Innovating Using Blockchains

Yesterday, I met Victor a young innovator who aims to build a platform that tracks ownership and the real time state of boats, with the possibility to expand into other areas such as cars or clothes. He also shared some ideas he has had about adding crowdfunding or co-ownership capabilities to the platform using token’s hosted on a blockchain. This lead to a discussion about blockchains, the current state of the industry and the real utility blockchains have brought into this world.

Blockchains are useful in environments where there is no or low amounts of trust. That’s it. That’s what a blockchain is bringing to the table: the capability to trust.

This means that if you are innovating in an environment with low or no trust, blockchain’s can be useful. If you are building in environments where trust already exists or isn’t necessary, blockchains are not useful.

This sounds very simple and straight forward but is also very easy to forget with all the exciting innovation happening in the space.