Trust, Technology & Blockchain

For all business transactions, there is an element of trust – that your counterparty will perform the task, will deliver once the task is done, will not default. In the pre-COVID era, a lot of trust was generated through repeated interactions, usually involving face-to-face transactions. But post-COVID, there is a steep decline in the amount of travel and social interaction – leading to a drop in face-to-face transactions.

In this webinar, Professor Raghu Rau (Cambridge Judge Business School) will discuss how blockchains are disrupting our society and how technology can replace trust in the time of social distancing.

What can replace trust in a post-COVID society?
• More intrusive monitoring (companies installing software to monitor what workers are doing at all times): Privacy implications
• Trusted third parties (lawyers, banks, financial intermediaries): All costly
• Technology: Blockchain technology

Why does blockchain enable trust?
• Decentralization: No individual counterparty controls details of transactions
• Indelibility: Once a transaction has been recorded, no one can change it
• Anonymity: Like cash, identities can be protected if necessary

Examples of centralized vs. decentralized blockchains
• Bitcoin
• Chinese central bank issued cryptocurrency
• Libra