Blockchain Comes Out of the Closet

From food safety to cybersecurity, Blockchain is being hailed as the biggest thing since the internet.

A January 2, 2019 MIT Technology Review, In 2019, blockchains will start to become boring, suggests that “In 2017, blockchain technology was a revolution that was supposed to disrupt the global financial system. In 2018, it was a disappointment. In 2019, it will start to become mundane.”

The author. Associate Editor Mike Orcutt, identifies and explains three reasons why 2019 will be the year that blockchain technology finally becomes normal. These are:

Big plans from Walmart—and Wall Street;

Smart contracts: finally good for something in the real world; and

State-backed digital currencies.

How Blockchain can support food safety

In fact, Walmart’s two-year pilot project had already demonstrated that a distributed ledger can keep tabs on food products from farm to shelf. A September 25, 2018 MIT Technology Review,  With Walmart’s veggie tracker, blockchain for supply chains will finally get real, reported that

”A recent E. coli outbreak affecting romaine lettuce killed five people, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and forced Walmart to throw out every bag until it located the source. The retailer says a recent demonstration showed that whereas it took employees seven days to locate the farm that grew a given batch of sliced mangos, a blockchain reduced that time to seconds.”

How Blockchain can support the Finance Industry

A February 12, 2019 report in the Australian Cybersecurity Magazine,  Finance Industry Blockchain Market to Reach $462 Billion by 2030, quotes figures from business information provider IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO). The value of blockchain in the financial sector reached $1.9 billion in 2017 and revenues are projected to reach $462 billion by 2030.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and other regulatory bodies are reacting positively towards blockchain technology within the financial sector,” said Don Tait, principal analyst, IHS Markit.  “The backing by these regulatory bodies bolsters the credibility of blockchain technology, helping it become more mainstream.”

How Blockchain can support Cybersecurity

A September 2018 report in the Australian Cybersecurity Magazine, How blockchain could redefine cybersecurity, quotes Philip Dimitriu, director of systems engineering, Palo Alto Networks, who identifies three key ways blockchain could influence cybersecurity: 1. Automate authentication; 2. Protect data; 3. Prevent DDoS attacks.

Philip Dimitriu describes how blockchain  accomplishes each of these safeguards , and concludes

“To make the best use of blockchain to harden cybersecurity, business leaders must understand how, when, and where blockchains can provide benefits and value, as well as how to implement them. Legal, audit, risk, and compliance are ripe for transformation via blockchain and to be successful, key executives need to be involved in planning and deploying the blockchain implementation from the start. When it comes to cybersecurity, success depends on education, training, and process transformation with the evolving industry.”

Tags: MIT Technology Review, Walmart food safety, IHS Markit, Australian Cybersecurity Magazine,  Palo Alto Networks