Deloitte's one-stop blockchain platform Rubix

Earlier this year, Deloitte, one of the Big Four international accounting firms, made headlines when it revealed that it had begun experimenting with blockchain technology.

What may differentiate Deloitte from its peers is that the company is looking for proofs of concept using emerging technologies to help clients, including mainstream financial institutions.

To better understand Deloitte’s approach to this new market, CoinDesk spoke with Iliana Oris Valiente, business development manager and co-founder of Rubix, Deloitte’s “one-stop blockchain software platform.”

After about a year of research and development, Deloitte launched the Rubix platform. Oris Valiente said that Deloitte is now able to use blockchain technology to help corporate clients, and in her opinion, this is just the beginning of future possibilities.

Oris Valiente said:

“Most clients will make demands based on their industry and goals, and we will match our understanding of the technology, and we will think about how it (blockchain technology) will affect their business, not necessarily their traditional business, but their business in the next 2-3 years.”

Crowded field

However, Deloitte is not the only company trying to use blockchain to serve the market. Its competitors include technology giant Microsoft and auditing giant PwC, both of which have launched similar plans.

Given the competitive landscape, Oris Valiente was cautious not to reveal details about current projects, though she did hint at some of the work the company is doing.

For example, Oris Valiente told CoinDesk her team is currently working with clients in the healthcare space to build a prototype that could be used for payments.

Other possible areas of focus, she added, would be looking at applications in the loyalty loyalty space and the supply supply chain , two areas where she sees automated execution as having the potential to transform existing business models.

“One aspect of the technology that I think is going to have a significant impact is the ability to automate processes … by providing a transparent and open ledger, if you can drive efficiencies in existing processes, then this technology is very valuable,” she said.

Multi-protocol platform

Perhaps most notably, Rubix provides its clients with access to multiple distributed consensus platforms.

According to Oris Valiente, most of Rubix’s work to date has focused on the Ethereum protocol, which she believes is very attractive to enterprise clients.

Ethereum was launched in 2014. Like Bitcoin, it is also an open, public blockchain, but because it includes a Turing-complete scripting language, its goal is to serve as a platform for building various types of distributed applications (DApps).

“Often when people describe the benefits of blockchain technology, they’re referring to what Ethereum can build without realizing it’s Ethereum,” she said.

A key advantage of the Ethereum protocol, Oris Valiente said, is that its clients can use it to build their products while being able to connect with other platforms.

The value of Bitcoin

Oris Valiente also spoke about mainstream financial institutions’ interest in private or permissioned blockchains.

Along the way, she was quick to point out that these institutional efforts may be problematic. For example, many large financial institutions have reservations about Bitcoin as a digital currency, while pursuing projects that do not require the use of digital currencies or restrict access to similar digital tokens.

However, Oris Valiente pointed out that the existence of tokens is inevitable in order to maintain a distributed ledger system. “You can’t have a blockchain without tokens,” she explained.

Oris Valiente also stated that she believes digital currencies have the potential to succeed in the future:

“I think digital currencies, especially state-backed currencies or currencies in emerging markets, have the potential to be an option for people who don’t have bank accounts to access this financial world.”

New Markets

With this in mind, Oris Valiente said clients are looking to use blockchain technology in emerging markets to build new products that would not have been possible to create before.

A good example of this, she said, is in the insurance industry, where blockchain technology can be used as a way to remove the trust relationship between consumers and insurance companies.

But how far are we from such applications?

Oris Valiente said she believes this shift is likely to happen once the industry moves beyond the exploration phase and begins to enter a period of consolidation.

“Once you start to see these little Lego blocks come together and become an integrated network, I think you’re going to see a lot of very meaningful impacts,” she said. “But it’s definitely going to take a few years.”

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/how-deloitte-rubix-blockchain-tech/
By Yessi Bello Perez
Compiled by: Satuoxi
Source (translation): 8btc Information (http://www.8btc.com/rubix-blockchain-tech)