Blockchain technology was first introduced as an underlying platform for Bitcoin, over a decade ago. Since then, the innovative tech has evolved into one of the most talked about technologies of the 21st century.
At the time of launch, it was considered to be an overhyped gimmick, but the perception changed as blockchain grew enormously. The revolutionary tech has now spread across the globe, covering several sectors and industries under its wings. Over the years, many renowned business corporations have joined the blockchain game, infusing the much-needed capital for research and development.
Unlike cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology has garnered respect amongst both, businesses and academicians. Showing his support for blockchain technology, famous blockchain author and Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Kevin Werbach has stated that blockchain or distributed ledger technology have offered a unique kind of trust to humanity.
Werbach made a claim while addressing students at a blockchain focused event at Princeton University. In contrast with most cryptocurrency supporters, Werbach, who authored “The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust,” stated that blockchain heavily depends on trust, though also reducing the amount of trust required for a system to serve all members fairly.
While delivering the presentation, he argued that blockchain not only relies on trust but also offers a new form of trust to human beings. In simple terms, what this means that blockchain, to requires some trust and that it is not absolutely infallible. To prove his claim, Werbach cited the example of QuadrigaCX Exchange Scandal, which saw about 110,000 users losing a total of $190 million, as the CEO Gerard Cotten had a premature death while on a honeymoon in India. He argued that trust levels required even in the blockchain.
It has been a common notion that blockchain technology doesn’t require any amount of trust, because as a technology, it is completely reliable with no room for error or manipulation. This is one of the reasons why the technology became so popular within a short span of time. However, Werbach’s claims are the complete opposite.
In his presentation at Princeton, Werbach stated that rather than trusting an individual to update the decentralized ledger, the users trust the machine to do the same, which makes data censorship possible.
These claims are extremely ground-breaking, as the entire blockchain platform is based on the philosophy of immutable data networks, which cannot be tampered if Werbach’s claims have substance than it might create a new debate in tech circles. Werbach may not be a common name for users. However, experts place him right at the top. He further explained that the technology interacts with the concept of trust, in two ways.
On the one hand, it reduces the level of trust, by eliminating the possibility of a single point of failure. This has been made possible due to the large sources of a single data network, through which blockchain makes data penetration from one single source impossible. Secondly, and more importantly, blockchain expands trust, by lowering reconciliation, executing automated transactions, and making records auditable publicly.
Blockchain has been growing at a rapid pace with giant corporations including IBM, HSBC, TCS, JPMorgan, Microsoft, and Facebook, entering the space. Several countries are taking giant strides in the sector, to develop various blockchain based solutions, in a bid to become powerhouses for the popular tech.
Amid all this, the claims by Werbach mark a significant shift in perceptions attributed to blockchain technology. At the end of his presentation, he stated that to minimize trust further; developers will have to compromise on convenience, citing the example of Bitcoin, which has a formidable trust model, however, it continues to suffer on the convenience front.
