Settling obligations via netting transactions

A method performed by one or more computing systems for identifying obligations of entities, each entity associated with a network node in a network, the method comprising:

• under control of a first network node associated with a first entity,
• receiving a scan request from a sending network node, the scan request being initiated by an initiator network node associated with an initiator entity;
• identifying one or more first obligations to which the first entity is a party;
• sending a scan request to one or more second network nodes associated with second entities that are a party to the identified one or more obligations;
• receiving a scan response from one or more second network nodes to which a scan request was sent, each scan response received from a second network node identifying one or more obligations of a second entity associated with that second network node;
• and
• sending to the sending network node a scan response identifying the one or more first obligations and the one or more second obligations.

A method performed by one or more computing systems of a network of network nodes for preserving privacy of obligations during a network scan, the method comprising:

• under control of an initiator network node,
• generating a scan identifier based on an initiator identifier of the initiator network node and a timestamp;
• signing the initiate scan request using a first private key of a first public/private key pair;
• and
• sending to a nominated network node an initiate scan request that includes the scan identifier;
• and
• under control of the nominated network node,
• receiving the initiate scan request;
• signing the initiate scan request using a second private key of a second private/public key pair;
• and
• initiate a scan request by sending to a network node the initiate scan request that is signed using the first private key and the second private key.

A method performed by one or more computing systems for identifying parties to obligations of a cycle of obligations, each party of an obligation being identified by an obligation-specific identifier of the party, the method comprising:

• generating a first scan-specific identifier for a first party to first obligations of the cycle;
• and
• for each first obligation,
• receiving a second scan-specific identifier of a second party to that first obligation;
• replacing the obligation-specific identifier of the first party of that first obligation with the first scan-specific identifier of the first party;
• and
• replacing the obligation-specific identifier of that second party of that first obligation with the second scan-specific identifier of that second party.

One or more computing systems for netting obligations of a cycle of obligations of entities, each obligation specifying an obligation quantity, each entity having an inventory, the one or more computing systems comprising:

• one or more computer-readable storage mediums for storing computer-executable instructions for controlling the one or more computing systems to:
• conduct a scan of a network of entity nodes to identify obligations;
• identify a cycle of the obligations where each entity that is a from-entity of an obligation of the cycle is a to-entity of another obligation of the cycle;
• determine whether a netting transaction can at least partially settle one or more obligations;
• and
• when the netting transactions can at least partially settle one or more obligations,
• generate one or more netting transactions to at least partially settle the obligations of the entities;
• and
• execute the one or more netting transactions;
• and
• one or more processors for executing the computer-executable instructions stored in the one or more computer-readable storage mediums.