Whoami? I’m unique, dude (or why blockchain is useful for provenance)
A review of the critiques made about using blockchain for proving provenance and authenticity
This post is an answer to a blockchain critique from Sebastien Meunier. I think it’s good when people try to take some distance from hype. Well, except when they’re saying something obviously wrong for the sake of making an argument.
Blockchain bashing has become a sport, but let’s be fair: it needs more convincing use cases, beyond the bitcoin world. Too many ICOs have led to nothing or are purely and simply scams. Many projects have simply failed (for instance, RChain).
So more scrutiny is required and blockchain should only be taken as a mean, not as a goal. But some sectors, such as supply chain, are generally considered as potential targets. The intuition to use a blockchain lies in the immutability of the underlying ledger, which can therefore be used as an audit trace during the life cycle of goods (from the manufacturer, to a processor, a transporter, a retailer, one or several users up to destruction). As such, people have started to design systems to fight a pressing problem: counterfeiting, representing an estimated loss of 500.000 jobs in the EU alone. It also represents a risk for safely and health, especially…
