The old adage by renowned British computer scientist, Sir Tony Hoare, and popularised by Donald Knuth comes at an apt time as Singapore forges ahead with its mission to be at the forefront of emerging technologies.
As much as it is important to consider how blockchain is changing the way businesses communicate with each other, the broader impact on the everyday consumer cannot be understated. An optimisation cannot be confused with complexity.
How then can we communicate the benefits of blockchain technology back to the consumers such that they feel compelled to see its necessity and impact?
Legitimising blockchains by going back to basics
The abused buzzword “decentralisation” has been one of the main culprits souring the public’s impression and understanding of blockchain. Yet, the core crux of the question remains — what is decentralisation truly about?
Decentralisation has been framed along the zero-sum lines of a power struggle, with the need to remove the unnecessary intermediary. That is deterministic and defeatist in thinking. Technology is better understood as an amplifier for change, and decentralisation needs to be operated in that fashion too.
Blockchain must empower individuals and communities with opportunities or value-added insights that were previously inaccessible. How so? It is too early to make a specific call. What we do know is that we are now at the adoption stages for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies where access to knowledge can make impressions on the markets.
The precious metals and commodities industry make a ripe example where blockchain benefits both businesses and consumers.
Take the gold industry for instance.
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From mining gold ores to the processes of smelting, trading houses, and sales desks of investment banks, there are approximately 9 to 11 stages of work involved in the value chain. At present, each participant in the value-chain predominantly only knows their immediate supplier—which creates a point of weakness in the supply chain, making it vulnerable to fraudulent activities.
Between the smelting and trading process, scrupulous businesses could tamper with gold bullions by mixing lead impurities to artificially inflate its weight, or introducing irresponsible sourcing practices—leading to lower-quality gold. As a result, businesses and retail consumers ultimately pay, either with lower-quality or overpriced gold products.
We can work towards making a bigger difference in a small way. While purity and authenticity of gold bullions are currently verified by external auditors, adding an additional layer of blockchain into these record accounting process, we’ve now made critical information, more secured and readily available through a public database.
This is done by uploading the gold bullion’s serial number, purchasing receipts, custodian statements, and registration timestamp on a blockchain. An individual cryptographic asset address is given for each registered piece of physical gold bullion.
Potential investors in gold can now publicly view the authenticity of gold bullions held by a broker-dealer even before making a purchasing decision. This empowers them with the knowledge to make better judgement calls vis-à-vis price charts and market trends.
This is the empowerment that blockchain and decentralisation should bring to consumers.
The impact that is felt
ASEAN institutions are some of the biggest proponents to making blockchain accessible. Just this year alone, the Bank of Thailand began Project Inthanon, seeking to make interbank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) as viable as possible.
Moreover, the region’s focus on energy security is shifting, with renewable energy trading now coming into the conversation. Blockchain is moving out on-the-ground to solve everyday issues.
In an article by BRINK, Southeast Asia was reported for its particularly unique position. The region has dramatically outpaced the rest of the world in per capita GDP growth since the late 1970s. Significantly, Southeast Asia is experiencing a mobile phone penetration rate of 113 per cent and Internet penetration of 53 per cent across the region.
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With consumer-friendly technology readily available to ASEAN’s younger demographics, Southeast Asia is poised to develop alternative banking services to meet the needs of such individuals left out of the traditional system.
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are also in demand for flexible financing systems that are adaptable to their business needs and growth aspirations. These untapped demographics represent many opportunities where blockchain can serve to empower individuals and commerce in a meaningful manner.
Demographically, we are facing a generation that will be transiting into the digital world with mobile devices as their first point of contact with technology for communication.
This represents an untapped demographic market ripe with opportunities Blockchain can serve to empower these people with access to information that might affect their livelihoods or business opportunities.
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Image Credit: Monsit Jangariyawong
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