[IMPACT]

Handle consecutive Smart Contract invocations (the dApp protocol) within the context of a encapsulating state machine (FSM) as expressed by a Petri Net and executed by an off-chain dApp-container. It will also facilitate cross-chain dApps (e.g. Cardano/Ergo - eUTXO chains) by running the state management via off-chain Petri Net execution. See: https://iandebeer.github.io/web3/blockchain/PetriNets/

Marlowe allows for the development of Contracts but does not provide a framework that allows developers to compose dApps from these contracts while managing the state of the dApp under execution. A Petri Net is a state transition graph that maps Places (wallets/states) to Transitions (Smart Contracts) and Transitions to Places via Arcs (Transactions). It is well suited for describing the flow of discrete concurrent processes. This provides a more concise way to validate, test and execute dApps. The attach pdf provides the context from a general Petri net perspective.

I am not a specialist in Cardano smart contracts, but the contracts themselves are mostly treated as “black boxes” that allow the Transitions (spending/burning of tokens). I am familiar with eUTXO from an Ergo perspective and the principles are the same

[FEASIBILITY]

Development: Provide a framework that maps Participants and Assets from a Marlowe context to Petri Net Places, Marlowe Contracts to Petri et Transitions and the \Transactions with the state transfers as the Arcs and Markers governing the ability to step through the graph.

Test against the Marlowe Playground

Document: Describe the development mythology for dApps using Petri Nets.

Development: 3 man months

Test: 1 man month

Document: 1 man month

Ian de Beer: https://iandebeer.github.io/about/

[AUDITABILITY]

Open source, GitHub access with milestones and sprints

Create and execute a dApp on the Cardano (and.or Ergo) blockchain by modelling smart contracts and wallets as a Petri net.

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