Bitcoin Global News (BGN)

June 07, 2018 -- ADVFN Crypto NewsWire -- What’s going to happen when the next exponential wave of technological change hits us? Will it no longer be a question of who can keep up with Google? Brian Behlendorf, who essentially heads the Hyperledger project, appears to think that the Blockchain will be the catalyst of the next wave. With his major argument being that the traditional tech companies, if any can be called that, have a “blindspot when it comes to the blockchain,” is there in fact, trouble on the horizon for Silicon Valley?

The theory of transient advantage says that companies don’t have the capability of sustaining long-term competitive advantages in today’s world, largely due to the rise of technology. The question is: does this include the Googles of the global business space?

The answer could be no, if one simply judges by the fact that they have a research and development department with its hands in a bit of everything and an arguably, clear reputation for being on the forefront of every major global shift. An outside research firm called Juniper even ran a study that found that 6 out of 10 multinational technology companies are already working with the Blockchain, in some capacity.

In connection with this, Bloomberg reported this March, that Google is working on a proprietary Blockchain project. What is known at this time is that it hopes to use the Blockchain to increase the efficiency of its cloud products as well as to protect itself against disruption of its business from Blockchain-based startups. The same article also speculated that Google could use the Blockchain to prove the security of customer data, which one could surmise could be possible with an anonymous set of protocols like zero-knowledge proofs. At this time, however, this has not actually been proven to be something that they are working on.

What’s quite possibly even more interesting is that Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is using the Blockchain to develop a basic, yet distributed, transaction verification service for its partners and really, anyone that does business with it directly. To add to the heap of work that they’re actually doing, Google and as a matter of course, Alphabet, have also been investing in and acquiring Blockchain-based startups.

In conclusion, it’s difficult to see where Hyperledger’s argument has merit in the case of Google, but it could have merit in the case of other, well-known technology companies. According to several sources, the question isn’t whether companies like this are working on the Blockchain, it’s whether they’ll actually put it into active use, in the near future. With this, a correlation could be drawn to the hype behind Ripple being the future transaction service for banks and the reality that it has mainly been used only in pilot projects.

Since this reluctance does appear to exist, it can also be claimed that Hyperledger shouldn’t be speaking out against the major part of the technology industry. Instead, they should be doing everything they can to convince the major players of how the Blockchain could help to push their businesses forward.

With Hyperledger’s partnerships with companies like IBM, Cisco, and Intel, the purpose of Behlendorf’s statements becomes even more obscure. Let it be said, at least for now, that it could have been an attempt to push innovation forward through pointing out what the industry is missing.

By: BGN Editorial Staff

 

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