COMMENT
transactions and reduce costs in addition
to minimising the risk of document fraud.
Barclays sees the biggest beneficiaries
here as the shipping industry and
financial institutions.
But its potential is moving well beyond
the financial sector because the
distributed cryptographic method
it uses can be helpful for all sorts of
transactions. Hyperledger, for example,
has been helping South African
diamond specialist, De Beers, use
blockchain to differentiate legitimately
sourced diamonds from those that
have been sourced from war zones.
Start-up Everledger has created a global
digital registry of diamonds powered
by blockchain in a bid to stamp out
diamond theft and fraud.
In the defence industry, Lockheed
Martin maintains it is the first US
defence contractor to utilise blockchain
technology. It plans to integrate
blockchain into its cybersecurity
protection. Blockchain will enable
more efficient and secure software
development along with supply chain
risk management.
“These new cybersecurity approaches
will enhance data integrity, speed
problem discovery and mitigation, and
reduce the volume of regression testing,
which results in reduced schedule
risk,” explains Ron Bessire, Lockheed
Martin Aeronautics’ Engineering and
Technology Vice President. “The faster
our developers can discover issues, the
faster we can deliver.”
Blockchain is also proving itself in
record management. The University of
Melbourne, for example, is working with
“A digital
economy based
on blockchain
could hold African
businesses to
a new level of
accountability.”
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INTELLIGENTCIO
start-up Learning Machine,
affiliated to MIT’s Media
Labs, to create a system that
will make student records
available on a secure system
for employee verification.
The beauty of the blockchain
database is that it will be
tamperproof. The Office of
the National Coordinator
for Health Information
Technology (ONC) in the US
is also looking at securing
and recording medical
records using blockchain.
Blockchain’s weak links
While the technology
has great potential,
it is not without its
limitations. Deloitte
recently pointed out that
resolving challenges such
as transaction speed,
Mark McCallum, Country Manager for South Africa,
verification processes, and
Orange Business Services
data limits will be crucial in
making blockchain widely
applicable. Blockchain and
bitcoin also face a hurdle in
funds to recipients. In another project,
terms of widespread adoption by pre-
blockchain platform BanQu is helping
existing financial institutions.
displaced Somalis in Kenya create
financial identities for themselves,
Deloitte also pointed out that while
providing unbanked people with a
solutions exist, including private or
footprint in the global economy.
permissioned blockchains and strong
encryption, there are still cybersecurity
Speaking at a recent conference
concerns that need to be addressed
organised by the MIT Media Lab and
before the general public will entrust their MIT Review, Behlendorf drove home
personal data to a blockchain solution.
the point that blockchain is far more
It represents a complete shift to a
than finance, “This is an opportunity to
decentralised network, which requires the reinvent how much of the world works”.
buy-in of its users and operators.
Given the developments underway he
just might be right.
While the technology offers tremendous
savings in terms of transaction costs and “For a continent like Africa, where
time, the high initial capital costs could
security is a growing concern, blockchain
be a deterrent to its growth.
technology aims to combat fraud by
building a traceable history of exchange.
A force for good
It has the potential to provide more
access to essential services for people
Blockchain may be pivotal to commerce, living in the most remote areas, and
but it is already helping our world for
reduce long-standing inefficiencies
the better. The United Nations (UN) is
and costs within the financial services
piloting the technology as part of its
sectors in several African economies.
World Food Program (WFP), utilising
From enabling micropayment systems to
cryptographically unique coupons
digital identity management, blockchain-
at several shops in refugee camps in
based solutions could drive a new era of
Jordan to ensure the safe transfer of
more inclusive growth,” says McCallum. n
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