The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance stirs controversy at the 2017 European Ethereum Summit

Baozou Shizhao Comment : The "Enterprise Ethereum Alliance" is a secret organization of the Ethereum blockchain alliance, composed of Microsoft and large global financial institutions. However, at the European Ethereum Development Summit (EDCON) held in Paris, France this year, the alliance received great attention. Public blockchains are often compared to the Internet, and private chains are like intranets. The development of blockchains will also go through a stage of coexistence of public and private networks, just like the Internet. However, the public chain will be the final winner, so Ethereum will also benefit from it.

Translation: Annie_Xu

“Like many others, we are part of R3. Most people are probably wondering ‘why’?”

Jean-Christophe Labarre, head of innovation and partner at UK banking institution RCI Bank, talked about the alliance that brings together institutions exploring blockchain technology.

He spoke at the EDCON conference in Paris, France, and drew laughter from the audience, a reaction that seemed to suggest to developers that private consortium applications were less exciting than the public Ethereum blockchain, which anyone can join.

Labarre was one of the speakers on the first day of the conference, but the response to his talk seemed to extend to other private projects.

For example, the Enterprise Ethereum project reported at the beginning of the year was a secretive project that is now emerging from the shadows.

Little information has been made public so far, but the important thing is that it appears to be another R3, but one that uses Ethereum, and JPMorgan Chase, Santander, and others are said to have joined.

Participants shared their opinions on Ethereum enterprise applications and whether it will have a profound impact on the future. While some were ambivalent, the most common view seemed to be that it will benefit the development of the public Ethereum blockchain as a whole.

Jorge Izquierdo

“I think this is the only way it will become mainstream because of the regulatory issues,” said Jorge Izquierdo, technical lead at Ethereum project Aragon.

“Maybe they have some use cases, but I personally think public chains will ultimately run and be more important.”

His partner, Luis Cuende, head of the Aragon project, is not so sure. “In a way it misses the point.”

Serving the goal

Others seemed more optimistic. Yessin Schiegg, a former adviser to the Ethereum Foundation, described the potential applications he predicted.

"Banks establishing their own blockchain system alliance will help banks save costs. This is a new way of cooperation. This is a good thing."

It’s common to hear emerging public blockchains like Ethereum compared to the early internet, which took longer to develop.

Some even argue that private blockchains are like intranets — private networks that were popular among organizations for a while.

But the open internet ultimately won out. And the open internet can be likened to the public Ethereum blockchain in that it’s one big system that anyone can connect to.

Yessin Schiegg

Schiegg made the same analogy, arguing that just as private internets are still influential, so too might private blockchain networks.

“I think it will be around for a long time. Now that the internet has been around for 20 years, banks still have bulletin boards on dedicated lines that are completely isolated from the internet. Permissioned blockchains will coexist and will serve their purposes.”

This echoes the thinking of others in the space, that both private and public blockchains will have their place in the industry.

But Schiegg stressed (multiple times) that he believes the main ethereum blockchain will have a more far-reaching impact.

“The real change will come from public blockchains, but it will take more time because you can set up an MPV (minimum viable product) in a few months, while to leverage network effects, public blockchains need years of development.”

Trojan Horse

EDCON talks are mainly focused on the possibility of adding new features to the public Ethereum platform, and enterprise applications are not often a topic of discussion.

However, Heiko Hees, CEO of Brainbot Technologies, which is involved in the Raiden Network, gave a presentation about “Trustline Networks,” which he described as “the Ripple of Ethereum” that will one day be available for download as a mobile app.

In addition to the presentation, the Aragon team laid out the bold idea that enterprise implementations could provide a “Trojan Horse” for the public Ethereum blockchain.

Izquierdo provided an example of how a company like Aragon — essentially a DAO, or leaderless corporation — could be implemented first on a private network run by a national government before moving to a more public venue.

Omise Rick Dudley, an architect for the Ethereum Wallet project and a developer working on enterprise Ethereum applications, expressed his reaction more directly:

“This will be good for Ethereum.”