Stampery, a blockchain startup, has demonstrated that timestamping on public blockchains can be made possible through robust software and actual immutable platforms without the necessity of permissioned and centralized blockchain networks.
Utilization of Secure Public Blockchains Like Bitcoin and Ethereum Instead of Permissioned Ledgers
For many years, since 2014, various blockchain consortia and multi-billion dollar conglomerates have focused on the development of flexible permissioned ledgers to utilize blockchain technology as a database with cryptographic proof and unalterable ledger Most recently, Pfizer and Genentech, two pharmaceutical giants with a combined market cap of $300 billion, announced the release of the MediLedger project that utilizes JPMorgan’s Ethereum Go-inspired permissioned blockchain network Quorum to run the supply chains within the global pharmaceutical industry.
Last month, Genentech senior vice president of Managed Care and Operations, Marc Watrous, stated:
“Ensuring the safety of people receiving our medicines is of utmost importance to us. We look forward to exploring the potential benefits that this pilot could provide in protecting our medicines across the entire supply chain.”
But, if the purpose of the MediLedger project is to prevent counterfeit medicine and pills from entering the large supply chains of pharmaceutical companies, it is possible to use some of the most secure and robust decentralized infrastructures in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic to achieve the same result.
Some startups and blockchain platforms like Stampery allow anyone in the network to peg data to the four abovementioned blockchain networks simultaneously. Stampery recently integrated Litecoin, to secure data of its users and clients through a variety of public blockchain networks that are unalterable and immutable.
“Since 2011, Litecoin has proved to be one of the most viable public blockchain projects and to have a community that embraces innovation like no other. Effective today, all data certified via Stampery will be anchored simultaneously to four public blockchains without additional cost: Bitcoin, LItecoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic,” said the Stampery team.
Possibility of Pegging Chunks of Data Simultaneously to Major Public Blockchain Networks
For large-scale companies and projects, it will be more practical and secure to process information through platforms like Stampery that rely on the security of the largest blockchain networks in the world in terms of hash power and market value, rather than allocating resources on the development of permissioned ledgers that are still yet to be proven and commercialized in real-world applications.
Because permissioned ledgers are centralized to a certain extent in that several participants or actors within the network have more power than others, there would be minimal difference in integrating advanced encryption methods and cryptographic systems into existing database technologies from implementing permissioned blockchain networks.
If companies are seeking to prioritize security, it is vital to utilize public blockchains like Bitcoin that have been proven to be immutable and resilient to attacks. Most importantly, public blockchain networks are being run by decentralized ecosystems of developers, miners, users, and businesses, as their own unique economies.
As the Bank of Finland research paper read:
“Bitcoin is a monopoly run by a protocol, not by a managing organization. Familiar monopolies are run by managing organizations with discretion to determine and then change prices, offerings and rules. Monopolies are often regulated to prevent or at least mitigate their abuse of power. Bitcoin is not regulated. It cannot be regulated. There is no need to regulate it because as a system it is committed to the protocol as is and the transaction fees it charges the users are determined by the users independently of the miners’ efforts.”
At the current stage, it would not be possible for public blockchain networks to process massive amounts of data at the level of centralized platforms such as Visa and PayPal. However, it is also impractical to peg each piece of data to a blockchain network and transactions. Companies could possibly look into pegging chunks of data into the bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic blockchains through startups like Stampery.