Because blockchain is the wave of the future (includes the interview)

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The American economist Nouriel Roubini has recently declared that the blockchain is just a big lie, stating that it is "one of the most overpowered technology ever". Roubini also stated that blockchain is unlikely to remove the need for intermediaries in financial transactions and is unlikely to replace some of the existing systems used by banks.

It's correct? Many would not agree, and Shidan Gouran of Global Blockchain Technologies explains why, in an interview with Digital Journal, he believes Mr. Roubini is wrong and why blockchain is the wave of the future.

Digital diary: how would you define a blockchain?

Shidan Gouran: A blockchain is a decentralized accounting system. This is the opposite of a centralized register system, an example of what a bank could be. On the register of a bank, you have records of the account of who owns what. But some weaknesses are centralized. These include latency: processes can be completed at the same speed as the bank's resources can handle them, making some transfers take a long time to complete. Redundancy: if the bank goes on fire at night, it is out of service … leaving customers in a difficult situation; neutrality – since an organization controls records, they can basically do whatever they want with it. This can include corruption (eg "forget" to complete a transfer to a competitor), or even commit theft permanently.

A decentralized system, by comparison, consists of hundreds or thousands of computers that have ledger books on them. To make the network work, all computers must have the same version of the ledger. This therefore addresses all the weaknesses of centralized systems. With latency. in addition to being extraordinarily efficient, blockchains can easily be scaled up in terms of capacity. Blockchain networks have seen relatively few latency problems compared to banks for this reason.

With redundancy, since the network is made up of hundreds or thousands of computers, it does not matter if some of them are suddenly offline. Being geographically distributed, it is not plausible that a blockchain network "goes down" at any time. With neutrality, there is no central party that owns a blockchain network. For this reason, an individual or a corrupt group can not misappropriate funds or unduly restrict a transaction.

Basically, we think of a blockchain as a democracy (the decisions taken and the power held by the majority), as opposed to a dictatorship (where everything is concentrated for one or a few leaders). If we consider how this change in power and efficiency can affect processes in sectors such as banking, insurance and government, it can be the basis for some serious changes in the way we do things.

DJ: Why is the blockchain told so much by some developers as an ideal solution for companies?

Gouran: Blockchain is an ideal solution for companies in many ways. In addition to being a scalable and reliable storage mode, it does not subject the company to liability arising from inaccuracies (intentional or otherwise). As a simple example, let's say that an electronics wholesaler uses blockchain to track their shipments from the warehouse to the retailer. If the shipment has to go through several hands, there are many possible points of loss or theft. If each box is to be scanned at each transit point, it will be easy to identify the point of loss if there are fewer boxes than those originally sent.

Now, one might think that this sounds just like the existing ERP systems for logistics. There are two key differences though. The first is that ERP systems are expensive and require a complex onboarding process for each part that uses them (and some logistics providers may not offer ERP integration), while blockchain systems are much simpler to compare, without any excuse for not participating in the tracking process.

The second difference is that blockchain networks are immutable. That is, once a voice has been made, it is permanent and can not be changed. This is important because very often the theft of the supply chain consists in adjusting the records to bury the discrepancy. Making it impossible for anyone to change their story imposes a new standard of honesty, which will change the way many companies do business.

DJ: does the blockchain always require the use of a token?

Gouran:Not exactly. To be clear, tokens can serve the purpose of allowing access to a network and / or the transaction value on it. Most blockchain networks use a token for one or both of these reasons. Although there are networks that do not require the use of a token.

DJ: what are the complexities with the creation of a blockchain?

Gouran:Apart from complicated blockchain programming, it is complex to build a blockchain network on a viable scale, since it requires the onboarding of hundreds or thousands of users to provide computing resources. Furthermore, there are some complexities from a legal standpoint, since the blockchain is relatively un-established, and there are some areas (such as health care) where the way data is stored is highly regulated. Finally, it is not a technology very well understood by the majority of the population, so there are of course some complexity when it comes to getting any person or group to adopt it. These are the same problems that the Internet had to face in its early days.

DJ: do the blockchains have any defects?

Gouran:They certainly can. Being a new technology, there will be some bugs in some blockchain networks and smart contracts. As technology becomes more sophisticated, it will work alone. Furthermore, blockchains are subject to attacks as a 51% attack, in which control of 51% or more of the power of a blockchain's extraction is controlled to manipulate the network in the interest of one side. However, since blockchains are built on ever larger scales, this will become an increasingly daunting task, and correspondingly less possible.

DJ: Why has Nouriel Roubini recently challenged blockchain?

Gouran:In simple terms, he challenged the blockchain because he has to do it. The character of Nouriel Roubini of "Dr Doom" has pigeonholed him as a constant opponent who always predicts the worst, which means he can not say anything good even when it comes to a technology like blockchain that has objectively positive qualities. People take him seriously because of how he predicted the 2008 real estate crisis, but nobody talks about all the times he was wrong, like when he said in 2009 that banks in the United States would become insolvent within six months, and that the oil would have crashed that year – when, in fact, it skipped.

His writing challenging the blockchain claims that blockchains are essentially glorified spreadsheets. He also tried to frame the cases of use of blockchain as a "last desperate" effort for the creators of failed ICOs to save the underlying technology. He also declares that no organization of any kind should entrust a blockchain network to handle important tasks of any kind.

Why did he say these things? They seem to be quite plausible on the surface for someone who is not in blockchain … but, more importantly, fits into his narrative of always predicting the worst.

DJ: How could you contrast these topics?

Gouran:As for the glorified spreadsheets of blockchain, spreadsheets do not handle decision-making processes like blockchains do. In addition, spreadsheets can be edited, while the blockchain data is permanent. There are some similarities between a blockchain network and a spreadsheet, yes. Just in the same way that there are similarities between the accounts of a bank and a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are a way to handle commonly used data throughout the business world, but it is a mistake to say that blockchain is exactly the same thing. There are some clear differences, and I consider it a comparison between apples and oranges.

So, for the idea that blockchains are just a way to recover value from failed ICOs, I would like to say that network blockchain projects like IBM Hyperledger are strictly pursued on the merits of blockchain as technology, which has nothing to do with cryptocurrency. Yes, there are many failed ICOs. But this has nothing to do with the blockchain as technology, and how it is used in ways that do not in any way involve cryptocurrency.

As for any organization of any kind that entrusts a blockchain network to handle important tasks, we have already seen applications with IBM. Another notable is the city of Zug in Switzerland. Not only do they use the blockchain for their municipal voting processes, but residents can also pay for services using Bitcoin. So it seems that Nouriel has never done his research in making these statements.

DJ: what are the best case studies that show successful blockchain implementation?

Gouran:Apart from the city of Zug, the Walmart carrying case for tracing pork chops and mango shipments remains one of the most noteworthy implementation cases to date, cutting a tracking process of more days up to two seconds. Moreover, the state of Andhra Pradesh in India has obtained over 100,000 land records using blockchain technology … a particularly profound use case, given the high rates of corruption and fraud in the country.

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