You don't need blockchain... until you do!
Tags: blockchain, smartcontract, cryptography, technology
Published: 2020-09-15 12:32:13

Being ready for blockchain means being ready for the future.

As this technology is still in its infancy, we twist, whirl and test it in all possible variations to see whether it actually works as billed. And you know what? It does. For many companies, who want to lift their business up to a whole new level of functionality, blockchain – or at least some aspect of it – is a total must.

Blockchain is not your cup of tea if you’re afraid of changes – even the positive ones. Or, if you don’t pursue ambitious goals. Maybe, you’re simply not ready for the great responsibility it entails.

Anyway, you can stop reading this article right now if you don’t want to find out the advantages of blockchain *instinctools clients already enjoy.

**Transparency**
The problem in many companies, especially those that produce something complicated is that they’re managing different vendors across a horizontal supply chain. All of these people that go into making a product don’t have the same database. They don’t use the same infrastructure, so it becomes really hard to see a product evolve over time. Using blockchain, we can create a shared reality across non-trusting entities. It means all of these nodes in the network have the ability to monitor and validate the chain for themselves.

**Ability to create smart contracts**
Smart contracts have a number of advantages over traditional ones. These are lower price, efficient implementation, absence of middlemen and automatic payment. All the actions are transparent, there’re no loopholes in contracts, which makes it impossible to interpret them to one’s benefit. A perfect solution indeed, for the financial market (banks, insurance), accounting and auditing, logistics, registration of property rights, etc. 

**Peer-to-peer connection**
Using peer-to-peer networks you kill two birds with one stone. No, wait a sec – even three of the feathered creatures. Let’s see.      

* Getting rid of the vulnerability of the client-server network, where everything depends on a central agent. In this model when something goes wrong everyone suffers. If the server doesn’t work, no one can gain access to it. And, moreover, the server deals with a great volume of clients’ private information. That’s why companies that depend on this model have to spend A LOT of money to protect themselves from being hacked. But with a peer-to-peer connection that blockchain provides, there’s no need to rely on a central point of storage.
* Efficiency. When it comes to the financial sector everyone wants a faster output. You can make a transaction in a few seconds, while traditionally it takes up to a few days.
* Cost reduction. How can blockchain help to cut costs?  Spoiler alert: by removing intermediaries.

**Cryptography**
Quite a bonus to everything mentioned above, isn’t it? But if all you need from blockchain is cryptography, why not start things off with the special libraries or hardware wallets that can sign, encrypt, decrypt and verify signatures? It’ll be enough for authentication/authorization users and hiding data.   

**Transaction register**
Details of the transactions are recorded, verified and settled within seconds across all nodes, which, on top of that, have shared write access.

**Opportunity to control personal data back to the owner**
With blockchain, it has become possible to create “identity in a black box”, which only gives a piece of information that’s required to do something. And, what’s even more important, belongs to the immediate owner.

 

Simple and clear as it might seem, blockchain is definitely not something you need to dive into without giving it careful thought. There are plenty of specific issues – business and technological ones – you have to deal with beforehand. 

> “What type of blockchain/distributed ledger should I go for?” 

> “Is it necessary to write my own chain or had I better choose one out of the existing projects?”

> “And if so, HOW can I do it?”…

To be continued...

_The article is originally posted on instinctools.com_