Blockchain benefits evolve

For instance, distributed ledgers can
also provide new ways of assuring ownership and
provenance for goods and intellectual property.
This is now being tested in the market

Everledger, for instance, provides a distributed
ledger that assures the identity of diamonds, from
being mined and cut to being sold and insured. In
a market with a relatively high level of paper
forgery, it makes attribution more efficient, and
has the potential to reduce fraud.Acceptance
is however an issue , as diamonds are
used to access USD , by many in
grey market currency trading.

The use of bitcoin sometimes creates
suspicion among citizens and policymakers
because of its association with criminal
transactions and ‘dark web’ trading such as on
the Silk Road. But digital cryptoassets are of
interest to many other legitimate parties as well,
and 2018 may see their use extended in those
quarters.Cryptoassets , are likely to
gain better acceptance via better
transparency , however the trade off will
be market size.

One place to watch in 2018 is Australia,
where the first live implementation of an
enterprise-grade distributed ledger will replace
the current infrastructure of the Australian
stock exchange. Should all go to plan, it will
validate the technology and prove it has the
scale and performance required for a large,
financial exchange.