KPMG: The DAO’s failure will not hinder the development of private blockchains

Large financial institutions began to show interest in blockchain technology earlier this year, with many of them praising Ethereum, a public blockchain platform that can be used to develop decentralized applications.

But the second most popular blockchain platform (after bitcoin) is experiencing growing pains due to high-profile issues such as the collapse of The DAO and the recent controversial ethereum hard fork, and despite corporate interest, the platform may still face new issues with its underlying technology.

However, Eamonn Maguire, US blockchain lead at KPMG, one of the 'Big Four' global accounting firms, said he did not think corporate clients would see the events as a hindrance to greater development of the industry.

However, he acknowledged that events like The DAO collapse and hard forks could create adverse market impacts, though he said none have materialized yet. Instead, Maguire said KPMG sees these issues as learning experiences and signs that more attention needs to be paid to the security of private blockchain projects.

Eamonn Maguire

Maguire said:

“We view these events as part of the evolution of blockchain and a reminder of the need to build diverse security solutions.”

Specifically, Maguire said, that means developing better blockchain security and access standards, including potentially applying more traditional or previously tested protocols in blockchain environments.

Maguire went on to stress that it is too early to say what specific issues will be addressed and how future projects implementing similar concepts could be enhanced.

However, Maguire said the Ethereum platform ‘is not going to be a problem,’ while noting that none of the company’s client relationships will be impacted by the Ethereum incident.

He said:

“I view the Ethereum incident as just a hiccup. I do wish these things hadn’t happened, but we don’t think it has affected market confidence.”