In its 2018 global blockchain survey report, Deloitte, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, made the bold assertion that blockchain was “getting closer to its breakout moment.”
Now that Deloitte has migrated to the VeChainThor network, it’s clear that Ethereum is not the blockchain they have in mind. Could VeChain be the first beneficiary of that breakout?
Deloitte’s Migration Shows Confidence in VeChain
Given the company’s recent migration to VeChain, Deloitte’s bullish stance on the future of blockchain could easily be read as self-fulfilling. But that would be fallacious: each of the Big Four, in varying ways and to varying degrees, has been actively embracing blockchain technology and ushering it into their business operations. The company joins the People’s Insurance Company of China on the VeChainThor platform.
According to Cillian Leonowicz, Deloitte’s decision to shift its clients to the Thor network has already been vindicated:
“We wrote more transactions than Bitcoin over the weekend by migrating our client work from Ethereum to VeChain – we managed to execute 20+ smart contract transactions per second. This is a massive achievement for our EMEA Blockchain Lab, VeChain and the DNV GL platform. We are #makinganimpactthatmatters and rolling out blockchain in production.”Director of Deloitte, Cillian Leonowicz
The Thor In Ethereum’s Side
Deloitte’s migration coincides with VeChainThor’s new solution to the single point of failure (SPOF) problem of private keys. If the private keys of a large concern are left in the hands of one individual, a loss of access can be devastating. The most glaring example is the QuadrigaCX case, wherein the CEO passed away… taking the keys to the exchange’s cold wallets with him.
VeChain has created a solution to this (almost always human) problem: the VeKey Based Threshold Signature Turnkey Solution. This solution eliminates this SPOF risk with off-chain multi-signature wallets, in an enterprise-grade asset protection solution that combines hardware and software. The group launched it at the recent 2019 VeChain Summit.
As VeChain explains in a Medium post:
“Featuring hardware-based encryption, memory access control unit, attacks detection, random number generator, and SPA/DPA anti-attack, CG4Q series chips provide robust bank-level security protection and superb performance sufficient to meet the enterprise clients’ demands of security.”VeChain Foundation
More Maxwell’s Hammer than Thor’s
Singapore-based VeChain targets enterprise use, particularly supply chain management. With a market capitalization of half a billion dollars, it’s well behind Ethereum and EOS, and there’s no suggestion that Deloitte’s migration could initiate an exodus. Ernst & Young, among other business giants, are still very committed to the Ethereum blockchain.
But the development of the VeKey SPOF solution could prove attractive to companies yet to deploy DLT or still considering their platforms. Private key management remains a thorny issue, and a satisfactory custody solution could resolve one of the biggest barriers to blockchain adoption.
The VeChain platform is also regarded highly for its enterprise applicability, with Esprezzo arguing:
“VeChain is leading the way to standardization in many of the areas most fundamental to enterprise blockchain adoption.”Remy Carpinito, Co-Founder & CEO, Esprezzo
The Turnkey Solution To Key Management
The VeKey turnkey solution is a remarkably simple idea. Essentially, VeKey breaks private keys down into a number of parts, all encrypted, and all stored in separate VeKey devices. The enterprise predefines the number of VeKeys needed to recover a private key.
No single holder has exclusive access to the private key and the enterprise can always recover the private key provided it can provide the predefined number of VeKeys. Hence the use of the term “Threshold.”
VeChain calls the solution “Turnkey” for a reason. It is immediately deployable and customizable for any enterprise. Having taken a backseat to a number of platforms over the past year, at least in terms of publicity, VeChain appears to have tapped the power of Thor and opened up a vast range of future possibilities.
There’s still much more building ahead, and by itself, VeKey is unlikely to bring VeChain into the same league as the larger blockchains. However, it could become an important support for the blockchain’s development–and part of the foundations for larger infrastructure.
Comments