Une alliée du durable
The blockchain has an enormous potential for use in the preservation and transfer of data to multiple users. It could be particularly effective in resolving problems relating to durability.
Crypto wallets are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the use of the blockchain: this reflects the importance of the consented transactions for the development of this technology. Leur total devrait avoisiner les 2,1 milliards de dollars en 2018, soit le double de ce qui a été dépensé en 2017. Et d'ici à 2021, les estimations tablent sur un montant de plus de neuf milliards. At the present time, several large companies are investing heavily in this technology in order to expand the range of its applications. Among other things, they aim to provide solutions to the multiple environmental, social and governance problems that companies face on a daily basis.
La traçabilité dans les chaînes d'ap provisionnement est l'un d'entre eux. En effet, la distance entre producteur et con sommateur final peut être longue et inclure des centaines d'intervenants. It is therefore difficult for the companies concerned to ensure that their requirements in terms of product safety, environmental impact or social standards are properly applied by all stakeholders. Or, grâce à l'utilisation de la blockchain, ces entreprises peuvent suivre pas à pas le cheminement de leurs produits et ce à un coût fortement réduit. Ainsi, Walmart, entprise américaine leader de la grande distribution, affirmait récemment que l'utilisation de cette technologie lui avait permis de ramener de six jours à deux se condes le suivi de ses comestibles vivants. De même, JD.com, le géant chinois du com merce en ligne a annoncé son intention de recourir à la blockchain pour assurer le sui vi de son approvisionnement en viande, afin de lutter contre l'utilisation illégale de médicaments dans les élevages de porcs.
La distribution d'énergies renouvela bles est un autre domaine d'application pro metteur. In an electricity network, it is not possible to distinguish between electricity produced from renewable energy sources and electricity produced from fossil fuels. Or, for the final consumer, the dis tinction can be significant. There is already an energy trading system for the various energy sources, but it is inefficient and reduces the propensity to invest in renewable energies. On the other hand, the technology of the blockchain allows small energy producers to negotiate directly with customers who are close to them and prevent them from having to pass through the general network. A model of this type has been launched by the British electricity producer Centrica as part of its programme dedicated to local energies.
Un frein important
Other applications of this technology can be envisaged in areas as diverse as the blanchiment d'argent, cyber security or even voting by procuration at general meetings of shareholders. With regard to voting by proxy, the current process is not very practical and inefficient because the voting instructions are issued by a whole series of intermediaries who are not connected to each other. Cette année, pour la toute première fois, la blockchain a été utilisée lors d'une assemblée d'actionnaires. Mise en place par Broadridge Financial Solutions elle a été utilisée à l'occasion de l'assemblée générale de Banco Santander.
As well as being very popular, this technology is still in its early stages of development and, as a result, its applications involve a certain number of risks that need to be addressed before it can realise its full potential.
L'un d'entre eux concerne le fait qu'il n'existe pas de standard reconnoitre au niveau in ternational. Ceci constitue un frein important. Bien que la définition d'une blockchain soit as sez claire, le mode de fonctionnement de cha cune d'entre elles peut fortement varier. This means that certain chaînes can only function in silos and are incapable of communicating with others, which reduces their large-scale use and, potentially, increases their development costs.
Finally, for a technology that is based on the guarantee that no exchange will be allowed to take place, the right to omission, which has all too recently been invalidated within the framework of the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, must be resisted.
