JP Morgan, Microsoft, Intel, and Others Collaborate to Set Up a Blockchain Alliance
More than two dozen companies, among which are some big names like JP Morgan Chase & Co, Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp, have come together to design standards and technology to make blockchain code Ethereum user-friendly and hassle-free for enterprises. The new technology has been developed to encourage mid and small-sized firms to use distributed ledger systems.
The association of companies under the name of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) will be working to augment the discretion, safety, and scalability of the Ethereum blockchain. According to the founding establishments, they want to make the blockchain network more suitable for business applications.
Other members of the alliance of 30 firms include Accenture Plc, Banco Santander, BP Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, UBS Group AG, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, ING Groep NV, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Thomson Reuters Corp, and startups ConsenSys and BlockApps.
The EEA plans to create a joint digital record of transactions that is sustained by a grid of computers instead of a central authority. This is something that the whole business community is striving to achieve so that there is a common pool of data. This could help firms understand consumer behavior better and customize their services accordingly, to provide a better consumer experience. Also, companies in a wide array of industries hope that it will aid them in streamlining their processes, like that of reimbursement and settling of financial securities.
EEA highlights the excitement around the emerging and promising technology but also throws light on some of the obstacles that firms will have to overcome before deploying blockchain on an industrial scale. One of the hurdles is whether the technology can sustain a large number of transactions that are processed by big companies while ensuring that their strict security standards are met. Initially, members can join this collaboration free of cost; that is, there is no need to pay any participation fee.
