Sure, the cryptocurrency market has been in a bit of a slump lately. To call this a small change from this time last year would be an understatement. However, as an emerging technology, it makes sense that blockchain and cryptocurrencies would go through an initial pain period. Amazon, one of the largest companies in the world, understands this.
In fact, the e-commerce company is choosing to look past the current market state and push forward new blockchain-based projects. As reported by CNBC on Wednesday, Amazon is introducing two new blockchain services to benefit its Amazon Web Services offering.
A Simplified Blockchain
One proposal is a “managed blockchain offering” which would enable Web Services customers to build their own “scalable blockchain network with just a few clicks.” This would be one that “automatically scales to meet the demands of thousands of applications running millions of transactions.”
Entitled the Amazon Managed Blockchain, this project is taking advantage of open-source frameworks via Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum. Essentially, customers can create and manage their own blockchain project regardless of their knowledge of the technology:
“Amazon Managed Blockchain eliminates the overhead required to create the network, and automatically scales to meet the demands of thousands of applications running millions of transactions. Once your network is up and running, Managed Blockchain makes it easy to manage and maintain your blockchain network. It manages your certificates, lets you easily invite new members to join the network, and tracks operational metrics such as usage of compute, memory, and storage resources.”
Additionally, Amazon’s Managed Blockchain backs up user blockchain’s into the companies’ Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB,) which functions as “a fully managed ledger database.” This second service enables blockchain owners to manage analytics and predict trends.
Read: What is Hyperledger?
“It will be really scalable,” claims the CEO of Amazon’s Web Services at their recent presentation, AWS re:Invent. “you’ll have a much more flexible and robust set of APIs for you to make any kind of changes or adjustments to the ledger database.”
With QLDB, users can build their own “ledger-like applications” with immutable histories. The cryptographic element of blockchain technology provides the ability for permanent transactions. This project uses a “SQL-like API” that developers are used to, so it will be easy for teams to adapt. The platform is server-less, scalable, and ensures that customers “only pay for what” they use.
These reveals are especially interesting because Amazon had pretty much ignored blockchain technology with the introduction of AWS. However, it goes to show that if a company as big as this can realize the potential of decentralized ledger technology, then this industry has a bright future.
According to their website, the company claims Managed Blockchain is best for Trading, Retail, and Supply Chain use cases:
Trading and Asset Transfer
“Using Amazon Managed Blockchain, financial and trading consortiums can easily create a blockchain network where all parties can transact and process trade-related paperwork electronically, without the need for a central trusted authority.”
Retail
“With Amazon Managed Blockchain, a group of retailers can easily implement a blockchain network that allows them to share and validate rewards information quickly and transparently, without needing a central authority that processes rewards transactions between retailers.”
Supply Chain
“Using Amazon Managed Blockchain, businesses can quickly implement a blockchain across their supply chain network, providing greater transparency, and real-time recording and tracking of goods from one party to another. Each supplier or distributor can be a member of the blockchain network, maintain their own distributed ledger, and independently track all information related to the movement of the goods such as timestamp, port of entry, and volume of goods received.”
Companies such as Verizon, Liberty Mutual, and Philips are partnered with this new project, which is reassuring. Customers can sign up for the Managed Blockchain preview program here, or the Amazon QLDB here.
