Accenture to release blockchain editing technology

Rage Review : Accenture and professors at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey have jointly developed a new application for editing information using blockchain, and have applied for related patents in Europe and the United States. Currently, blockchains are divided into permissioned and non-permissioned types, each with unique advantages and disadvantages. Although Accenture's patent has caused some doubts, it provides financial institutions that adopt this technology with the initiative to balance the relationship between various characteristics.

Translation: Annie_Xu

Accenture has recently filed a patent application to use emerging blockchain technology to edit information and increase its commercial value; this move has caused some controversy.

The company noted that the prototype could increase blockchain’s appeal to the financial services industry by enabling a central administrator to modify or delete information stored on the blockchain.

Yet for many blockchain stalwarts, the move threatens the principles on which it was originally founded - that blockchains should be immutable ledgers of events without the need for a central authority.

Blockchain technology is a complex set of algorithms and encryption techniques that support electronic Bitcoin transactions and verification in a distributed network of computers without relying on a central ledger.

While initial concerns about fraud raised some skepticism, big banks have begun exploring how the technology could be used to speed up back-office settlement systems and free up billions of dollars in tied-up funds in global market transactions.

Richard Lumb

Richard Lumb, global director of financial services at Accenture, said that before it can be applied to securities markets, financial institutions and regulators need ways to quickly correct errors on the blockchain; for example, consider input errors (fat fingers) or mismatching of transaction information with the counterparties.

“We’re talking about adapting blockchain for enterprise use and how that can benefit the financial services industry. This prototype allows you to completely delete a record, which we think is what businesses and regulators need.”

Most banks now want to build invitation-based permissioned blockchains. Richard contrasted the need for editing capabilities on this blockchain with open, permissionless blockchains, which are centered around immutability.

Accenture and Giuseppe Ateniese, a professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, have jointly applied for patents in the United States and Europe for the technology, which uses a "chameleon hash function" to add a locking mechanism between blockchain elements that can be unlocked and edited by administrators who hold the keys.

Lumb said the protocol could provide a quick solution to recover the $50 million stolen from the DAO project. Blythe Masters, a former JPMorgan banker, blockchain expert, and CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, observed the Accenture prototype, "Accenture's approach is an option in all the tools. But ours is innovative and strikes a balance between ensuring the core features of blockchain and adjusting to real-world applications, especially some permissioned systems."

Lumb was criticized by some bitcoin supporters last week after he published an article on the need to edit the blockchain.

“The description of a modifiable private blockchain may be symptomatic of financial institutions trying to adopt non-proprietary technology. In fact, the purpose of blockchain is to bypass these institutions.”