Accenture is redefining the concept of Blockchain. The tech services provider has recently patented a system which can be used to edit the blockchain entries.
The latest development was reported by one of the leading news media outlets. In the report, Accenture’s group chief executive for financial services Richard Lamb was quoted saying:
“For financial services institutions faced with the myriad of risk and regulatory requirements, absolute immutability is a potential roadblock.”
With this new system, Accenture aims to accelerate the implementation of blockchain technology in financial institutions across the world. However, the possibility of editing blockchain entries hasn’t gone well with the cryptocurrency industry. The main advantage of blockchain technology over other database systems is immutability, which in turn ensures accountability as well as transparency of data. By making it possible to edit previously stored data, Accenture is turning blockchain into just another regular database.
A similar opinion was voiced by the founder of blockchain consultancy Dislytics, Gary Nuttall. He said,
“An editable blockchain is just a database. The whole thing about blockchain is that it is immutable, so this just defeats the object.”
However, Accenture believes that the technology will be used only under extraordinary circumstances to make corrections to any human errors or meet legal and regulatory requirements. The use of Accenture’s new technology will most probably be confined to private and permissioned blockchain as it is not feasible to include such an option to decentralized systems like that of Bitcoin as it is necessary to ensure that the transactions can’t be tampered with.
With the new system, we can expect a rapid adoption of blockchain technology in mainstream industries including banking and financial sector. It may also open the doors for the central banks to introduce digital versions of fiat currency.
Ref: Reuters | Image: Accenture
