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When working on solving some of the worlds most complex problems the world’s most forward looking financial institutions are focused on the enterprise blockchain.
The enterprise blockchain is now at the forefront for numerous organizations to help promote efficiency, customer experience, return on investment, security and reduce fraud.
The blockchain platforms that are now going mainstream have numerous benefits for an enterprise to consider especially a financial organization. In this specific writing Ill focus on Ripple and compare it to other blockchain architectures regarding considerations, benefits and acceptance.
One of area that the “blockchain” is really having a major impact is around “Fintech”. When it comes to payment processing, Ripple is a good example of a consortium of financial organizations working together on a platform to solve problems that have hindered progress.
Here is a quote from the CEO or Ripple reflecting how financial institutions are handling payments on a new crypto platform called Ripple.
“Global payments are undeniably going through a sea change, led by financial institutions adopting blockchain to fix their customers’ broken payments experience. Now more than 100 financial institutions are looking to Ripple as the solution to the problem…”
– Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple
This is very important to grasp since we are witnessing what appears to be a major shift in how financial institutions are addressing not only the customer experience but also the organizations experience as well.
When a financial institution considers a specific ledger platform the organization should consider how to address several factors with that platform.
1, Risk- Perhaps the most challenging to address since risk can appear in many facets of the lifecycle such as a POC, implementation or thru changes in code. Having a rigid design could be riskier than having a more modular design.
Acceptance - Having your partners in consortium as well as your customer base accept the platform. In the case of Ripple, the customer base use XRP to process payments or make exchanges against fiat currency. Centralized or Decentralized-- For example - Ripple is highly centralized and thus poses a challenge for many to accept as a true crypto.
Privacy - Another area that is a major concern especially to a financial institutions user base is privacy. Ripple made a good call to lock coins to a smart contract but there is room for progress.
Innovation – One of the challenges that a blockchain developer or architect will run into is whether or not the “pipeline” of innovation is there or not. There are many blockchains out there and the fact that they are not all created equal. Some platforms such as Ripple are rigid in modularity or use cases where as other platforms such as https://blog.xtrabytes.global/ XT XTRABYTES code-agnostic approach will allow your development team to create a plethora of “dapps” (decentralized applications) that can span many uses cases.
Vision - Technically this is not a requirement, however, from a business acceptance perspective having a “vision” is critical.
For example, Ripple clearly states their “vision” is to be a global settlement network, a platform to allow anyone to transfer money in any currency to any currency in a matter of seconds. A good place to start to understand the vision of cryptocurrency or blockchain is to review its whitepaper and research its founders.
The Ripple platform was released in 2012 and has grown to over 100 member financial organizations. The market cap went from 9 Billion in December 2017 to over 18 Billion in March 2018. Clearly, based on those facts the “Acceptance” part has been fulfilled..
When considering a blockchain platform or even a crypto platform one should also consider the use cases of the platform itself. Ripple has a very specific use case and chances are if your not a financial organization Ripple wont be a focus for your prospective platform.
When considering a blockchain platform its critical to address Risk, Acceptance, Privacy, Innovation and Vision of that platform. The success of your crypto blockchain project depends not on the current capacity, success, features of the platform today but also the innovation and vision.
Remember your driving the innovation and success of your organization.
Perhaps Steve Jobs summed it as clearly as possible.
“Our DNA is as a consumer company - for that individual customer who's voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That's who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simply.”
Quote by Steve Jobs
Thank you…
Joe Holbrook
Certified Blockchain Expert (CBE)
Find out more about XTRABYTES https://xtrabytes.global/
