Page 50 - GCN, Jun/July 2016

INNOVATION
ing to coalesce around efforts to devel- op the technology further. In February, the Linux Foundation launched the Hy- perledger Project, an open-source col- laboration that already includes code and technology contributions from ma- jor IT companies. IBM, which is a mem- ber of the project, and other companies have announced their own blockchain programs.
Research institutions, meanwhile, are looking into expanding the kinds of applications that could use block- chain technology beyond the current transactional applications. The Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, has launched a prototyping program to develop what it is calling Enigma, a decentralized computation platform that delivers end-to-end, guaranteed privacy without the need for a trusted third party.
Among the core problems MIT re- searchers are trying to solve are that, as currently designed, “blockchains
cannot handle privacy at all and are not well-suited for heavy computa- tions.” Many of the most sensitive parts of modern applications require heavy processing of private data, but the public nature of blockchains “means private data would flow through ev- ery full node on the blockchain, fully exposed.”
MIT researchers say Enigma could allow users to run computations on data without the need to access the raw data itself, thereby retaining the privacy requirements of that data.
Beyond bitcoin, however, it’s still likely to be some years before we see blockchain used in other applications. Cuomo admitted that most blockchain implementations simply aren’t ready for serious business users.
“The concept and architecture are taking form, but some key capabili- ties and standards are missing or are only now emerging,” he told lawmak- ers. “For instance, many enterprise
applications require more extensive security capabilities than most of to- day’s blockchain implementations of- fer. Within health care, more extensive privacy protections are needed.”
Nevertheless, Cuomo said, block- chain has a clear future in many wide- ranging government processes — from collecting taxes and delivering Social Security benefits to managing land registries and assuring the integrity of government records.
Therefore, he said, the best way forward is for industry, government and the business communities to con- solidate their efforts around a single open-source foundation — the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Project — that is developed and governed in a cooperative and transparent way. And government should focus on helping to set necessary standards, develop- ing ideas for government blockchain applications and writing appropriate regulations, Cuomo said. •
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