allows the device to interact with the owner, such as sending and receiving measurement data from sensors, and remote control
3. Allow owners to securely store, manage and deploy device-generated data in the blockchain distributed storage

SKC is working with Witz, a MaaS solution provider, on this project. The demand for autonomous driving is extremely high in Hokkaido, Japan, and we are building a platform that allows users to safely use their personal information. In November 2020, as the Proof of Concept (PoC) Data for Road Safety was initiated, our research and development for projects related to personal data security also began. A new professional baseball stadium will open in a few years, and construction has already begun on the PoC site. A large resort operation is expected to be underway, with a total construction cost of approximately 60 billion yen.

We have developed a secure PC with SG functionality and are currently testing the software at a listed company. Based on its user identification features, advanced authentication capabilities and high security, the secure PC not only helps with telecommuting, but also enables new ways of working and learning.

In addition, we anticipated the needs of digital asset organizations and others in terms of advanced information management of devices. We believe that Secure PC are about to become commonplace in the industry.

Moderator: Data privacy protection has become a daunting task now. What do you think are the reasons for the “insecurity around personal data privacy”? How to solve it by combining blockchain with IoT technology?

Kazumasa Sato: We are considering two issues related to the security of personal data.

The first issue: People will feel concerned as if our behavior is being monitored, or if the data that belongs to us is being used by companies without our acknowledgment. Our platform’s policy is that data is attributed to the individual and it is up to the individual to decide to whom the data is provided.

The other issue is that companies do not have adequate measures while having a large amount of personal data in-house. As most companies are providing services based on centralized information management, therefore, the information leakage will continue to happen. Reducing corporate security risks is an important issue for the company’s growth. Our platform solves this issue with our core technologies, blockchain, and distributed storage.

Moderator: What economic value will Jasmy IoT Platform deliver to data?

Hiroshi Harada: Unlike GAFA, Jasmy does not collect and analyze data in a centralized system, nor will it make a profit. For Jasmy, the individuals on the platform are the owners of the data, and the owners should make a profit by utilizing the data. On our platform, users become the owners of their data by having a “personal data locker”.

Companies will be able to obtain fresh, unprocessed and unfalsified data from users through the IoT devices, even between rival companies. For example, Sony may be able to obtain personal data generated from Panasonic devices. This is made possible because our business model makes each individual the owner of his own data.

Based on our business model, companies are more likely to have access to information that was previously unavailable. This will create new value for the personal data. As more and more companies join the Jasmy platform to provide services and the number of users increases, the scale of the platform will expand, and the amount and value of data possessed by each individual will also increase.

Moderator: What’s the business model of JasmyCoin?

Hiroshi Harada: JasmyCoin is mainly used in two ways:

1. Investors purchasing it for capital gains in the market, and
2. Companies using it for business demand.

The main use of JasmyCoin is that company can pay individuals JasmyCoins as a reward for acquiring personal data, especially the personal data generated from IoT devices. JasmyCoin is the only valid currency for the value of personal data on our platform.

As the number of partner companies and users of their services grows, the scale of our platform will keep on expanding, and so will the volume and the value of personal data held by each individual.

Another reason for the continuous increase of the value of JasmyCoin is that, for the companies who are using Jasmy’s services, this token ecosystem will not affect their finance reports.

Jasmy generates revenue from providing its platform as a service to companies. Even if some companies do not choose JasmyCoin as a payment instrument for information security services or product purchases, the token ecosystem described above will still undergo token cycles. Companies are able to grow their business regardless of the fluctuation of the token price. On the other hand, users can use their data stored in the private data locker through the JasmyCoin.

Moderator: What is the technical logic of combining IoT with blockchain? What are the advantages?

Kazumasa Sato: Our Secure PC uses our own blockchain-based authentication center, and special security technologies like encryptions are added to the hardware, which means instructions won’t be easily altered even when connected to the Internet. Extensive expertise in hardware is one of our strengths.

In addition to the technologies mentioned above, records on the blockchain-based distributed ledger will also be used in the private data locker. Increased economic value is realized by recording the right data and enhancing data security.