What is blockchain
Some see it as one of the biggest technological innovations since the internet: Blockchain. It is the technology behind the virtual currency Bitcoin. Blockchain allows people to transfer Bitcoins (and other virtual currency like Litecoin(LTC) & Ethereum(ETH)) via a peer-to-peer network using a public ledger. Every transaction has to be confirmed by a number of peers and after that the transaction is confirmed and the money transferred. And it is just the public ledger and the multiple peer confirmation that is so interesting for a lot of companies and governments as well.
What are the technological possibilities?
“The possibilities are endless” is maybe a over-used business term, but for Blockchain it is (to a certain consent) applicable. Instead of facilitating money transactions -of virtual or maybe even normal currency- a wide array of possibilities arise. It can be used to prevent fraud in –for example- university degrees, or give insight in the food chain of the hamburger you eat in order to prove that it is made of biological meat as the package says it is. So for a lot of possible purposes this technology of multiple confirmation and public ledger can be used.
Are there companies considering this?
Although it is a very exciting part of technology, and fantasizing about it can create a whole different layout of industry and financial markets, it has to create value and must be feasible to implement. So that’s why a number of companies and even governmental institutions have started to test the functionalities and feasibility of blockchain technology. In the Netherlands the ‘Betaalvereniging Nederland’, some mayor banks (ING, ABN AMRO) and the Dutch central bank have started experimenting with blockchain technology.
So only good news?
So far yes, but of course with every new technology come problems and even possible risks that have to be dealt with or minimalized. In Blockchain technology the public ledger is it strength but also ist weakness. For anonymous transactions it is not very important who actually confirms and saves the data, but with information that is not anonymous and maybe could even be vulnerable (ID theft for public stated university degrees) it is important. So in any way this data has to be controlled by a central authority or at least there should be some kind of organization of it. And that does directly interfere with one of the major advantages of Blockhain namely the obsolence of big data storage facilities and the unnecessary stream of these data.
But nevertheless there is a big potential of this Blockchain technology, even with some uncertainties and risks. The internet wasn’t built in a year and so will Blockchain also not be available for end-users within a short time, but it’s certainly a technology to watch!
