How Difficult Is It To Deploy A Project On Blockchain Today?

It is irrefutable that blockchain is a revolutionary technology, and it has been disrupting various industries including mining, healthcare, agriculture, retail, supply chain among others during the past decade. The world’s largest companies are exploring the use cases and applications to deploy their latest projects on blockchain to increase efficiency and transparency. In this article, we’ll explore the challenges involved in deploying a project on the blockchain. 

Database and Architecture

‘Blockchain’ has become a buzz word for distributed ledger technologies (DLT). In its original sense, it refers to the original architecture pioneered by Bitcoin: Blocks of data separated at regular intervals in time. It is a single solution with a diverse toolkit of databases and architectures for storing and sharing information.
In a nutshell, every business will have a unique blockchain solution. Here’s a list of alternatives to consider before picking the right architecture for your project.

Hashgraph

A Hashgraph is a DLT similar to the blockchain, but with higher scalability. Essentially a Hashgraph uses “gossip protocols” to propagate information about new transactions to the rest of the network. This allows Hashgraph to achieve much higher throughput, without relying on consensus mechanisms like Proof of Work. 

Tangle

Tangle is an alternative that takes the form of a directed acyclic graph (DAG), in which information proceeds from node to node without entering a loop. Tangle removes the need for transaction verification, which is required in the blockchain. Instead, users are responsible for verifying the transactions of other users, which eliminates transaction fees in the network. 

Hadoop

This is a set of open-source software tools that are intended for storing and processing massive quantities of data. The Hadoop platform is well-suited for analyzing information that cannot fit in a standard relational database. With Hadoop, multiple machines can work in tandem on the same data, which increases scalability and reduces the computation involved in every task.

Identifying a Business Outcome

Once the purpose of the blockchain network is clear, the next step is to figure out what to do with it and why. A lack of clear business needs makes the deployment challenging. It is imperative to identify the business outcome that you aim to achieve by adopting blockchain technology.

A new way of doing things

Blockchain tech does not require teamwork. A blockchain represents a total shift away from the traditional ways of doing things and this can be unsettling in the Corporate world. When it comes to implementing blockchain, the technical challenge is only 10% and the rest is all about making things work. Cultural and organizational hurdles pose much greater difficulties and require deft management and true leadership to tackle them effectively. 

Regulatory Sandbox

Blockchain is an emerging technology and most country's regulators don't have any rules or laws in place to govern how the technology is used. While too much regulation can hamper innovation, having no regulation leads to anarchy, confusion, and uncertainty. Consequently, organizations are hesitant to adopt this new technology until they are certain as to what will be allowed. This is one of the important concerns in the financial industry and the lack of regulation is a major barrier to blockchain adoption.

Development Tools

Lack of development tools and skilled developers is another hurdle for the blockchain technology in today’s date. The blockchain ecosystem still needs an IDE with good linters and plug-ins, a build tool and compiler, a deployment tool, documentation, testing frameworks, logging tools, security auditing, and analytics. While a few versions of these tools exist, they aren’t adequate for meeting the increasing needs of developers. This has been a major challenge in the blockchain industry for the past couple of years. 

While it is exciting to develop new projects using Blockchain Technology, it is a challenge for new enterprises and corporations alike. The required talent, scaling tools, and development environment are not ready and available. This has slowed down the pace of adoption and only giant companies like JP Morgan have successfully deployed solutions using Blockchain Technology.