Blockchain offers a number of opportunities, which are different for each actor. It is therefore important to reconsider your company positioning and the application you will make of the technology.

Blockchain could drive companies to review their operating methods, especially when they are based, in full or in part, on the recording, storage, monitoring and sending of information. Blockchain’s decentralised and transparent characteristics mean it can offer distinct advantages in relation to traditional methods such as, for instance, in the logistics sector and monitoring a product’s distribution chain. Companies operating in the pharmaceutical, luxury and agri-foods industry are already working to benefit from blockchain’s advantages.

The breakthrough technology also means companies can improve their offer, by making their services faster and less costly. In, for instance, removing the need for certain traditional intermediaries and resorting to smart contracts (IT programs that are executed autonomously), blockchain can directly benefit consumers and users by improving the offer of products and services, as well as client experience. The technology is thus of high interest to insurers, banks and other sectors that carry out operations and exchange information on an industrial scale.

Blockchain has given rise to a new financing method: the coin offering. For companies bearing a project to be financed, this is a new financing method that complements more traditional means and that enables it to create a user community from its subscribers¹ in a shared ecosystem. In contributing to the financing of a project, token buyers thus also take part in its operation and in creating the company’s economic value. For instance, tokens issued by certain companies in the audio-visual and music industries are beginning to enjoy a certain amount of success.

The examples given above are for illustration purposes only, and are in no way an exhaustive representation of an extremely varied ecosystem in full development. Additionally, the processing capacity of such existing blockchains must still be improved to increase the breadth of these activities. A number of changes in this field are currently being considered or have been implemented recently.

Integrating blockchain in organisations does raise essential issues, both regulatory and technological, for all players, in an environment that is also constantly changing. Choices made will determine how viable the integration of each blockchain is, and the range of related opportunities available.

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1) Where token subscribers gain privileged access to goods and services, accessible to them only (“utility tokens”).).