When it comes to cryptocurrencies, we stumble upon two concepts that are not always too clear: Bitcoin and Blockchain. While the first term has now become part of the common language and indicates the best-known and most established digital currency, there is still no awareness of the Blockchain that would make it a concept of popular use. However, it is on its way to becoming a tool of fundamental importance for business.
This is confirmed by data from the Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Observatory 2021, which shows how the blockchain market is maturing. Companies are working on building ecosystems to take advantage of new business opportunities and applications.
But why is blockchain a technology that is set to become increasingly important for small and large businesses?
A fast and digital tool. “If you have time, don’t wait for time.” Never has this saying been more true, especially for those who do business. The blockchain is fast because there is no body that has to verify its congruity or validity, but this is done by consensus of the network. And then it’s completely digital. Transactions entered into the chain can concern any asset, any right or container of value and information.
A secure and trusted technology. It is necessary to specify that thanks to the encryption process, it is not possible to modify blocks already inserted in the chain. This means that the stored data is secure and cannot be manipulated. The blocks, in fact, are added to the chain according to a precise chronological order that prevents the occurrence of disputes on the execution.
High reliability. Its technical features prevent any data loss or corruption. If even one of the save nodes in the chain were to fail, the others would continue to function with the chain stable, without data loss.
In short, it is a world that we can no longer afford to ignore. Suffice it to say that even
Amazon Web Service
, the Cloud Computing giant, is looking for a professional figure capable of “disrupting the way digital assets are exchanged“.
All it took was a trivial job posting: AWS’s New York office is looking for a financial services specialist who “understands the general cryptocurrency and digital asset ecosystem” with expertise in blockchain technology and distributed ledgers. “Nice to have”: seven years of experience in financial services business development “with exposure to distributed ledger and blockchain technologies”.
The announcement reads: “Working hand-in-hand with our sales teams, solution architects, ISVs, and system integrators, you will help deliver the solutions that move customers to end-to-end digital asset underwriting, transaction processing, and cloud custody.”
Cloud Computing as a virtuous business model is perfectly capable of supporting this technology. Just think of
Coinbase
, the world’s largest bitcoin wallet and the first regulated bitcoin exchange in the United States. It is a San Francisco-based company that supports 3 million global users, facilitates bitcoin transactions in 190 countries, and exchanges between bitcoin and flat currencies in 26 countries.
“In three years, our bitcoin wallet base has grown from zero to more than 3 million. We’ve been able to drive this growth – said Rob Witoff, director of Coinbase – providing a fast and global wallet service, which would not have been possible without AWS”.
What about the case of Crypto.com? The company was founded in 2016 as a powerful alternative to traditional financial services. Headquartered in Hong Kong and serving over 5 million customers worldwide, it is the first cryptocurrency provider to achieve ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certification. It also complies with Level 1 of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which is the highest level of compliance.
Its first Amazon Web Services cloud product was launched in 2018. The reason? Security and strong control over privacy. “AWS has a strong commitment to security with good encryption capabilities for data at rest and in transit,” said Crypto.com CIO Matthew Chan.
Finally, there’s
Fantom
, a company that operates an open-source public blockchain platform for providing accounting services to individuals and businesses seeking security, traceability, and veracity. For Fantom, Amazon Web Services is a stable, secure, and fast platform that can better serve a wide range of private users and acquire new business users in the financial and public sectors.
“Compared to other cloud providers and services,” said Fantom’s CTO, Quan Nguyen we’ve found the AWS Cloud, and Amazon EC2 in particular, to be the most reliable, stable, and secure. We have been actively recommending this service to our members since the platform was first launched in December 2019.”