The CIO Show: What happened to blockchain?

Blockchain reached an almost fever pitch of hype back in 2017, before falling into a deep trough of disillusionment.

Apart from its role in supporting cryptocurrency, and the odd out-there fad like CryptoKitties, the technology failed to emerge as a game changer for the enterprise.

In this episode of The CIO Show, Laszlo Peter, head of blockchain services at KPMG Asia Pacific, explains how blockchain systems and ideas might be applied to the upcoming, highly complex challenge of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine in Australia. It’s already being applied in cancer research and oncology, while emerging as a potential game changer for Australia’s agriculture industries.  

According to Kaspar Kaarlep, co-founder and CTO of blockchain driven renewable energy exchange, WePower Networks that’s because blockchain doesn’t really belong.

In fact, it isn’t necessarily needed as part of most organisations’ existing IT architectures. Its real value is in facilitating networks, systems of trust between organisations and throughout entire industries, such as the energy sector.

And our third guest Jonathan Kempe, founder and CEO of supply chain security startup Verifai, calls out what he sees as a fraudulent misuse of the term ‘blockchain’ to sell organisations solutions that are often more expensive than available alternatives which would likely do a better job, while being simpler and easier to maintain.

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