You might have read that Disney is looking into the possibility of setting up its own blockchain. Well, now they actually did.
On October 17th, Disney released its hybrid public/private blockchain platform Dragonchain. Given blockchain’s utility in the finance industry, moves by Wall Street behemoths, such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), into the technology are understandable. Disney has been ahead of the curve as far as integration of technology into its theme parks is concerned. For example, the Disney MagicBand enables a frictionless experience for visitors to the Orlando theme park by connecting you to a vast network of sensors within the park. The company has reportedly invested $1 billion into the technology. (Investopedia, 2016)
But why does DisneyLand need such technology in the first place? First of all, what is Blockchain? Blockchain is an open platform, a distributed database accessible for everyone to see and interact with. This platform widens the scope of Disney as a theme park and might contribute to innovative new business aspects like having its own currency for purchases in the theme park or tracking customers as they venture through the theme park. This technology allows for new datapoints and more ways for visitors to interact with the park and even with each other.
According to Disney, “businesses can develop and track assets more efficiently, deploy the use of cryptographic smart contracts within business workflows to increase efficiency across enterprise systems, and accelerate innovation.” The blockchain system is decentralized and brings down the costs of exchange and transfer of money. Dragonchain is a “currency agnostic blockchain” with multicurrency support. This could help simplify Disney’s operations as it expands abroad (Investopedia, 2016). By creating a decentralized platform like this, visitors of theme parks might encounter new ways of interacting with the park, exchanging data with the park and transferring funds to the park. Also, possibilities will arise for visitors to interact with each other, as blockhain is technically an open platform, a database that is available for everyone!
Can you think about any other possible implications and uses of Blockchain technology to improve user end experience, in this case the visitors of entertainment parks?
Sharma R. (2016). “What Does Disney Really Want Blockchain Technology For?”, Investopedia.com
url: http://www.investopedia.com/news/what-does-disney-really-want-blockchain-technology-dis-jpm/?utm_source=forex&utm_campaign=dfp-ttl-ca&utm_term=7928821&utm_medium=email
Thank you for this interesting post! It is very interesting to see that a company like Disney makes such a large investment in technology that you would not automatically think of when thinking about theme parks. However, it is a large sum of money they have put into the technology. Despite increases in efficiency, using it as a currency platform and interacting with the customers, how do they expect to receive a decent return on investment on the money spent on this technology?