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2020 Vision
BLOCKCHAIN: AS big as the internet As an oracle of truth, mitigator of fraudulent risks and democratiser of data, blockchain encompasses an incalculable potential to revolutionise business and society in modern times. In truth, a number of experts agree that the technology eventually will be as impactful as the Internet. In this feature Göran Almgren, CEO at Enigio, John Salmon, Technology Partner and Global Head of the Blockchain Practice at Hogan Lovells, and Oliver Oram, Founder and CEO of Chainvine, discuss the fundamental principles and immense opportunities of blockchain technology. BY: SARA APÉRIA
”With blockchain technology, you are moving from a centralised to a decentralised world.”
Being one of the most discussed technologies in the contemporary world, blockchain technology is an umbrella concept incorporating a plurality of definitions, softwares and open source codes. A common denominator, however, is that it is a shared technology or platform based on a distributed ledger. “There is no central authority; it is very much a collaboration between a multitude of players having their own copies of the proof of data or a good,” explains Oliver Oram, Founder and CEO of Chainvine, that specialises in bespoke distributed ledger platforms that create a secure recording of ledger data. Essentially, the technology is divided into a multitude of nodes that are allocated among participants, thus equally dividing the risk, ownership and power. In essence, a fundamental characteristic of blockchain technology is the concept of transitioning from a centralised to a decentralised power structure. “With blockchain technology, you are moving from a centralised to a decentralised world, with transactions that are traditionally processed via trusted third party intermediaries now being conducted on a peer-to-peer basis,” says John Salmon, Technology Partner and Global Head of the Blockchain Practice at Hogan Lovells, a global law firm advising clients on the implementation of blockchain technology. An oracle of truth An essential characteristic of blockchain technology is its ability to preserve and verify the authenticity of information. “Enigio’s solutions provide immutable references of truth. With its solutions business data is always stored off-chain, whilst the ledger is used to verify the immutability of the data – like an oracle of truth,”
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says Göran Almgren, CEO at Enigio, a business specialising in creating digital original documents and preservation of digital information. By distributing identical copies of data, a universal truth is shared among multiple users across the world. The fact that everyone simultaneously is being told the same version, makes it hard to lie when participants are being held to account by all the peers. “Blockchain is very much a shared discipline, by enforcing the traceability and democratisation of information in a frictionless manner,” says Oliver. Blockchain technology has a specific strength in opaque systems with a low level of trust. In that sense, the ability of creating trust is at the core of blockchain technology: “I believe that the principal opportunity entailed by blockchain is the creation of trust in a trustless environment,” says John. By introducing blockchain into these environments, the characteristics of immutability and security strengthen the trust in the system. In the main, it is both expensive and technically difficult to attack all the nodes within a blockchain. “Blockchain really is a lot about cyber security. It is not a silver bullet and there will still be human errors and deliberate human interferences, but with blockchain, disruptions will be more quickly identified,” explains Oliver. Bitcoin – a global digital cryptocurrency Ever since being invented by the pseudonymous figure Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, the
decentralised digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin has tremendously driven the development of blockchain technology. “The invention of Bitcoin was definitely a key milestone in the development of blockchain technology,” says John. The buzz around cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has undoubtedly put the spotlight on the benefits of blockchain technology in recent years, with the main hype culminating in the end of 2018. Over the course of time, there has been a colossal monetary investment into blockchain technology both through start-ups and existing businesses. “There is no central authority that can change or manipulate this Bitcoin. Many people believe in this digital currency more than in their own cash currency, since it cannot be printed off,” says Oliver. According to John, there has been a proliferation in the number of cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets. However, there are still concerns that cryptocurrencies remain highly volatile, which has led to the interest in stablecoins. In consequence, another key milestone in the development of blockchain-fuelled cryptocurrencies was when Facebook announced its
