The Trust Gap in commerce, and the blockchain as a solution
Trust is one of the five core elements of the blockchain.
A blockchains has five core elements; first, a distributed network, also called decentralization. Second, encryption: Every blockchain utilizes 23 digit alphanumeric passwords called keys to decide who can enter transactions or other forms of data on the digital ledger or database. Third, Immutability: these blockchains entries can be made anonymously or semi anonymously, and can never be altered unless all participants on the network agree and that’s called a fork which is permanently recorded also. Fourth; tokenization, all transactions and other interactions on a blockchain involve the secure exchange of value. The value comes in the form of tokens. Fifth trust-less system, you don’t have to trust people in a truly decentralized network, you trust the code.
The Trust Gap
Trust is one of the five core elements of a blockchain, and to some one of its most important is its role as a “trusted entity” and I would like to explain why that’s important.
Famous Gaps in History
The knowledge Gap
The importance As we look back through time we see different technologies that had monumental effects on society by filling a need or solving a problem. One such technology is the printing press. Before the printing press books were handwritten and hand bound. People who could find and buy books containing knowledge were at a great advantage over people with no books and no knowledge. The world had a knowledge gap. The printing press made knowledge available to all.
It solved the problem of the knowledge gap.
The Power Gap
The next thing that comes to mind is the Steam Engine. It was a huge advance in technology in its time because a Steam locomotive was much more powerful then a man, a horse or a group of men or a group of horses. Plus it never needed sleep. This invention provided the power to move materials over vast distances rapidly. It also power great machines which plowed fields for crops, dug big holes in the earth and provided power for other industrial processes replacing manpower and horsepower with Steam power. It solved the twin problems of not enough manpower & not enough horsepower to get jobs done.
It solved the power gap.
The Trust Gap: blockchain as a solution
The next great technological invention of recent times is the internet. It connects people from one end of the planet to another in seconds. People 10,000 miles apart can have a video phone call. It also allows the exchange of knowledge and the conduction of commerce details across vast distances. The internet has solved the distance gap. The latest technological achievement is cryptocurrency and the blockchain. The Internet solved old problems, but created new ones involving trust and verification. The problem with sending knowledge and conducting business over great distances is trusting the person far away. The stories of scams, thievery and other dishonest acts are know in every nation. The problem with the internet now is trust. So far, we are dependent on trusted intermediaries to verify the information and insure we are not cheated. The function they perform is necessary and the fees they charge are significant. But we have a new technological innovation called the blockchain. One of the five core principles of the blockchain is to allow trust-less transactions without trusted intermediaries or middlemen. This greatly improves the speed of the transaction and provides a permanent record of the transaction.
The blockchain fills the trust gap.
Last Word
The next big thing, the blockchain is here.
Those businesses who learn about it and use it, will prosper and those businesses that don’t will probably whither and die. Just ask Blockbuster company or the Dinosaurs, oh you can’t, they aren’t here…..
Change is inevitable.
Adapting to change is not optional.
