As for something that sits aside , a good example is banking . It ’ s unlikely for banks to replace all payment systems with blockchain — that ’ s certainly not going to happen . But for certain types of crossborder payments , or bank-to-bank global transactions , there are nascent examples of blockchain applications operating . For example , the United Nations is conducting an experiment to see if it helps with fraudulent transactions — people sending money and that money not arriving to the intended recipients .
What is the role of the BlockLAB ? The BlockLAB is consistent with what any lab does , in that we have a few objectives : First , we ’ re trying to understand the foundation of what ’ s underway . Blockchain is not rocket science — it ’ s relatively straightforward to write an application in this software protocol . We ’ re interested in studying the fit of applications , which brings up many different questions in finding its relevance within organizational , economic and business processes . We look at how the technology might fit within those contexts .
With the BlockLAB being at the San Diego Supercomputer Center , we can also look at questions of large-scale execution and performance . This allows us to address an important question regarding blockchain : Can it scale ? Distributed ledgers , by design , update each time a transaction is recorded , and that can be expensive . Scalability and technical performance need to be considered , and we ’ re well suited to do that .
Third is keeping up with the innovation curve in the industry . Organizations are experimenting with blockchain applications . University labs are looking into blockchain foundations . We need to build a partnership with the industry knowledge curve , and the application environments being tested , in order to bring that information back to the university . With that understanding , our researchers and students will be better able to contribute to the evolution .
What do you find most interesting about blockchain ? Where we will be with blockchain technologies in 2025 ? And who will be the first to get there ?
Learn more about the questions that UC San Diego ' s BlockLAB is asking at tritonmag . com / blocklab
THE SHORT VERSION :
Three Things to Know About Blockchain
Bitcoin does not equal blockchain . The Bitcoin system uses blockchain technology , but blockchain is the bigger architecture — a distributed ledger where transactions are secured by cryptographic signatures across a network of users . Bitcoin is just one application that uses this type of distributed ledger to create a form of currency .
Cryptocurrency and fintech [ financial technology ] do not define the evolving blockchain marketplace . Blockchain technologies can be misconstrued as a speculator and investor activity associated with Bitcoin , given all the hype and market noise it generated . But if you ’ re interested in blockchain ’ s applications in industry in general and scientific computing in particular , you have to look past that . We ’ re interested in the exploring the many applications of the broader blockchain technology .
We are in the first five minutes of the blockchain 24-hour clock . The introduction of a technology is rarely , if ever , the thing that comes at the end and scales . There ’ s a rush now to use blockchain technology , and hundreds of startups with ideas about how it could be brought to market , which creates a lot of distortion around its uses . But all technology adoptions take time to manifest themselves where they are most appropriate . And often , the bigger the promise , the longer it takes .
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