What Blockchain Means for Ad Tech
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Not long ago, possession meant holding something in your hand. Over the past two decades, a series of disruptors created a digital society, where the most salient feature is the ability to copy. But soon, every industry will face the blockchain disruption — a new paradigm where ownership of digital material can be transferred without making a copy. What will this world look like?
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin provide a clue. Without blockchain technology, Bitcoins could be counterfeited as easily as copying computer code. The critical breakthrough of blockchain technology is the use of a consensus mechanism, across multiple entities, to create an immutable, distributed ledger — a transcript where rules can be transferred, but never altered. This is how Bitcoin allows strangers to transfer electronic cash without middlemen.
Bitcoin is only one application of blockchain technology. According to one study, 15% of banks and 14% of financial market institutions intend to implement full-scale, commercial blockchain-based services this year, and those adoption rates are expected to reach 65% within three years. Meanwhile, the FDA and IBM’s Watson Health are exploring ways to use blockchain to build a patient data exchange to create an audit trail of all transactions on an unalterable distributed ledger, and in the process transform the meaning of accountability and transparency in healthcare.
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