Bitcoin Global News (BGN)
June 07, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- What’s going to
happen when the next exponential wave of technological change hits
us? Will it no longer be a question of who can keep up with Google?
Brian Behlendorf, who essentially heads the Hyperledger
project, appears to think that the
Blockchain will be the catalyst of the next wave. With his major
argument being that the traditional tech companies, if any can be
called that, have a “blindspot when it comes to the blockchain,” is
there in fact, trouble on the horizon for Silicon
Valley?
The theory of transient advantage says that companies
don’t have the capability of sustaining long-term competitive
advantages in today’s world, largely due to the rise of technology.
The question is: does this include the Googles of the global
business space?
The answer could be no, if one
simply judges by the fact that they have a research and development
department with its hands in a bit of everything and an arguably,
clear reputation for being on the forefront of every major global
shift. An outside research firm called Juniper even
ran a study that found that 6
out of 10 multinational technology companies are already working
with the Blockchain, in some capacity.
In connection with this, Bloomberg
reported this March, that Google is working on a proprietary
Blockchain project. What is known at this time is that it hopes to
use the Blockchain to increase the efficiency of its cloud products
as well as to protect itself against disruption of its business
from Blockchain-based startups. The same article also speculated
that Google could use the Blockchain to prove the security of
customer data, which one could surmise could be possible with an
anonymous set of protocols like zero-knowledge proofs. At this
time, however, this has not actually been proven to be something
that they are working on.
What’s quite possibly even more
interesting is that Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is
using the Blockchain to develop a basic, yet distributed,
transaction verification service for its partners and really,
anyone that does business with it directly. To add to the heap of
work that they’re actually doing, Google and as a matter of course,
Alphabet, have also been investing in and acquiring
Blockchain-based startups.
In conclusion, it’s difficult to
see where Hyperledger’s argument has merit in the case of Google,
but it could have merit in the case of other, well-known technology
companies. According to several sources, the question isn’t whether
companies like this are working on the Blockchain, it’s whether
they’ll actually put it into active use, in the near future. With
this, a correlation could be drawn to the hype behind Ripple being
the future transaction service for banks and the reality that it
has mainly been used only in pilot projects.
Since this reluctance does appear
to exist, it can also be claimed that Hyperledger shouldn’t be
speaking out against the major part of the technology industry.
Instead, they should be doing everything they can to convince the
major players of how the Blockchain could help to push their
businesses forward.
With Hyperledger’s partnerships
with companies like IBM, Cisco, and Intel, the purpose of
Behlendorf’s statements becomes even more obscure. Let it be said,
at least for now, that it could have been an attempt to push
innovation forward through pointing out what the industry is
missing.
By: BGN Editorial Staff
News:
Blockchain