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Blockchain Can Shield Banks From Trade Scandals! The Banks Mass Adoption Of Blockchain Is Coming!

 

Blockchain Can Shield Banks From Trade Finance Scandals

Blockchain word as symbol cryptocurrency in chrome chain.

The pressure created by the ongoing economic crisis, mounting geopolitical tensions, and obsolete trade finance systems is pushing the trade finance industry all across the globe down a rabbit hole. To add fuel to the fire, recent trade finance scandals that involved major players such as Hin Leong, Agritrade, ZenRock, and Hontop Energy netted a combined loss of almost $6 billion. To limit exposure to such threats, major banks such as ABN Amro, Société Générale, and BNP Paribas have all withdrawn completely from the sector, while others stayed in the sector but raised the bar on their funding processes.

Samir Neji, founder, and CEO of Dltledgers, said: “For traders and other businesses that involve moving goods around the world, capital is now much harder to come by. This is bringing the sector that is already in difficulty further down.” By implementing blockchain, Neji pointed out. Traders can negate the paperwork, email exchanges, and phone calls that are now required to secure trade finance.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT for short) has the potential to bring transparency to the process of trade execution by sharing information in real-time, he added.

When all sides immutably record everything from trade participants, goods, documents, contracts, and payments on a single safe platform that provides tracking and authentication, the chances of a trade being fraudulent would plummet, or perhaps disappear altogether. Neji also said: “If banks see their trades carrying less risk, which they do when using DLT, the trader will be in a much better spot to get financing, and in many cases, will even end up paying lower rates.”
Apart from regaining the banks’ trust to fund global trade, blockchain would also allow traders to easily, smoothly, and safely execute their trades during the ongoing pandemic.

Conclusion

Regarding the adoption of blockchain technology by trade finance and supply chain players, Neji stressed that it was important to stop just talking about blockchain to customers and that they should just see the benefits the technology would offer themselves.
According to the exec, just as with using a smartphone, it is not important for people to know all the technicalities of the underlying technology if they want to actually benefit from it. He said that his company, as well as other companies in the sector, are working to incorporate blockchain in trade finance, but that they need to work together more so they could fight the common foes, such as paper documents, outdated processes, as well as fraud.

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Does Your Business Really Need Blockchain?

Blockchain has been getting a lot of attention lately. And this is because it brought with it game-changing capabilities that the business world had not seen before. As a result, many industries are scrambling to get a piece of the blockchain action. 

But do all businesses really need to incorporate blockchain? If you’re a business and considering deploying blockchain, this guide will help you assess if you need it all. 

Organizations and Blockchain

Blockchain technology was first applied to Bitcoin in 2009. The technology industry soon fell in love with the technology, which is why it has since broken out from its application in just cryptocurrencies. 

Blockchain is now becoming a common feature across a multitude of disparate industries worldwide, from insurance to food distribution to supply chain to commodities to health to recreation, and many more. Even governments are experimenting with blockchain to improve efficiency. 

And companies that are yet to integrate blockchain are keen to do so. A study by Juniper Research found that 57% of companies were looking to deploy blockchain. 76% of employees believed that technology could be ‘very useful’ or ‘quite useful’ for their company. 

When you look everywhere, everyone wants to adopt blockchain, or they already have. 

What’s the Deal with Blockchain?

Rarely a week goes by without another headline touting the great, life-changing attributes of blockchain. 

What informs that hype? As we’ve explained countless times on this website, a blockchain is a decentralized ledger of transactions and whose records are immutable and transparent for all authorized participants. Data is kept in the form of blocks, and these blocks are secured and linked to each other using high-level cryptography. 

Here’s why blockchain is such a phenomenon: 

  • It is decentralized, meaning that no single authority oversees its operations.
  • Data is cryptographically secured. 
  • Records are immutable, meaning once they’re entered, they can’t be deleted by anyone. This reduces the chances of manipulation and fraud. 
  • Participants of a blockchain network can check and confirm records any time they wish

That notwithstanding, not every business needs to integrate blockchain in its operations. Here’s why: 

1. If it’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It

The old saying “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” applies. Some companies are keen to incorporate blockchain despite having systems in place that are already working perfectly. 

Bear in mind that blockchain would come in and completely change how you do things. Why would you want to disrupt a working service by introducing something completely new and unfamiliar? 

If you wish to increase efficiency in your business, the answer could very well lie on changing or remodeling your way of doing things. Remember, a methodical approach is better than a sudden jump into something entirely different. 

Right now, the blockchain can be put into two broad categories: public and private blockchains. Private blockchains are those that require certain nodes to authorize any nodes that seek to participate in the network, while public blockchains are free for everyone to participate. 

Public blockchains have their strengths such as being resilient against censorship due to their decentralized nature. However, as of now, they are simply not capable of handling large volumes of information. Private blockchains, for their part, are panned by critics as unnecessary and merely shiny versions of a shared database. 

Currently, we have far cheaper and simpler implementations of a shared database which would provide largely the same benefits as a blockchain.  

If you want to assess whether you really need a blockchain for your business, ask yourself the following questions: 

  1. Should you really scrap your tried and trusted way of doing things and bet on a technology that’s still young? 
  2. Is your business based on a model that needs an accurate and transparent audit trail, and you previously have not really achieved that? In this case, you may need a blockchain.
  3. Does your business deal with massive volumes of information and data, and is speed a crucial aspect of doing business? In that case, better hold off on the blockchain for now. 

2. Blockchain is Expensive

Blockchain is not cheap. 

First of all, there’s the issue of energy costs. Bitcoin, for example, is known to guzzle a ton of power.  

Then there’s the issue of storage costs. You need to consider that as more transactions are added onto the blockchain, it gets bulkier with time. Also, each node maintains the blockchain by downloading a copy of it to their computer every while. As the blockchain increases in size, it becomes more difficult to manage it. 

Other costs could be: 

  • The cost of building blockchain solutions tailored for your business – from scratch
  • Maintenance and incident solution costs 

In the end, you may find that the cost of developing and maintaining a blockchain may exceed the profits realized from its implementation. 

3. Complexity

Incorporating blockchain is fairly complex, and this is true for all stages of the process. 

A lot of consultations, tools, platforms, software, hardware, and so on are involved, and they all require a high level of accuracy since a simple bug or loophole could undo the whole set up. 

Also, this complexity added to the challenges of the existing business software can be overwhelming for the company and negatively affect operations, rather than aid them. 

There’s also the issue of personnel. Embedding blockchain will need people with this particular skill set, which is expensive and adds to the overall complexity of the picture. 

4. Clients and Customers

Making the blockchain shift is not just going to upset the internal structure, but the external as well. This includes relationships with clients and customers. The potential for this happening should be a real cause for concern for businesses that want to jump into the blockchain bandwagon. 

The study by Juniper Research also revealed the following: 

  • 35% of companies that were considering blockchain believed it would cause “significant” disruption to internal processes
  • 51% of companies felt that integrating blockchain would cause “significant” disruption to partners/customers

As you can see, blockchain doesn’t necessarily augur well for the relationship aspect of a business. As you can already tell, relationships that have taken years to establish and nurture shouldn’t be risked for a new piece of shiny new technology. Any savvy business person knows maintaining and sustaining old relationships is better than acquiring new ones. Healthy business relationships are essential for the success of any company. 

Also, consider the aspect of human beings’ relationship with change. People are not naturally inclined to accept and embrace change. So, think about that before going ahead to deploy that blockchain. 

Questions Every Business Should Ask Themselves before Deploying Blockchain   

Blockchain has so much potential, and for the right environment and business, it can help turntables for the better. That doesn’t mean every company should be queuing up to adopt the technology. Most businesses are already utilizing processes that are helping them turn profits, and everyone is happy. As such, there’s no need to upset the proverbial apple cart in the name of implementing blockchain. 

Before you jump the gun, ponder on these questions: 

  • Will the cost of implementing blockchain outweigh the benefits? 
  • Are my competitors using technology, and how’s that going for them?
  • Does the decentralized and radically transparent model of blockchain fit my business model? 
  • What is it that blockchain will improve in my business?
  • Are there other technologies, solutions, or approaches to any issues I want to fix in my business?
  • Do I have a working process in place that doesn’t need disruption?
  • Can my business handle the expenses associated with blockchain, from implementation to running?
  • Can I afford to invest in my staff’s education on the new technology?
  • Can my team embrace the new technology and get up to speed with it?
  • Can I get blockchain developers who will provide value for money?
  • How will the new shift affect my existing business relationships?
  • Should I do an overhaul of the existing infrastructure, or should I do a trial run before changing things?
  • Am I willing to risk everything for this exciting yet relatively young technology? 

Only and only when you answer these questions satisfactorily should you take the jump on the blockchain.

Final thoughts

Blockchain wields immense potential, and that potential can be harnessed to transform and rationalize business processes. But it also comes with massive costs, it’s complicated and can cause a significant shift in the operations of any business, which may break or make it. Thus the need for extensive research and a lot of consideration before transitioning into the blockchain. 

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Impact of Cryptos & Blockchain on The Current Prison System

Introduction

It is a known fact that cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has impacted many of the industries in a positive way. In our previous guides, we have discussed many such sectors like Healthcare, Supply chain, Banking, etc. It is obvious that these are only a few of the many industries where the adoption of these path-breaking technologies is taking place. In this article, let’s see how cryptos and blockchain together are making the current prison system better.

Enhanced Tracking

The judiciary system in developed countries has already adopted technologies like cryptography & blockchain to enhance their tracking capabilities. In Foshan, a city in China, police have set up a community correction system that is entirely based on blockchain. The purpose of this system is to enable the real-time tracking of convicted criminals.

Every prisoner will have a specific duration of parole after their sentence is over. During this period, they must be monitored very carefully, and currently, governments do have some outdated techniques for this purpose. But with the community correction blockchain system, this process will be simplified.

Prisoners will be given electronic bracelets that they must wear all the time. These bracelets will have a tracking encryption program that allows police and court executives to get all the relevant real-time data. This enhances the supervision of offenders with minimal effort and provides more accurate information. Since the technology behind this system is based out of blockchain, the data cannot be tampered with no matter what.

More information related to this can be found on the Facebook page of People’s Daily, China.

For A Better Cause

There is a study that says almost 90% of the prisoners who can’t afford their bail money turn out to be pleaded guilty. This data holds true only for New York City. The number might go high in countries that are still developing. This essentially means that these prisoners can’t even utilize their constitutional rights as they aren’t allowed to argue their case because they don’t have enough money to do so. In very simple terms, we can say that irrespective of them being involved in a crime or not, they are found guilty because they are poor.

A blockchain startup known as Bail Bloc is trying to help this kind of prisoners. This company is allowing users like us to offer the processing power of our gadgets when they are not being used. This power is used by a set of miners to mine a well-known crypto – Monero. The Monero generated is donated to a charity organization known as the Bronx Freedom Fund. This NGO uses all of the created cryptocurrency to help bail out prisoners who aren’t in a position to afford their bail money.

If you are interested in making a contribution to the poor prisoners, you can download Bail Bloc from here and allow the software to access your unused gadget’s unused processing power. Below you can see a snapshot from the Bail Bloc official website where the statistics are given in an understandable way.

Conclusion

There are many other startups like CellBlocks that are using cryptos and blockchain to improve the current prison system. The intention of CellBlocks is to digitize the economy of large prisons by tokenizing the currency that circulates in jail and keeping a record of all the transactions on a blockchain network. With so much adoption in such less time, we can only imagine the amount of impact these technologies will have on various industries in the future. Cheers.