Why we should all take Blockchain seriously NOW
Some say Block chain will do for banking what the Internet did for media. |
Not so long most people involved in Blockchain spent the first three minutes of every conversation hey had in how shall we say "polite company" explaining how Blockchain wasn't anything to do with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin was this new technology supporting bad people who were undertaking dodgy transactions anonymously ( Silk road etc) - it wasn't the sort of place genuine folks with good intentions went. It wasn't something corporate types ventured anywhere near.
A few years later and my how things have changed....far from the technology being bad its street cred is high, Blockchain initiatives have TRACTION and investment in Block chain Fintech is going through the roof - the investment isn't quite at the heady dot com levels of 2000 but it isn't far off...
What has happened?
A realisation that the technology under the hood of Bitcoin was profound.
Three features to highlight
a-.An immutable secure encrypted distributed ledger that produces one single and agreed source of the historical record.
b- A defined set of desired behaviours from each player type who are provided with economic incentive's to do or not do certain actions ( reward and punish)
c- A smart contract embedded into the code itself which polices and enforces player commitments
An understanding that there is a virtuous economic bootstrap at work in such systems......(b) enacted through (c) and recorded in (a) means (b) continues to act through (c) and receives confidence at knowing (a) will record events accurately
Knowledge that the technology has legs Instead of currency think tokens , instead of payments think all kinds of contracts instead of public blockchains think permissioned private blockchains as well instead of clunky bit coin cpu mining think of a lead validator being choosen on a truly random basis for each new block
That an internet of value is emerging. A secure network where people can transact and have full confidence that they will get paid by person they know provided the contract is fulfilled.
How this will play out is anybody's guess...I do believe we are facing disruption at least as big as the Internet was....the historical need for trusted third parties is theoretically not needed at all. Some say Block chain will do for banking what the Internet did for media.
Very significant others are not waiting around it makes Brexit seem all of sudden inconsequential!
Finacle in India |
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