“Blockchain will do to a lot of industries what the internet did to publishing”. – Patrick Byrene
Open source software, big data and artificial intelligence have changed so much about the world we live in. These technologies are not just mere words anymore as many enterprises have already adopted many of these technologies. The newest of these adoptions is blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology is a tamper resistant technology which provides security and privacy to its users. In general, many companies are still in the research and development phase. However, several companies in the sectors like health, finance, real estate are already implementing blockchain technology.
Some of the leading enterprises in blockchain R&D, investment and innovation are :
Financial Services
In the Financial sector, blockchain technology has been excelling through closely regulated POC’s, pilots and tests. Giant companies like Citibank, American Express, Visa, MasterCard have assigned a group of experts to work and understand blockchain technology. Many banks are in their R3 consortium, which is dedicated to banking. JP Morgan on the other hand is a member of the hyperledger consortium and has a team working on blockchain infrastructure.
Automobiles
Auto manufacturers know how technology is changing the tone of the automobile world. Volkswagen recently tested a vehicle telematics tracking system. In this particular test, a vehicle’s mileage, engine usage, history, and other important data were saved using blockchain technology so that the dealers and the manufacturers could know accurate details about the vehicle. Such a system is extremely beneficial because an estimated one third of purchased cars in Germany have manipulated odometers.
Aviation
Airbus conducted a demonstration at Berkeley for jet plane part tracking in 2017. Later that year KLM also started to develop blockchain protocols. Furthermore, Lufthansa is working on a blockchain based app for users and Air France is considering a distributed ledger technology for its supply chain.
Shipping
The first major enterprise test announcement was made by Danish shipping giant Maersk’s trail of blockchain to track the movement of shipping cargo. The first trial was completed in March of 2017.
Retail
Walmart is working on blockchain based supply chain systems to track the movement of all its products. Alibaba, in 2017, also announced that it has been secretly developing a blockchain network to track the authenticity of products and reduce counterfeits.
What are the different Challenges faced ?
Blockchain technology is still developing and are untested for large scale commercial implementation.
Even if the technological problems are solved, slower transaction processing and less security than a centralized platform continue to pose a threat.
Financial services and health care must adopt blockchain technology carefully due to its complex rules. In many enterprise use cases, there is an unresolved assumption of trust in the data inputs and connections from the physical to the digital world.
The Future
The enterprise world saw a rapid acceleration in blockchain related investments and activities in 2017.
Panaesha Capital is a financial technology company that was conceptualized in mid-2017. The company offers products and services in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency spheres, recognizing that the technology is the future of fintech and that it has applications in almost every sector.
