Blockchain job postings triple as interest grows

ISACA, the international professional association for IT security, assurance, risk management and governance, has published new guidance covering the disruptive potential of blockchain technology.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, is the technology underpinning cryptocurrency Bitcoin. It is being evaluated across a range of industries, from FinTech to logistics to retail.

The guidance states that blockchain has the potential to streamline manual processing of digital transactions due to five qualities, including its openness, the ability to transact anonymously while ensuring identity, the permanence of transactions, its decentralised infrastructure and the elimination of third-party verification requirements.

Blockchains can be developed to store ledger entries for public records, land registries, contract information, coupons, vouchers and other information, giving it wide potential in areas beyond payment transactions.

“Of all the emerging technologies we’re currently seeing, blockchain has the potential to have the biggest impact on businesses and society at large,” commented Ron Hale, author of the guidance and chief researcher at Cooraclare Institute.

“Enterprises are increasingly looking at how they can adopt this technology and revolutionise how they deliver products and services — in fact, LinkedIn data show job postings requiring blockchain skills have tripled in the past year.”

The brief recommends that companies evaluating adopting blockchain consider how blockchain compares to current ledger infrastructure, and if the potential savings justify the investment in a blockchain project.

Organisations should have the capabilities required to innovate along with an emerging technology, and should consider joining blockchain collaborative groups if they do, or adopt a commercial implementation if they do not. Other considerations include managing the cost per transaction on a blockchain.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Maksyn Yemelyanov

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