Blockchain – almost hype free and going through the roof

blockchain
Image credit: phive / Shutterstock.com

Perhaps because blockchain is so new it has taken us slightly by surprise. It is unlike a billing system, or another ‘G’ or a CEM environment. It can be used to glue things together in ways that do not necessarily make money (except for the vendors) but can save millions.

According to Juniper Research the numbers around – in this case trans-border transactions – are huge.

Cross border transactions recorded on – presumably many different – blockchains will reach 1.3 billion a year, the overall transaction value will reach $3.4 trillion a year and banks alone will be saving $27 billion a year in 2030 by implementing blockchain solutions.

One interesting thing about blockchain is that it has been almost hype free. Obviously much has been written about it but not in the way that entire tradeshows are at the mercy of 5G marketing budgets.

Blockchain is fascinating and once you begin to wonder where it could go, the answer is ‘everywhere’. If you think that blockchain technology could be about much more than financial transactions then the world becomes your oyster.

In fact blockchain technology could be implemented to record when the oysters left the harbour, what the temperature was in the van, whether the temperature varied and what time they arrived at the Grand Hyatt. Combine blockchain with implementations of the IoT, such as sensors and you can see the potential. The saving of $27 billion a year on trans-border transactions seems pedestrian by comparison.

Imagine the impact not only on billing (both telco and financial) but also on the percentage of calls from people querying bills. Of course, language would have to be developed that customers would understand – “sorry Sir but that transaction you made late last Friday night was recorded by our blockchain” – otherwise the company might receive complaints about employees going mad as well as swearing they never made the transaction.

Blockchain technology is becoming a breath of fresh air in a world of over-hyped solutions. Of course, it has its Achilles Heels. The notion that blockchain technology is unable to be hacked or manipulated is nonsense.

But it certainly has the potential to revolutionise many processes that are, shall we say, a bit hit and miss at the moment.

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