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DA8 - Blockchain Applications

Statement

After reading this unit materials and conducting independent online research about Blockchain technology:

  • Select two different Blockchain applications that are widely used.
  • Compare and contrast the pros and cons of these applications.
  • Share your personal experience related to the use of Blockchain technology and/or applications. If you do not have personal experience with Blockchain applications, select a case study that you find the most interesting from the research you have conducted. Explain what attracted you to the case and why.

Solution

Task 1: Select and Compare Two Blockchain Applications

This text chooses two Blockchain applications Property Registration and Supply Chain Management.

Buying or changing the ownership of a property or land is a complex, lengthy, and expensive process that involves multiple parties. The process is also prone to fraud and errors. Blockchain can be used to simplify the process and make it more secure. According to (Tombs, 2019), it takes 22 weeks to finalize a property purchase in the UK.

The pros of using Blockchain for property registration are (Tombs, 2019):

  • Faster property transactions: Instead of waiting for weeks, the process can be completed almost instantly.
  • More trust in the system: Using smart contracts, permanent records of transactions can be created.
  • Higher level of security: With no third-party involvement, the system is more secure, plus the records are immutable.
  • Transparency: All the trusted transactions for a property are permanently recorded in the Blockchain; therefore, the entire history of a property can be viewed and verified quickly.

The cons of using Blockchain for property registration are:

  • The system is still in an experimental phase and not widely used.
  • The role of the government regulating bodies is not clear.
  • Lost job opportunities for people involved in the process, such as real estate agents, lawyers, etc.
  • It may require the transaction to be converted to a cryptocurrency, which may be a problem if the buyer holds traditional currency.

In Supply chain management, life is hard as the process involves many steps and parties; from producing individual parts; to combining them, shipping, storing, selling, and delivering to the final destination. Errors, intentional fraud, and tampering can occur at any step; it is a particularly difficult challenge for bigger corporations that manage millions and millions of transactions every day. Blockchain can be used to track every single detail or event that happens on every single product efficiently and securely (SimplILear, 2019).

The pros of using Blockchain for supply chain management are (JD Supra, 2021):

  • Trust: Anyone involved in the supply chain can trust the data recorded in the Blockchain, thus, rights are persevered in the case of disputes.
  • Efficiency: Quickly make decisions based on real-time retrieval of a product’s history.
  • Transparency: Anyone (including the final customer) can view the entire history of a product and verify its authenticity.

The cons of using Blockchain for supply chain management are (JD Supra, 2021)

  • Blockchain data may be public, which may be a problem for some companies and sensitive products.
  • Human interventions are still required to enter data into the Blockchain, e.g. scanning a QR code.
  • Scaling may be a problem as hashing and storing data in the Blockchain is a computationally expensive process.
  • It may be costly to implement Blockchain in the supply chain as it requires developers, experts, and maintenance.

Task 2: Share Personal Experience with Blockchain Applications

I used the Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB) in building a transaction system for a gaming company, the process involved purchasing game money using traditional or crypto currencies; then all the transactions from all three money types for each user are recorded in a QLDB ledger. The system is still in the development phase, but it is working well so far.

QLDB lets you store financial transactions, maintain a trusted history, and keep financial transaction records away from your traditional databases. It supports an append-only journal and a good interface to update history (by appending more transactions), all transactions are cryptographically chained and verifiable, and it is immutable. It is also serverless, thus, it is easy to scale and maintain. It also supports traditional database features such as SQL-like queries, flexible document data models, ACIDity, and streaming of data changes (AWS, 2023).

References

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