The blockchain of trust
Ever since I read this post https://www.marketsimplified.com/disrupting-fintech-blockchain/ by mister Goku, have been fascinated by the concept of cypto-currencies and block chain and have long wanted to do a post on them. Have tried my hand a bit with whatever little info that I could understand from the materials online. Feel free to pitch-in to correct anything contrary to what is stated below.
How critical it is in current world to create “trust”, considering we’ve companies that solely run on them – Airbnb, Etsy, Uber, Facebook. These are the current generation’s super giants, who go by the concept of not owning any inventory, but selling the concept of a better user interface. Reputation and trust which their clients have on them is very critical for their existence and survival. How important it is to verify contents when reputations are at stake with fake news taking on MSM? One wrong or false information on the net, with conspiratorial tone, can cause irreparable damage to the company and their goodwill.
Take the case of over the counter drugs or even prescribed ones for that matter. With so many versions of WebMD sites on the net, querying about any tablet for its side effects or symptoms of a disease is quite easy. But when we actually buy the drug from the pharmacy, it is basically trust on the seal of the strip for the expiry/manufacturing dates mentioned on them. How vital it is to ensure fake drugs are prohibited for patients when lives are at stake? How useful it would be, if one can verify the entire lifecycle of the drug from formula to finished product till how it ended up with them at the click of a code?
Various studies, categorically confirm that, by 2020 there would be 50 billion mobile apps in circulation, each vying for the attention of the 7 billion odd people of the planet. Trust is the only capital they would be looking for along with gut feeling and probably user review and feedback. With the lifetime of a mobile app lesser than that of a firefly in case of unfavorable reviews, how vital it is for the company to be transparent and win the confidence of their clientele by sharing undisputable facts?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodies – Who will guard the guardians?
The single biggest selling point of Block Chain is that, it reinvigorate the concept of trust by making any data on it immutable and making way for the biggest democratizing force in human history, where collective trust outweighs individual irregularities, through an economy that is fully programmed. As an early adopter to the concept, Walmart, which took almost 7 days to track the details related to the Mangoes they procured from farm to store, an activity, which despite their best efforts, had many gaps in the information of the supply chain flow, managed to achieve the same in 2 seconds post going live with Block chain. The promise of Block chain is that, it offers an autonomous and decentralized store of value – not just for money but for intellectual property, real property and anything that can be owned.
How to setup a Block Chain?
The phrase is often bandied with various other terms like “distributed ledger”, “smart contracts”, “mining”, “crypto currencies”.
What will happen to incorrect data, accidently stored? How to correct the immutable chain? If there is a way to fix the data, wouldn’t it be in contradiction to the concept of immutability?
Will try to pitch in with simpler description for each in subsequent posts.
How critical it is in current world to create “trust”, considering we’ve companies that solely run on them – Airbnb, Etsy, Uber, Facebook. These are the current generation’s super giants, who go by the concept of not owning any inventory, but selling the concept of a better user interface. Reputation and trust which their clients have on them is very critical for their existence and survival. How important it is to verify contents when reputations are at stake with fake news taking on MSM? One wrong or false information on the net, with conspiratorial tone, can cause irreparable damage to the company and their goodwill.
Take the case of over the counter drugs or even prescribed ones for that matter. With so many versions of WebMD sites on the net, querying about any tablet for its side effects or symptoms of a disease is quite easy. But when we actually buy the drug from the pharmacy, it is basically trust on the seal of the strip for the expiry/manufacturing dates mentioned on them. How vital it is to ensure fake drugs are prohibited for patients when lives are at stake? How useful it would be, if one can verify the entire lifecycle of the drug from formula to finished product till how it ended up with them at the click of a code?
Various studies, categorically confirm that, by 2020 there would be 50 billion mobile apps in circulation, each vying for the attention of the 7 billion odd people of the planet. Trust is the only capital they would be looking for along with gut feeling and probably user review and feedback. With the lifetime of a mobile app lesser than that of a firefly in case of unfavorable reviews, how vital it is for the company to be transparent and win the confidence of their clientele by sharing undisputable facts?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodies – Who will guard the guardians?
The single biggest selling point of Block Chain is that, it reinvigorate the concept of trust by making any data on it immutable and making way for the biggest democratizing force in human history, where collective trust outweighs individual irregularities, through an economy that is fully programmed. As an early adopter to the concept, Walmart, which took almost 7 days to track the details related to the Mangoes they procured from farm to store, an activity, which despite their best efforts, had many gaps in the information of the supply chain flow, managed to achieve the same in 2 seconds post going live with Block chain. The promise of Block chain is that, it offers an autonomous and decentralized store of value – not just for money but for intellectual property, real property and anything that can be owned.
How to setup a Block Chain?
The phrase is often bandied with various other terms like “distributed ledger”, “smart contracts”, “mining”, “crypto currencies”.
What will happen to incorrect data, accidently stored? How to correct the immutable chain? If there is a way to fix the data, wouldn’t it be in contradiction to the concept of immutability?
Will try to pitch in with simpler description for each in subsequent posts.
Comments
I know very little about Technology, but I am surprised to see you lead into Blockchain not from the financial world but from traditional business. Yes, trust is all important - that's why a brand has so much value. That's why regulators are important. That's why we have consumer protection laws and so on. I am intrigued as to how blockchain technology will disrupt tradition consumer trust and the mechanisms that currently are in place.
Write on Gilsu. I will eagerly follow this series.