Unchaining the BLOCKCHAIN
Be a part of
blockchain that will underpin the financial sector in the coming time. Educator
Vikram Pandya on the emerging blockchain sector that holds huge promise
Welcome to the world of Blockchain – a decentralised,
trustless record keeping mechanism. Under blockchain implementation, as the
record is distributed, there is no one who can change or control the data.
Based on the desired objectives, a suitable blockchain framework can be
selected and smart contracts can be implemented which can allow end-to-end
transactions tracing, transaction validation and authorisation. It provides a
robust framework to support entire value chain seamlessly. In the words of
Larry Summers (US Former Treasury Secretary), the blockchain will change a great
deal of financial practice and exchange.
INCREASING DEMAND
Blockchain experts are high in demand and identifying
right blockchain platform for a given use-case is really important. Since
blockchain is decentralised, there is no central agency that has control over
the whole data. It also means that it is more resilient against Distributed
Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Blockchain should not be considered as a
replacement of traditional databases. It is not great at handling large volume
of real-time transactions because of inherent features like Signature
verification, Consensus mechanism and redundancy. It provides an immutable
record of all events without the need of any middleman or trusted third party.
A blockchain can be permissioned (normally at enterprise level), permissionless
(public, example, Bitcoin) or hybrid (ripple).
BLOCKCHAIN PLATFORMS
Today, there are several blockchain platforms in the
market. Some of the notable platforms include Ethereum, BigChainDB, ChainCore,
Corda, Credits, Hydra, Hyperledger, Multichain, Openchain, Quorum and Stellar.
These platforms are used to create Decentralised Applications (DAPPs).
Selection of blockchain platform depends on intended end use and choice of the
programming framework. In India, Blockchain projects have been launched by
banks for exploring, building and implementing solutions. Currently, there are
30 banks working on solutions across various domains like Shared KYC, Loan
Syndication, Trade Finance, Asset Registry, Secure Documents and Cross border payments.
Yes Bank has implemented a multi-nodal blockchain transaction to fully digitise
vendor financing for Bajaj Electricals. ICICI Bank executed transactions in
international trade finance and remittances using blockchain technology in
partnership with a Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD. Kotak Mahindra Bank has
enabled end-to-end trade financing by utilising blockchain to reduce time taken
for a letter of credit (LC) to few hours from 20 to 30 days.
CAREER IN BLOCKCHAIN
To build a career in blockchain space, he/she can
choose to become blockchain analyst or a developer, one can provide legal
consultancy, or can become an advisor for Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Blockchain analyst need to have business/functional knowledge and understanding
about the various blockchain frameworks while developer will need to know end
to end implementation on the selected framework.
Blockchain education is also high in demand and
universities, across the globe, have started adding blockchain curriculum to
their management courses. Beginners can go through the free courses on
blockchain essentials provided by IBM. Oxford provides online course on
Blockchain strategy. There are several courses on e-learning platforms like
Coursera and Udemy to provide basic to advanced level of programming training.
(The author is Director – Fintech, SP Jain School of
Global Management)
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