Why hybrid blockchain solutions are the way forward

It’s pretty clear to those of us immersed in the tech industry, that blockchain has the potential to revolutionise how business is done. It provides solutions to issues that have been challenging both businesses and governments since the dawn of large-scale trade.

However, those of us who have been in business for a while also know, that evolution needs to be implemented in such a way to minimise the risk and impact on employees, customers and other stakeholders. That is why, when building Centrality’s community of blockchain-enabled applications, it became increasingly evident that the market was crying out for a platform that didn’t simply enable blockchain-based solutions, but one that could also integrate with current business technology and practices, as well as other blockchain platforms. For blockchain to be embraced by the organisations that can benefit from it, a hybrid approach is required. And this is why;

It’s silly to think that one blockchain will be appropriate for all solutions

There isn’t and will never be one blockchain to rule them all. While Ethereum is great for some things, it doesn’t decentralise governance as well as Tezos or update smart contracts as well as Hyperledger Fabric. The world is going to require multiple blockchains, and the platforms that will still be around in a few years will be those that can incorporate cross-blockchain transactions.

It’s silly to think that all organisations can move their apps fully to blockchain

Organisations have multiple considerations; business impact, budget and risk appetite to name a few. As such, an organisation is just not going to switch its entire business processes to accommodate blockchain in a single one financial year. It’s too risky and the change required is just too brutal. Blockchain solutions for business use need to be able to integrate with an organisation’s current software, hardware and business processes.

It’s silly to think blockchain is mature enough to have applications fully decentralised

Two of the most common concerns we hear from organisations considering moving to a blockchain environment are that the technology may be superseded by something better in several years, and there’s a lack of standardisation, integration and scalability. To ensure that organisations don’t invest in applications that will be redundant in 12-months’ time, they are looking for platforms that have the flexibility to allow for both change and scale. That’s more than just fast transactions per second, what is required is a platform designed from the beginning to be flexible enough to evolve as the blockchain ecosystem matures.

PLUG — enabling hybrid blockchains

After talking it through with some like-minded entrepreneurs, we realised the only way forward was to build a blockchain platform that was flexible enough to be future-proof, but could also be easily integrated into existing organisations’ technology and processes. PLUG is a next-generation framework for building business-ready, blockchain-based applications and solutions.

PLUG’s strength is its modular approach allowing developers to configure their own blockchain for seamless integration with their existing systems without the time or cost to change existing environments significantly or start from scratch. And we’ve built futureproof flexibility and scalability into PLUG’s DNA too. PLUG users can build services that can interact with other blockchain-based applications, without the application requiring manual integration for each different protocol and/or network.

To make it easier for organisations to move more processes into a decentralized environment we’re building PLUGnet. PLUGnet provides a core set of technical capabilities on a public decentralized network that developers can integrate to their private or hybrid blockchain to solve a range of business challenges like managing multiple signatory transactions and transferring assets.

So if you’re considering blockchain, think hybrid. It will allow your organisation to enjoy the benefits of a blockchain solution which can fit into your existing tech stack, and ensure that your hard work and investment will be relevant both now, and well into the future.

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