Validating your idea for blockchain
Before you get started, it’s a good idea to check that your project really needs blockchain technology
To stay up-to-date on the progress of Centrality’s ecosystem, follow us on Twitter and our Telegram Announcements channel, plus join our community on Centrality’s Official Telegram, Instagram, Reddit and Facebook.
If you’ve read through the Blockchain 101 article and still have questions around whether or not your project or idea really needs a Blockchain / Distributed Ledger technology, here are a few more ideas that might help get you started.
There are many well documented Blockchain solutions that show just how powerful the technology can be, however they serve very specific purposes in new and innovative ways.
A few great examples of this are dApps built using Centrality’s Blockchain technology platform.
To help you come up with your own idea, or perhaps validate whether your app really needs a Blockchain here are a few questions you should ask yourself.
1. Do you need to store any data?
“Ahmed wants to build a news aggregator app — does he need a Blockchain?”
Blockchains are essentially a distributed database — its main purpose is to store and share data across a network of readers/writers. In Ahmed’s situation, he is creating an app which consumes data without any storage requirements. If you do not need to store information, you do not need a Blockchain for your project.
2. Do you have a trusted third party?
“When I shop for goods online, I trust that my bank authenticates me and facilitates the transfer of funds from my account to the online store’s account.”
In this situation, the bank is acting as the trusted third party and a Blockchain is not required.
If there is a trusted third party available to act as a mediator, then you do not need to use a Blockchain. However, if you are unable to find a suitable trusted third party then perhaps a Blockchain with an efficient consensus algorithm could be the answer.
3. Is there more than one person writing to the database?
“Cherry is developing an app for groups of people to track payments for shared purchases.”
If you genuinely do have a need for a database, but are the only person reading/writing to it, there is a good chance that a traditional database will be more suitable and also cost a lot less. One of the biggest motivations for using a Blockchain is to provide the ability for multiple parties to continuously update the database. When you have multiple collaborators and need to keep an accurate record of your data, a Blockchain can be a good solution. However, what makes it an even better solution is when there is trust, or mis-trust amongst users of your app.
4. Is there mutual trust between all writers?
“Some restaurants seem to have a suspiciously high number of 5-star reviews.”
Data on a centralised database can be easily manipulated, or questionable entries can be added without the approval of other users and contributors. If the data being added is from people you trust, then a Blockchain is not needed. However, if you do not know or trust the other contributors, then you should consider using a Blockchain.
5. Do you want to protect the identities of your writers?
“Luke wants to build an anonymous feedback system for his employer which protects the privacy of its contributors.”
There are many reasons why you may want to protect the identity of your users. For example, Blockchain, or more specifically, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum solve the problem of identities being revealed during a financial transaction. If privacy is what you are after, a Blockchain would make complete sense.
6. Do you want your data to be transparent to the public?
“Sera wants to bring transparency to the winery supply chain. She wants people to know where the grapes and were grown, processed, bottled, etc”
If transparent data is what you are after, a Public Blockchain could be the answer. Anyone will be allowed to read the data held within the database. In Sera’s case, whoever buys the wine that is tracked on the Blockchain can be assured of where it was grown and produced, and through which supply chain it ended up in their local supermarket. If you only want your data to be visible to select parties, then a Private Permissioned Blockchain can be used instead.
There are pros and cons to implementing a Blockchain solution and if not done appropriately, can be a costly exercise.
However, if you use it to tackle specific problems which cannot be easily solved in other ways, then you will have created something that presents significant value.
To stay up-to-date on the progress of Centrality’s ecosystem, follow us on Twitter and our Telegram Announcements channel, plus join our community on Centrality’s Official Telegram, Instagram, Reddit and Facebook.
