Economies spend a lot of money on infrastructure. Yet a lot of this infrastructure lies idle and is underutilised. Big industrial machinery, medical equipment and even ports and airports are mostly unused and not used to their fullest potential. What if we were to find a way which would allow us to use our assets to their fullest capacity? It turns out that the answer may just be using the Blockchain. Blockchain is the same technology that powers Bitcoin and is basically a distributed ledger which can move information on anything which has some value. Blockchain works as a secure peer-to-peer network and there is no need for intermediaries to keep it functional. Blockchain can open a chain of possibilities Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) together are likely to bring about a difference in the way we utilise our infrastructure across sectors. Forbes recently had a piece by Alex Tapscott , the co-author of the book Blockchain Revolution. Tapscott says: “Blockchain is a vast, global distributed ledger or database running on millions of devices and open to anyone, where not just information but anything of value – like money and units of energy – can be moved and stored securely and privately peer-to-peer, and where trust is established, not by powerful intermediaries like banks, governments and technology companies, but rather through mass collaboration and clever code.” The most important invention since the Internet or sliced bread? Ernst and Young (EY) recently published a report which quoted Marc Andreessen , a leading venture capitalist as saying saying that Blockchain is the most important invention since the Internet itself. EY describes the implementation of Blockchain, saying: “Both incumbents and start-ups are actively looking to apply the technology to reduce costs or improve efficiency. The technology’s potential to make ledgers […]
