Blockchain: Not just bitcoin

Blockchain is still a big unknown, even for some professionals. Blockchain and the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) have been made infamous by Bitcoin, a digital payment and peer-to-peer monetary transaction system that bypasses banks and third party endorsements. But DLT and the Blockchain protocol can be used for other purposes.  Blockchain’s greatest strength lies in its decentralised architecture. It allows transactions to be shared openly across independent nodes, verified by encrypted checksums that give each closed block a distinct, indelible signature. All these connected transactions, chained within a common system, make tampering practically impossible. Blockchain is irrevocable, affordable, flexible, and secure.  

But what about other applications of these concepts. What if we were to apply such technology to every data exchange? Data and information in the digital age is spearheading the evolution of services and product development, serving a continuum of user demands at all levels and scales, boosting research and innovation applications. Indeed, data is nowadays considered a key ingredient for competitiveness, and this is not about to change anytime soon. 

Prof. Aldo Drago

The greatest bottleneck is data sharing. Data production is growing and covering many realms but unfortunately most of it remains locked up in closed databases, enterprises, and institutions. Unofficially it is estimated that the world generates 16 zettabytes of data annually (that’s 16 billion terabyte laptops), but only 1% is analysed. The problem is that data is withheld by data collectors who consider data hoarding to be a right. Where data is released it does not usually flow to users. As a result, we now have institutions running massive centralised databases, often conducting data archaeology, compiling it at local, regional, and global scales. They address the needs of different user groups, but they also impose licensing procedures that ultimately restrain the power of free data flows, establishing unnecessary monopolies.

Blockchain can unleash the full power of data by providing a system for seamless, efficient and secure data transactions. It can lead to so many applications, such as eliminating the need for shipping documents in the transportation of goods, and making the freight and logistics industry more time and cost efficient. Data could be funnelled into artificial intelligence systems to create high performance human-machine interfaces, self-automated robots, cars, and ships. These devices, with information from big data, would be able to learn from their mistakes and autonomously adapt to changing environments. In medicine, large data sets would prove priceless in drug and treatment design, doing away with the constraints of limited sample sizes. The application of such technologies is limited only by our own imagination.

A new digital revolution is looming ahead. Are we ready to be amongst the first to take this leap into the future? 

Author: Prof. Aldo Drago

Finding the soul in the machine

Swiss artist, documentary filmmaker, and researcher Dr Adnan Hadzi has recently made Malta his home and can currently be found lecturing in interactive art at the University of Malta. He speaks to Teodor Reljic about how the information technology zeitgeist is spewing up some alarming developments, arguing that art may be our most appropriate bulwark against the onslaught of privacy invasion and the unsavoury aspects of artificial intelligence.

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How Blockchain technology could revolutionise Malta (and the world)

Bitcoin took the world by storm. Hailed as the future for e-commerce, the cryptocurrency blew the gates of opportunity wide open for all those in search of an alternative banking solution. People could mine for their own bitcoins. They could keep all their information private and secure. Small businesses could do away with credit card fees. Making all this possible was blockchain technology.

At its core, blockchain technology is a massive “distributed database” that allows for safe storage and management of transactions via a digital ledger that records all information chronologically and publicly. It does away with the centralised system of control, replacing banks, governments, and companies by a state of decentralised consensus, where the network holding the transactions checks in with itself, adjusts accordingly, and stores its data on a network shared by several users.

While blockchain is closely associated with bitcoin, the two are very separate. FT Technology Reporter Sally Davies explains; ‘[Blockchain] is to Bitcoin, what the Internet is to email. A big electronic system, on top of which you can build applications. Currency is just one.’ So how can Malta benefit from blockchain technology?

From full transparency and public accessibility during elections, to the ability to vote from anywhere in the world, blockchain could save Maltese expats and travellers indiscriminate amounts of time and money. Beyond politics, blockchain would see international transfers taking minutes not days and reducing associated charges to a pittance. Hacking too would pose less of a threat since hackers would need to alter a whole chain of transactions to change one. There are many more applications to list but this just goes to show the great potential available. However, for ‘the Blockchain revolution’ to happen, we shall need to overcome technological, governance, organisational, and societal barriers. All this will take time to achieve but progress is already being made by heavy-weights paving the way for others to follow.

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) recently brought together thirty big banks, tech giants, and organisations, among them Microsoft, Intel and J.P. Morgan Chase, with the aim of building business-ready versions of Blockchain technology. Once these efforts bear fruit, we will have ready platforms and a fertile environment in which new start-ups, existing tech companies, and individual programmers can venture out and build even more applications.

The Internet took time to build and disseminate. This time, the host of technologies needed are already there. The shift should be faster as new Blockchain-based structures emerge.

Jean Paul Galea, CEO at Websuccess Malta – Web Design, E Commerce & Digital Marketing

The future of money?

Money has evolved hand in hand with society. Early civilisations exchanged goods, which were then replaced by precious metals, like gold and bronze that represented the value of other goods. This metal money was made efficient through banks. Banks kept a gold reserve issued to an owner against a certificate. These certificates became paper money. Today’s money revolution is digital. Words by Ryan Abela.

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