ALAPPUZHA: Kerala is gearing up to become the hub of Blockchain solutions that will be a boon to the industry, finance and business sectors. The path-breaking data transaction system will replace paper-based and manual transaction processing in trade finance, foreign exchange and securities and cross-border settlement. The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA), a government undertaking based at Technopark in state capital, has announced a partnership with the New York-based enterprise blockchain platform R3. Currently, a few banks in the state have been using this technology with the help of private start-ups.
S. Adharsh, KBA convenor, said that it had already collaborated with four international firms in the U.S. and Canada. A total of 750 tech-savvy students have been recruited to provide training to the learners. The certification programme designated by KBA on Corda Blockchain is expected to be started next month. It aims to prepare students to explore potential application domains, introduce them to basic principles and operations and experiment with smart contracts and D-Apps, he said. Other southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have shown interest to promote the technology. Earlier, Telangana had come up with idea of creating India's first 'Blockchain District.' Many tech giants have already opened up their markets using Blockchain technology.
For instance, Facebook recently launched Libra, a Blockchain-backed digital currency, which has gained traction across the globe.The technology will give users control over their data unlike the present transaction system where a lot of privacy is ceded to Google and Amazon servers. The government machinery as well as consumers can trace out the origin of food. It will help fact-checking in the era of fake news menace, say experts.
Blockchain technology works based on blocks that are coded with unalterable documents of the history of the transaction, including time, value and place of transaction. Each block is linked to the unique signature of the transacting participants and it is distinguished from another through a unique code which is a string of numbers.
