TECH TALK
FIGURE 2: ANOTHER DIAGRAM OF HOW TRANSACTIONS ARE HANDLED USING BLOCKCHAIN
directly applicable to aviation or can be adapted readily. Managing the issuance and exchange of shares in private companies is currently a manual, paper-based process that can be burdensome, expensive and mistake prone. In October 2015, NASDAQ rolled out Linq, a blockchain-based platform and ledger system that manages the buying and selling of shares of private companies. Linq provides clients with a digital ledger that creates a record in the blockchain of every transfer of securities between private users, improving auditing and increasing transparency of ownership. NASDAQ is also implementing blockchain to handle various functions at the Tallinn Stock Exchange (which it owns). A fi nancial technology startup named Ripple has formed a six- bank Global Payments Steering Group (GPSG), calling it “the fi rst interbank group for global payments based on distributed fi nancial technology.” This may solve some of the problems encountered in the global SWIFT network (which is
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DOMmagazine.com | dec 2016 jan 2017
a private network for the fi nancial industry for fund transfers) as it ages and needs a technology upgrade to better secure itself (hackers have recently accessed it to $81M from the Bangladesh central bank). Ripple makes it possible for fi nancial institutions to send and receive cross- currency payments more effi ciently by connecting banks to each other directly via a distributed fi nancial technology. Because transactions are undisputable and handled in near real time, this should aid in lessening fraud along with other benefi ts. Data communications are
increasingly under cyberattack, and blockchain-based methods can provide better message verifi cation and encryption. This can be done with better authentication of the source and assurance that a message is not tampered in transit. Although we have secure messaging today, this is another means of implementing it. Another interesting example (which can easily be applied to aviation, for the pedigree of either a part, or the certifi cations for an individual or a company) is the
Holbertson School, a California- based software skills program. This institution recently announced it would use blockchain technology to authenticate academic certifi cates. This will ensure that students claiming they passed courses at the Holbertson School aren’t using accreditation they didn’t earn. If more schools began adopting transparent academic certifi cates, transcripts and diplomas, fraud of this kind could more easily be combatted — not to mention the time and cost savings by avoiding manual checks and paper documents. This will also assist employers to more easily verify credentials on resumes (or LinkedIn, or any of the dozens of job posting Web sites) without the need for paying for verifi cation of such credentials. They would also be able to access and verify details of required training programs or needed certifi cations for particular specialized skills. This will save employers time and eff ort in the hiring process once more learning institutions adopt this. IBM and Samsung recently announced a proof of concept
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