blockchain challenges and solutions

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Hitachi will develop highly dependable functions designed for application in financial infrastructure such as data anonymization and auditing functions. Through Hyperledger Project community activities, Hitachi aims to develop standardized blockchain platforms, to develop highly dependable functions, and to create blockchains that can be applied in social infrastructure. This is hampering investment and the exploration of ideas. This post is from a series of posts in the group: 18 Jul The platform architecture consists of five main component elements. Beyond the above described challenges, blockchain faces a number of implementation challenges, that has all to do with the still immature technology. Every enterprise is reserved and unwilling to make changes to its database, and for good reasons, as data loss or data corruption Fig. 0 The table shows the top five challenges that were of greatest concern in discussions with user companies. Transactions can no longer be performed on a blockchain once the key is lost. And the industry is very busy solving them. This will help to eliminate the sometimes negative implications and may result in an increased willingness to use the technology. PBFT requires that there are a fixed number of verification nodes governing the approval of transactions, which was a challenge because the algorithm is unable to satisfy the desire for continuous system operation. Digital Solution Platform Laboratory, Global Center for Social Innovation North America, Hitachi America, Ltd. Starting with the application of blockchains only for particular financial processes, Hitachi is expanding its application to cross-industry coordination, and automatic execution using smart contracts. 3. integrate the two technologies. Mr. Sato is a member of the IPSJ and the IEEE. This is a problem which could be solved with advances in engineering And there are the high incidences of data loss and breach that are discouraging most companies from transitioning to blockchain. It places trust and authority in a decentralised network rather than in a powerful central institution. careful thought is given to their design. A growing number of companies have expressed their will to enter the blockchain arena. While the Bitcoin blockchain can process three to seven transactions per second, Ethereum can handle approximately 20 transactions in a second. 2 Security is another crucial topic here. This asks for improving the user experience for those not as technically minded. Blockchain Challenges Existing regulation represents by far the most significant hurdle for blockchain innovators, as existing regulations favour incumbents and their vested interest over disruptors. This even goes for industries that have already seen significant transformation But this In most cases, if they decide to use blockchain, organization are required to completely restructure their previous system, or design a way to successfully raise important questions about privacy and of the security of the data stored and accessible on the shared ledger. Blockchain has an image problem. For some it is a nightmare thinking they will lose market share or will even become obsolete. Therefore, decisions of corporates about implementing blockchain applications need to be carefully thought through. These functions will therefore be developed along with functions that coordinate blockchains with each other. Another crucial requirement will be strengthening the blockchain platform functions that are mostly unrelated to blockchain functionality itself (as described in the list of challenges in the previous section), since financial infrastructure demands high reliability. These expanded functions will include functions that coordinate blockchains with existing systems, and functions that verify smart contracts have been implemented properly in line with the specifications. The speed and effectiveness with which blockchain networks can execute peer-to-peer transactions comes at a high aggregate cost, which is greater for some types of blockchain than others. Blockchain is still an immature technology. It offers an alternative to the conventional method of using a trusted third-party organization (such as a financial institution or government agency) as an intermediary. Crypto in the frontline: victim or survivor, A Complete Review Of An NFT Art Marketplace. And for most, this loss of control can be deeply unsettling. in 2020. And that is seen as a world of bad actors, hackers, frauds and speculators. 2 So, no one follows any specific rules when it comes to the blockchain, so there is still no security. require the organization to invest a significant amount of time and resources to complete the transition. This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. In theory the principle extends to blockchain networks which are used for something other than as a store of value (for example logging transactions or interactions in and IoT environment). and transfers. These are security and system performance issues related to non-functional requirements. they can do. Having a sufficient pool of qualified developers is a top industry concern. Instead a much more business oriented approach is very much needed. There are organisations that do not like the idea of blockchain and its disruptive character. 5, 06 Apr Before the general adoption is possible, members of the public must understand the difference between bitcoins, other crypto-currencies, and blockchain. We use cookies to help us to deliver our services. But more important are the technical ones such as immaturity (still slow and cumbersome), lack of scalability, lack of interoperability, stand-alone projects, difficult integration with legacy systems, complexity and lack of blockchain talent. Blockchain technology is still in its infancy and is still evolving. and remove the dangers posed by the loss of sensitive data. This is also the case with blockchain. The problem is that with so many different networks, the blockchain space is in a state of disarray due to a lack of universal standards that would allow different networks to communicate with each other. First of all there is a reputation challenge. But if this information is all stored in a public ledger it wont actually be private anymore. To enable the use of blockchains in financial infrastructure, Hitachi will work steadily on developing standardized platforms through the Hyperledger Project. Given that the participants are not required to solve complex puzzles, these mechanisms significantly reduce energy consumption. The main challenge for corporates associated with blockchain, especially the small and medium ones, is a lack of awareness of the technology and a widespread lack of understanding of how it works. 5, 06 Apr Another main challenge is the lack of interoperability between the large number of blockchain networks. others. Since block data is shared by all network participants, analyzing all the data could create issues, such as the ability to track the amount of a remittance made from a payer to a payee (No. Starting with the application of blockchains only for particular financial processes, Hitachi is expanding its application to cross-industry coordination, and automatic execution using smart contracts. 9, 09 May Furthermore, from a business perspective, private blockchains are more suitable to serve company interests, as they provide restricted access, an additional layer of privacy to protect trade secrets, and are more energy-efficient. Although It will develop expanded functions for cross-industry coordination to enable these use cases, further enhancing the reliability of blockchain platforms. Blockchains have attracted interest as an innovative technology designed to lower transaction costs by securely enabling direct transactions among an indeterminate number of mutually untrusted users. Concurrent with the Hyperledger Project community activities, Hitachi is working to enable the use of blockchains in financial infrastructure by developing highly dependable functions that harness the security technologies and distributed processing technologies that are Hitachi's strengths. could work here. And there is the so-called blockchain paradox. Summaries of the component elements in Fig. And there is the productivity paradox. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. Organisational challenges 8 obstacles and good identity initiatives are underway (Sovrin), we are still a long way from a radically new identity framework. 1Hitachis Approach to Expanding the Application of Blockchain. Self-sovereign identities on blockchain will enable us to capture and control our own data. This means that blockchain applications must harness network and processing speeds, but that will take some time. In this blog I will go into more detail in these bottlenecks and how the industry is trying to tackle these. Many users said they want to start using blockchains on a limited basis and gradually expand their usage, but there are challenges with linking one blockchain to another and with coordinating blockchains with existing systems (No. The table shows the top five challenges that were of greatest concern in discussions with user companies. This sort of interdependence may be the key to moving forward. Many organizations are making blockchain technology as a means of transaction. from digital technologies. 9, 09 May The problem with many current approaches, though, is that they stand alone: organisations are developing their own blockchains and existing systems. One major technology challenge of blockchain is related to the technical scalability of the network which can put a strain on the adoption process, especially for public blockchains. And what to think about the various security and privacy challenges. But that view is also changing and as soon as also governments and other public organisations are seeing the benefits of this technology and develop a regulatory model that encourages innovation while protecting consumers that might be an eye opener for There are now various projects that offer interoperability among different blockchain networks, such as Ark which uses SmartBridges architecture to address this challenge, and claims to provide universal interoperability, plus cross-blockchain communication Add to this the energy needed to cool down the computers, and the costs increase exponentially. The list of Blockchain adoption challenges mentioned above clearly underlines the need for technological improvements. regulation. are far behind when it comes to transaction speeds. The returns to individual processing may diminish as the network grows in size. Regulations have always struggled to keep up with advances in technology. technology however demands additional qualification and know-how. Using blockchains to replace existing systems previously developed by user companies is difficult because of the time and cost required, making a function that coordinates existing systems with blockchains a crucial requirement. One problem is that due to the lack of skilled developers, organizations do not have access to the necessary pool of blockchain talent to engage in this process. But after some number of years in which their focus was mainly on the benefits of blockchain in various areas, in terms of speed, costs, streamline operations and increased Summaries of Architecture Component Elements . Almost all the user companies mentioned privacy protection, processing speed and finalizing transactions in the discussions. BLOCKCHAINS have attracted interest as an innovative technology expected to offer significant cost reductions by enabling transactions to be executed as peer-to-peer (P2P) processes directly between users. This has a lot to do with the dominance of technicians in the blockchain area and their too much technology approach. When using an approval algorithm called a proof-of-work (POW) to approve a transaction, the probability of transaction finality increases over time, and the transaction is not finalized rigorously (No. 0 Mr. Nemoto is a member of the IPSJ. many others. One should understand that cryptocurrencies are only one application of blockchain technology amongst In the case of a virtual currency, losing the key results in the currency owner no longer being able to perform transactions and losing the currency. The article also looks at Hitachi's approach to working on these challenges, its community activities in The Linux Foundation's*1 Hyperledger*1 Project, and its work on developing highly dependable functions. Storage Research Department, Center for Technology Innovation Information and Telecommunications, Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd. That is not that strange given the long-established authority of governments to protect consumer and property rights. Like any technological innovation, blockchain will follow the same, slow trajectory of adoption over the coming years. It is still uncertain who will be most affected by blockchain implementations and which areas of the business are likely to be most disrupted. 0 This lack of scalability is not such an issue for private blockchain networks, since the nodes in the network are purposely designed to process transactions in an environment of trusted parties, which makes sense business-wise. 2Platform Architecture Developed by Hyperledger. Welcome to Finextra. heavy zone. Blockchains have attracted interest as the technology underlying the Bitcoin*2 cryptocurrency. For Finextra's free daily newsletter, breaking news and flashes and weekly job board. Blockchain is about 80 per cent business process change and 20 per cent technology implementation. This bad name While cryptocurrencies offer pseudonymity, many potential applications of the blockchain require smart transactions and contracts to be indisputably linked to known identities, and thus Hitachi would like to further enhance the technology's reliability through function expansion, and develop blockchain platforms that enable cross-industry coordination use cases that will shape the social infrastructure of the future. But even now there arent any specific regulations about it. Visa, for example, is capable of processing more than 2000 transactions per second. If the regulations do not cover smart contracts, it inhibits adoption as well as investment in the blockchain industry. One of the challenges of the blockchain approach (which was also one of its original motivations) is that it reduces oversight. Mr.Naganuma is a member of the Japan Association for Medical Informatics (JAMI). Hitachi is also working to further enhance the reliability of the system by developing a PBFT algorithm that enables dynamic node addition, a system monitoring function for assisting continuous system operation, and a scalable data store used to ensure blockchain data capacity expandability. current approaches. While blockchains are more secure than traditional computer systems, hackers can still breach apps, systems, and businesses built on blockchains. Another interesting solution TABLE 2. Hitachi takes a three-phase approach to expanding the application of blockchains (see Fig. Table 1 lists the top five challenges discussed. Another example is Cosmos, which uses the Interblockchain Communication (IBC) protocol to enable blockchain economies to operate outside silos, and transfer files between each other. Due to their complexity and their encrypted, distributed nature, blockchain blockchains can be slow and cumbersome. is Sharding that groups subsets of nodes into smaller networks or shards which are then responsible for the transactions specific to their shard. 5 in Table 1). Blockchain presents new challenges to regulators looking to protect consumers and markets, but the rigidity with which regulators in the worlds major economies have approached blockchain has served to stifle innovation and growth. Central Banks Digital Currencies: what may it bring for banks? To overcome this issue, many blockchain proponents are developing more efficient consensus algorithms, that are less energy taxing. 0 applications to run on top of them. This article has described the blockchain challenges Hitachi uncovered through discussions with user companies, along with the work Hitachi is doing to overcome these challenges. One such solution is Modex Blockchain Database, a product designed to help people without a background in technology, access the benefits of blockchain technology He is currently engaged in the research and development of security technologies for blockchains and cloud computing. Transactions can take a while to process, certainly compared to traditional payment systems such as cash or debit cards. He is currently engaged in the research and development of blockchain applications. If the secret key is lost, this function enables the secret key and public key certificates to be reissued using biometric authentication to enable continued transactions. The two largest blockchain networks, Bitcoin and Ethereum however Summaries of the component elements in Fig.