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The blockchain industry involves a system of distributed electronic payments, which uses virtual currency (known as cryptocurrency) to facilitate the commission of anonymous online transactions. This involves a public record, which contains details of all transactions.
Dawn Song, CEO, Oasis Labs
I spoke with Dawn Song, CEO of Oasis Labs, a first privacy-based cloud computing platform that uses blockchain, to get an idea of where Blockchain will head in 2019.
"While 2018 was focused on scalability, 2019 will be the year of privacy," said Song. "We have witnessed an unfortunate and consistent pattern of misuse, abuse and attacks of confidential user information. This will come to a turning point in 2019 when customers begin to" vote with their data "and look for applications that do not violate their privacy.
SEE: What is blockchain? Understanding technology and revolution (download TechRepublic)
"This will drive advances in privacy protection techniques for blockchain that will usher in a new era of first privacy applications, delivering unprecedented transparency and control for users, and promoting the development of new data-driven applications that place user privacy. "
Dr. Song said that privacy protection techniques combined with blockchain can enable new decentralized applications that protect data by providing users with transparency and control over how data is used. "These first privacy applications will help restore consumer confidence that fosters the development of data-driven applications," he said.
The examples provided by Dr. Song of such techniques included evidence of zero-knowledge and homomorphic cryptography, which saw an increase in research and development by the blockchain community in 2018.
However, these techniques are not yet practical for general applications because of the slow way they operate, "they often range from thousands to more than millions of times slower than native execution," he said.
Hardware-based approaches
Instead, Song's vision is that hardware-based approaches are a more significant factor and that 2019 will see the rise in these techniques for secure computing, including acceleration based on cryptographic techniques hardware and reliable hardware.
"Reliable hardware provides a secure execution environment called a secure enclave that allows code execution at near-native speed while isolating data and code from other software running on the machine, including the operating system", he has declared. "Reliable hardware will enable a wide range of new blockchain applications enabling large-scale execution of complex workloads while protecting privacy."
SEE: Research: current status and forecasts for the future of the blockchain in the company (Tech Pro Research)
GDPR initiative
Furthermore, Song believes that privacy regulations will become reality and cited the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU as an example of an initiative to improve the protection of consumer privacy. "This trend is expanding in other countries and individual states in the United States. The California Consumer Privacy Act is one of the most stringent protections at the state level, requiring companies to gather information on users to use them responsibly and provide transparency to consumers. on the use of data, "she said.
Other Predictions The mentioned song is represented by large companies that implement large-scale blockchain, a promise of blockchain to dissociate from the hype of cryptocurrency and after data breaches involving technology giants such as Facebook and Google. secure data.
EEA: GDPR policy of the EU (Tech Pro Research)
Matt Moravec, CTO, Thor
I also checked in with Matt Moravec, CTO, of Thor, a payment and management platform provider for gig economy solutions with blockchain.
"As the world of blockchain staggers headlong into 2019, people are realizing that the fantastic visions of 2017 and 2018 are a little ahead of schedule," said Moravec, who thinks the next year will focus more on pragmatism.
"It is still possible to transfer money more cheaply and simply than using old systems, especially across borders", continued Moravec. "Last month, Binance has transferred 680 million dollars, and it costs only 7 dollars to do it: this has been and will remain the most evident value of the technology: it takes 15 minutes to send money from here to Frankfurt to ETH, and you can send as many as you want. "
Blockchain not only reduces the cost of these types of transactions, but also improves audibility. Moravac claims to have made Thor audits much more accessible and transparent.
SEE: Fast glossary: Blockchain (Tech Pro Research)
Digital credits
An important change, Moravec believes you will begin to see in 2019, is a proliferation of digital credits on the blockchain.
"Companies will start storing, for example, their air points or Starbucks stars on the blockchain," he said. "At Thor, we have a similar system: Thor credits entitle you to services purchased on our platform at a cheaper price. One important difference between this and previous reward points systems is that you have real ownership over them. use them as you see fit. "
Also, another realistic place to start seeing blockchain expansion is in the video game world. "Players are very inclined to enter the industry – if they have not already done so – and they are many of the people who continue to stay in space after a bad 2018," said Moravec.
"Imagine playing World of Warcraft, but you can keep the warlock shield in a device you own and swap it where you want, if the gaming company says that an item is rare, that request can be verified on the blockchain. transparent and allows a more vibrant market for these assets, and while the impact appears to be small, the rate of adoption should be high, "he continued.
And certainly an exciting time in blockchain, as Moravec noted, "much of last year's hype is fading, and now the true value will have to shine."
See also
Image: peshkov, Getty Images / iStockphoto
