The cryptocurrency market has seen its ups and downs over the past year, but blockchain technology continues to see impressive growth as businesses pursue digital transformation.
Recent recommendations Market research platform MarketsandMarkets estimated the size of the global blockchain market to be $7.4 billion by 2022. While notable, the report indicates that the blockchain sector is expected to generate $94 billion in revenue for end of 2027. If these findings are accurate, this will result in a compound annual growth rate of 66% from 2022 to 2027.
Breaking down ‘Ethereum for Enterprises’
Speaking specifically, many companies today are using the Ethereum blockchain to improve outdated business processes. Paul Brody, global blockchain lead for Ernst & Young (EY), told Cointelegraph that he believes the Ethereum network will drive the most growth for the enterprise blockchain market in the future.
To bring this to light, Brody recently posted Ethereum for companies. According to Brody, this book is intended to help C-level executives and non-technical business leaders understand how and why Ethereum applies to specific use cases.
To make it easier for readers on the subject, Brody begins the first part of the book by explaining how Ethereum works using relatable language. “There are three fundamental concepts that are useful to understand: the distributed ledger, the programmable ledger, and the consensus algorithm,” she writes. Brody then explains that every “financial system has a ledger,” but points out that the difference between traditional centralized systems and Ethereum is that “Ethereum’s ledger is public and distributed to all participants.”
The first chapter also explains the terminology associated with blockchain networks. Brody writes that “batches of transactions are known as ‘blocks’.” He ends the chapter by mentioning that the Ethereum network is often attractive to business users because it offers the “convenience of an integrated digital business” without a centralized market operator.
Before delving into specific use cases, Brody spends the next few chapters of the book detailing terminology like wallets, tokens, and smart contracts. For example, in chapter four, she writes:
“In Ethereum, both money and things can be represented as tokens, while the terms of trade between two parties can be captured in a smart contract.”
Brody adds that anything of value is stored in a wallet when using the Ethereum blockchain: “Wallets are just a name for a digital account where you can store your keys and access rights to the contacts and assets you control.” through those keys.
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Chapter five focuses on oracles; as Brody mentions, “business transactions will require extensive use of oracles” as external data sources will be essential to complete smart contracts for business purposes.
The information presented at the beginning of Brody’s book is extremely helpful for readers who may be new to the blockchain industry. The following chapters focus on concepts like privacy, which is a crucial consideration for businesses leveraging blockchain.
In chapter six, Brody writes: “Although businesses require privacy, blockchains, by default, offer no privacy.” Given this, Brody focuses this section on privacy applications that can be applied to support business transactions. Although Brody mentions at the beginning of the book that the reading is not intended to promote EY’s blockchain work, he details how companies use Nightfall and Starlight, two privacy mechanisms created by EY, to ensure private blockchain transactions.
Real World Enterprise Ethereum Use Cases
The second part of Brody’s book focuses on use cases and case studies. This section is probably the most interesting because it explains why the technology could be useful for business processes.
Tokenization is discussed extensively in section two, with Brody writing that it is “the most important thing that companies can do in the blockchain space.” He adds that tokenization is often the first decision companies using blockchain make, as this can be used to digitize assets that can be easily tracked and managed.
Although Brody explains the difference between ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, he emphasizes that the ERC-1155 standard is gaining ground among businesses due to its mix of fungible and non-fungible properties. Brody shares that an EY client in the pharmaceutical industry currently uses ERC-1155 tokens to track serialized drug packages. “Using the 1155 standard, this company can mint large volumes of tokens and transfer them in large batches to dealers and others,” he writes.
Brody goes on to share real-world examples of how EY clients apply the Ethereum blockchain. For example, he explains how Italian beer producer Peroni uses blockchain for traceability, allowing consumers to scan a QR code to understand how the beer was produced.
“Those looking for a Peroni beer non-fungible token (NFT) on the Polygon PoS chain (an Ethereum sidechain), will be able to see Peroni’s final batch token, as well as malt house entry tokens and farms,” Brody writes.
In addition to these use cases, Brody details how blockchain helps with supply chain management, contract management, carbon emissions tracking, payments, and more. He emphasizes in this section that “Blockchains will do for business ecosystems what ERP (enterprise resource planning) did within the individual company.”
‘Ethereum for Business’ is educational, but blockchain is broad
While ethereum for business provides a deep and clear insight into enterprise Ethereum, readers should remember that the blockchain ecosystem is vast. There are a number of different blockchain networks that businesses can use in addition to Ethereum.
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However, it is notable that Brody’s new book provides a detailed overview of the Ethereum ecosystem, breaking down key concepts and providing real-world use cases. This is extremely important as education on blockchain technology is still needed to drive mainstream adoption.