Editorial: Blockchain

Abstract

Great inventions lead to unexpected consequences. Consider how the invention of electricity triggered rapid innovation and transformation in telecommunications-first came the telegraph and the telephone, then radio, television, and finally, digital convergence over the Internet. These innovations transformed war, politics, education, shopping, and countless other aspects of modern life. But it is often the social, economic, and even cultural effects of electricity that truly help inventions go far beyond what could have been expected by their inventors. The music industry exploded with the gramophone, health was transformed with radiology and imaging, the airline industry owes its existence to cheaper aluminum, while urban landscapes were transformed by elevators and subways. Each of these examples shows the importance of electricity as a "general purpose technology"-a technology "that can lead to the creation of many sub-inventions" (Gordon, 2017). And that is precisely what blockchain is: a general purpose technology.

Critical Review: Future of Block Chain Economy in Financial Services

“…In the early days, the focus remained largely on the crypto currency itself and not the technology behind it. After all, exponential gains in the new asset class tend to overshadow what's the driving force behind it [4] [5].…”

“…Therefore, it's a movement against the centralization and the control of fiat money. While with fiat money, central banks are in control of the ledger, with crypto currencies and blockchain technology, the user maintains their own copy of the ledger and all copies of the ledger are synchronized through what is known as a consensus algorithm [5].According to Gartner, blockchain technology has already passed the peak of the hype cycle and has entered a period of disillusionment, which brings about a realism to blockchain technology. The general view is that passing the period of inflated expectation has been an important step in block chain's advancement through the hype cycle [6].The industry have now embarked on projects to fully assess block chain's capabilities and how it can be incorporated into day to day processes.…”

“…Chris McPhee (2017) expounded four explicit applications that feature the potential monetary advantages of computerized records. The allencompassing topic is that an expanding measure of ordinary activities including cash, resources, and reports could begin to be directed using block chain-based disseminated organize records with cryptographic security, and at progressively granular degrees of detail [5]. Richard Adams et al (2017) stated that block chain innovation gives an energizing application space to development in various areas however compromises disintermediation for associations giving a trusted and auditable record of possession and exchanges [6].…”

Technology Challenges in Accounting and Finance

“…Once added the block is irrevocable. If a change needs to be recorded (for example the ownership of an asset needed updating), then a new block must be added to the chain (McPhee and Ljutic 2017). This creates an everlasting ledger of all transactions, which makes it eminently suitable to financial accounting records and the possibility of perpetual audit (Peze 2017).…”

“…Until blockchain technology emerged individual transactions over the internet needed to be validated by a central authority, but that is no longer the case. This distribution of data also effectively eliminates the need for a central repository of data (for example, a bank (Swan 2017(Swan , 2015) which can reduce cost and improve security as it is impossible for a hacker to gain access to and change the data from a single point of access (and failure) (McPhee and Ljutic 2017). This can facilitate the transfer of assets and information securely and more quickly than is currently the case when having to rely on the action of an intermediary such as a bank to validate the transaction and store records (Swan 2015(Swan , 2017.…”