Blockchain technology is the talk of the town. Many cryptocurrency start-ups are popping up to build decentralized applications with their own version of blockchain networks, but it does not mean that every application requires its own public chain or Blockchain network. There are many ways in which this new technology can be used to improve current applications and systems across all industries says Peter DeCaprio.
Business Analysis:
Enterprises will use the blockchain as a secure data storage, transfer, and trading tool; retailers will employ smart contracts for inventory management; banks will enable real-time transactions via permissioned blockchain networks; healthcare companies will secure medical records (recommendation by IBM); governments may embrace digital currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum (example of Dubai’s ambition); artists will transact royalties transparently (example of Imogen Heap); and, car manufacturers will monitor vehicle history and origin data (JD.com has built a proof-of-concept).
Business Analysis:
The need for Blockchain technology in the enterprise is slowly being realized by many leading organizations across different fields. Business leaders are trying to identify ways in which they can improve their current systems with this new technology. The longer-term value that this technology might bring to an organization may be worth pursuing more research into its integration within existing business models.
Is Blockchain technology really worth it?
A new survey by Juniper Research has found that nearly one in five (19%) of the companies they quizzed are already investing in blockchain technology. A further 55% indicated that they were planning or expecting to invest next year, while only 8% claimed such an investment was unlikely. This looks like a positive trend for this new technology and we expect to see more implementations within different businesses throughout 2017 and beyond.
We can’t be sure how the future will look like, but at some point, things will need to change (e.g., how we look at privacy and security). Whether it is through new governance models, ubiquitous connectivity – which enables power anywhere/every – or decentralized business models, it will be difficult to imagine our world without some form of Blockchain network within it explains Peter DeCaprio.
The following article is the author’s opinion and does not represent the views of the Cointelegraph.
Disclosure: I am/we are long BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM (ETH). I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. Also, I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Business Applications of Blockchain Technology at Any Age – Juniper Research
Peter DeCaprio says blockchain technology is a distributed ledger that provides an immutable data storage and transfer platform across peer-to-peer networks without centralized supervision or oversight. In simple terms, it’s a decentralized technology that stores information in a shared database where all users have access to the same data. Blockchain was originally developed for Bitcoin cryptocurrency but it has many other applications especially when we think about business and enterprise solutions.
The need for Blockchain technology in the enterprise is slowly being realized by many leading organizations across different fields. Many top tech companies are already investing in this disruptive technology, while others will follow soon, once they understand how much value this new tech can bring into their businesses. This may be very difficult for them at first mainly due to a lack of technical knowledge. But they have enough resources to acquire blockchain-related startups or build internal blockchain, development teams.
Every day more people are becoming aware of cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech. Therefore, we see a lot of new projects and startups that want to launch their own tokens on the market. This is happening because it’s so easy to issue your own digital currency. Through initial coin offerings or token generation events.
In this article, I will be focusing on some of the major business applications of blockchain technology at any age as well as mentioning some promising projects within this space says Peter DeCaprio.
What Is Blockchain?
The first application of blockchain that comes into my mind is digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. But there are many more use cases outside finance already being implement. By some large companies on a global scale, they understand the benefits of decentralizing today’s highly centralized systems.
When it comes to a definition of blockchain, you may come across many different definitions. But normally it’s a distributed database that maintains a continuously growing list of ordered records called blocks. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block.
Conclusion:
The technology itself provides an architecture where every participant has access to the same ledger version. And acts as a verifier for any transaction within the network. This makes it very difficult for anyone attempting to rewrite the history or alter already recorded data. In addition to this, blockchain also employs public-key cryptography. This means that there is no need in creating any digital signature. Because everyone holds a pair of keys: one private and the other public one. With your private key, you can sign transactions. Whereas your public key allows others to send you messages or payments directly into your wallet.
Another important thing about blockchain is its immutability. This technology ensures that the data you record on the network cannot change in any way. So even if someone tries to hack into your account or alter already recorded information. It will simply reject by all other nodes since they would have a different copy of the complete record.