Myth. Busted: Enterprise Blockchain is a Hype

Myth: Enterprise blockchain is all hype, no substance

Or, today there is little to no traction on real transacting consortiums on enterprise blockchain.

Reality: I have many daily thrills (along with some new grey hairs) that are the direct result of real transacting consortia running on the IBM Blockchain Platform, powered by The Linux Foundation'sHyperledger Fabric. Some consortia, such as global trade finance, have generated several million blocks on the ledger. Members of this consortium have yielded real value from their blockchain solution. It has reduced the average time to settle disputes across suppliers and partners from 44 days to under 10, returning those in-dispute funds back to the business.

Learn more about the IBM Blockchain Platform

The IBM Food Trust network is continually generating blocks and the number of participants continues to grow — now over 12 food industry leaders and influencers anchor the community. Members benefit from an ability to trace-back and trace-forward food supply chain data. This is particularly important when identifying and containing the source of contaminated food for recalls. Frank Yannis of Walmart said, before blockchain it took them over six days to trace food back to its source; now it takes seconds.

In total, our blockchain service is providing support for over 40 transacting consortia where multiple institutions are deriving value daily via the IBM Blockchain Platform. We also have a couple thousand worldwide, cross-industry customers on IBM Blockchain Platform, who are expanding the "transacting consortia" list on a daily basis.

Recently, we added TrueTickets, Loyyal, Tririga and Integra. This is no small feat. Some of these consortia have taken over two years to stand up on blockchain, getting business, legal and regulatory approval across multiple institutions. To say there is, "just hype, no substance" would not fairly represent the hard work that these trail blazers have put into their live running consortia on blockchain. Myth busted!