In recent years, interest in blockchain distributed ledger technology has crescendoed and crashed. Boosters of the technology proclaimed that it could revolutionize everything from the pharma supply chain to business contracts. However, critics lamented that the technology often appeared like an expensive solution in search of a problem.
“There’s been a lot of false promises around blockchain technology and what it can do,” acknowledged John Ward, CEO of the Dublin-based blockchain company ServBlock focused on the biotech and pharmaceutical sector. “Blockchain is probably not going to save the world,” Ward said.
The recent wave of backlash against cryptocurrency, and by extension blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, could offer clarity, Ward said. Or, to cite the analyst firm Gartner, the crash of blockchain into the so-called “Trough of Disillusionment” could pave the way for more rational applications…