Though still a relatively new technology, blockchain has quickly proven its worth. The first use case, Bitcoin, has managed to bring forward the concept of decentralization, and in the meantime distributed ledger technology has exploded in popularity thanks its massive potential, causing multi-industry disruption.

Nevertheless, an entirely peer-to-peer internet definitely still sounds like a far-fetched reality. At the present time, the web relies on a range of centralized servers and platforms, making basic peer-to-peer transactions, regardless of the field, virtually impossible. However, blockchain makes it possible to go around those intermediaries, solving a range of issues and revitalizing the main purpose of P2P transacting — efficiency.

So far we’ve looked at how the technology is transforming the P2P economy, the field of gaming, B2B solutions, and P2P lending.

This time we skew the focus toward some actual, real-world applications and use cases. Perhaps the best sign of actual widespread adoption of this emerging technology is its reception by traditional financial institutions.

Traditional Institutions Foray into Blockchain

Earlier in 2014, investment banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a blockchain-enabled P2P payments system between its banks. Not only this gesture, but the patent application itself outlines the issues that are currently riddling the conventional banking system and how blockchain technology could solve them:

“A number of messages must be sent between the banks and clearing houses involved in processing the transaction… and clearing intermediaries in the payment flow […] [this may be] expensive […] [and] real-time settlement of payments is not possible […] transactions may be risky as there are counterparty and settlement risks associated with [the] correspondent banking network.”

Around the same time JP Morgan filed its patent application, MasterCard Labs, the payment card company’s innovation section, filed a patent of its own, seeking protection over a system designated to increase the speed with which blockchain nodes are being verified.

Successful Use Cases

While many institutions have already avidly expressed their interest in the technology, some have already used it and proven its capabilities.

In Commonwealth Bank of Australia successfully shipped and tracked around 17 tons of almonds in collaboration with five domestic as well as international supply chain leaders.

Speaking on the matter was Chris Scougall, Managing Director of Industrial and Logistics in Client Coverage at CBA, who said:

“Our blockchain-enabled global trade platform experiment brought to life the idea of a modern global supply chain that is agile, efficient and transparent. We believe that blockchain can help our partners reduce the burden of administration on their businesses and enable them to deliver best-in-class services to their customers.”

More recent examples of successful blockchain implementation includes the British banking giant HSBC which executed its very first overseas financial transaction using blockchain-based technology. The transaction was between India’s Reliance Industries (RIL) and a US-based client and included a blockchain-enabled Letter of Credit which managed to facilitate a shipment between both companies.

Srikanth Venkatachari, CFO at RIL noted,

“The use of blockchain offers significant potential to reduce the timelines involved in exchange of export documentation from the extant seven-10 days to less than a day.”

AERUM: Making it Possible

That blockchain has massive potential was never really in question. But thanks to technological advances it is finally being implemented successfully by leading institutions around the world, albeit in specialized applications. If blockchain is to be integrated into general, day-to-day usage, it needs to improve its speed and scaleability.

This is where AERUM steps in, providing a fast, scaleable blockchain platform that is free for the end user. The network is fully compatible with the industry’s forerunner Ethereum while offers 25x more throughput.

AERUM provides on-demand scalability from 500 to 100,000 transactions per second, thereby introducing unparalleled efficiency and flexibility based on the needs of the application.

It also has a modern and comprehensive consensus mechanism, as well as a web, mobile, and desktop multi wallet which connects AERUM to Ethereum through Atomic Swaps.

You can read more about the AERUM network on its official website or stay tuned on the project’s Facebook or Twitter page. You can also join the live discussion at the official Telegram group.

Do you think blockchain-based technology can reinvent the P2P industry? Or perhaps it has already started? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!