Understanding Topics

Topics are backbone of any messaging pub/sub infrastructure that enables routing of messages from publishers to subscribers and any pub/sub messaging infrastructure main goal is to make them happen efficiently with thre required traits of the infrastructure.

Our core focus is to provide a decentralised Pub/Sub infrastructure to the world that is as fast and reliable as any other messaging infrastructure that exists today like AWS's SQS / SNS / Kinesis etc., Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging / GCM, Azure Service Bus along with added advantages of decentralised infrastructure like privacy, security and censorship resistance.

Topics in DPSN are essentially named channels or feeds of messages. Similar to other pub/sub systems, they serve as a way to categorize and distribute data to interested subscribers.

Key Characteristics of Topics in DPSN

• Decentralized Ownership: Unlike traditional pub/sub systems, topics in DPSN have owners who control access and publishing rights.

• Transferable: Topic ownership can be transferred between users, enabling a dynamic marketplace for topics.

• Hierarchical Structure: Topics can be organized in a hierarchical structure, allowing for granular categorization.

• FHE Compatibility: DPSN supports fully homomorphic encryption, enabling privacy-preserving data sharing through topics.

Example: A Financial Data Platform

A financial data platform might use DPSN topics in the following way:

• Primary Topic: "financial_data"

• Sub-topics:

  • "financial_data.cryptocurrency"

  • "financial_data.stocks"

  • "financial_data.forex"

Within these sub-topics, more specific topics can be created:

• financial_data.cryptocurrency.bitcoin.price: Real-time Bitcoin price data

• financial_data.cryptocurrency.bitcoin.volume: Real-time Bitcoin volume data

• financial_data.cryptocurrency.ethereum.price: Real-time Ethereum price data

• financial_data.stocks.nasdaq.AAPL.price: Apple stock price data from Nasdaq

Subscribers can then subscribe to these topics to receive the specific data they are interested in. For instance, a trader system might subscribe to the "financial_data.cryptocurrency.bitcoin.price" topic to get real-time Bitcoin price updates. A trader system who is interested in volumes of all currencies can subscribe to wildcard topic financial_data.cryptocurrency..volume. Similarly, a trader system interested in all stocks data can subscribe to financial_data.stocks.

Topics in DPSN are a fundamental building block for organizing and distributing data. Their decentralized nature, combined with the support for FHE, makes DPSN a powerful platform for secure and efficient data sharing.