Oracle Blockchain Blog

A PwC survey looks at the current state of blockchain adoption and use cases.

A PwC survey looks at the current state of blockchain adoption and use cases.

This is the second of a two part interview with Prasen Palvankar, the Senior Director of Product Management for IoT Applications Cloud & Blockchain Applications Cloud, to continue our discussion around blockchain in the consumer markets industries.

This is the second of a two part interview with Prasen Palvankar, the Senior Director of Product Management for IoT Applications Cloud & Blockchain Applications Cloud, to continue our discussion...

In the consumer markets industries today, connected consumers are expecting a seamless, personalized and transparent shopping experience. Retailers and brand manufacturers alike have little choice but to respond, unless they want to be left behind. One key technology being discussed at length in this equation is blockchain.

In the consumer markets industries today, connected consumers are expecting a seamless, personalized and transparent shopping experience. Retailers and brand manufacturers alike have little choice but...

Oracle Intelligent Track and Trace, is an application for businesses for supply chain management (available June 13, 2019.)

Oracle Intelligent Track and Trace, is an application for businesses for supply chain management (available June 13, 2019.)

CANO produces sustainably sourced handmade Mexican huaraches. The company is using the Oracle Blockchain Platform to provides raw material traceability and supply chain visibility into the materials used to make the shoes.

CANO produces sustainably sourced handmade Mexican huaraches. The company is using the Oracle Blockchain Platform to provides raw material traceability and supply chain visibility into the materials...

On June 11th, Oracle will be bringing retailers, food suppliers and fashion brands together to discuss how they can benefit from the emerging technology of Blockchain.

On June 11th, Oracle will be bringing retailers, food suppliers and fashion brands together to discuss how they can benefit from the emerging technology of Blockchain.

Mike Quindazzi, managing director leading sales for US Digital Alliances for PwC, shares his thoughts on some of these promising new blockchain applications, noting, “We are primarily focused on core set blockchain offerings in smart contracts, supply chain, cryptocurrency/payments, distributed ledger technology (DLT) security, DLT assurance, and identity.”

Mike Quindazzi, managing director leading sales for US Digital Alliances for PwC, shares his thoughts on some of these promising new blockchain applications, noting, “We are primarily focused on core...

Oracle's Anant Kadyala, Sr. Director, Blockchain & IoT, will be featured as a panelist on the session "Cloud City: Blockchain-as-a-Service Goes Global" May 15 at Consensus , 11:00 am ET.

Oracle's Anant Kadyala, Sr. Director, Blockchain & IoT, will be featured as a panelist on the session "Cloud City: Blockchain-as-a-Service Goes Global" May 15 at Consensus , 11:00 am ET.

Blockchain plus ERP cloud can provide better records, faster transactions, more accurate product tracking, and easier verification.

Blockchain plus ERP cloud can provide better records, faster transactions, more accurate product tracking, and easier verification.

Blockchain offers organizations an opportunity to focus on solving some of society’s toughest problems: poverty, corruption and fraud, unfair trade, and more. And that’s good for business.

Blockchain offers organizations an opportunity to focus on solving some of society’s toughest problems: poverty, corruption and fraud, unfair trade, and more. And that’s good for business.

Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB) is now in production with the Oracle Blockchain Platform. The project is the largest blockchain deployment in the Middle East. AJIB deployed Oracle Blockchain Platform to replace the banking application previously used for money transfers between AJIB entities, resulting in cost-savings and real-time cross-border transactions.

Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB) is now in production with the Oracle Blockchain Platform. The project is the largest blockchain deployment in the Middle East. AJIB deployed Oracle...

Deploying IoT on a massive scale presents numerous obstacles that blockchain may be able to help overcome.

Deploying IoT on a massive scale presents numerous obstacles that blockchain may be able to help overcome.

Providing real-time monitoring of a company’s cold chain with IoT and securing it against fraud with Blockchain can lower costs, reduce waste and recalls, and preserve brand trust.

Providing real-time monitoring of a company’s cold chain with IoT and securing it against fraud with Blockchain can lower costs, reduce waste and recalls, and preserve brand trust.

With the combined power of the cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain, HealthSync is putting information in the hands of patients and healthcare providers whenever they need it.

With the combined power of the cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain, HealthSync is putting information in the hands of patients and healthcare providers whenever they need it.

Oracle Blockchain Platform is now available as part of Everledger's provenance tracking solution.

Oracle Blockchain Platform is now available as part of Everledger's provenance tracking solution.

Blockchain technology offers greater transparency and a single source of truth for for participants using supply chain networks. Intelligent track and trace of orders, goods and delays via blockchain could expedite the sending and receipt of goods.

Blockchain technology offers greater transparency and a single source of truth for for participants using supply chain networks. Intelligent track and trace of orders, goods and delays via blockchain...

Did you know that natural honey can now be verified by blockchain? Honey is one of the most frequently impure or mislabeled foods and blockchain technology can be used to verify natural Honey..

Did you know that natural honey can now be verified by blockchain? Honey is one of the most frequently impure or mislabeled foods and blockchain technology can be used to verify natural Honey..

One of Oracle’s top 10 predictions for developers in 2019 is about the growth of Blockchain applications in regulated industries. Some examples of regulated industries are food and agriculture, pharmaceuticals, or finance and insurance

One of Oracle’s top 10 predictions for developers in 2019 is about the growth of Blockchain applications in regulated industries. Some examples of regulated industries are food and...

Interested in learning more about the features and functionality of Oracle Blockchain? Then you'll want to listen to this recorded chat with the Blockchain Training Alliance and Oracle Blockchain Chief Architect, Todd Little.

Interested in learning more about the features and functionality of Oracle Blockchain? Then you'll want to listen to this recorded chat with the Blockchain Training Alliance and Oracle Blockchain...

Although it can be a tough call to predict how technology will advance, some future predictions do actually come true—but nearly always with a twist. With this in mind, I put forward a couple of predictions

Although it can be a tough call to predict how technology will advance, some future predictions do actually come true—but nearly always with a twist. With this in mind, I put forward a couple...

Blockchain, the cloud-based distributed ledger, is one of the hottest emerging business technologies and has clearly become one of the latest buzzwords. But how do you know whether you are ready to deploy it for your company?

Blockchain, the cloud-based distributed ledger, is one of the hottest emerging business technologies and has clearly become one of the latest buzzwords. But how do you know whether you are ready to...

From supply chain to human resources, blockchain (distributed ledger technology) will  impact every industry it touches. However, myths around what the distributed ledger technology is and how it works threaten to prevent businesses from capitalizing on its far-reaching potential to impact positive change. When it comes to blockchain technology, there is a fear factor. Some of what frightens potential users is the technology's cryptocurreny origins. But blockchain has many uses beyond crypto. Let's take a look at some of the common misconceptions that persist around blockchain and separate the myths from the realities. MYTH 1 Blockchains Are Only Designed to Help Manage Money Yes, blockchains can (and are) being used to manage financial transactions, but they are also being used to accelerate the trading and settlement of transactions, to enhance cross-border payments and transfers, and to make the supply chain traceable from end-to-end.  A blockchain can increase transparency around any type of transaction—from goods moving through a supply chain to the verification of the education and degrees a student needs to earn a degree. Blockchain can also be used to verify the credentials of a job applicant, so future employers can ensure that the person they wish to hire actually has the skills they claim to have. MYTH 2 Blockchains Consume Insane Amounts of Energy, Driving Up Costs While it's true that mining via permissionless blockchains (used to mine cryptocurrencies) drives up costs, this is not true of the permissioned blockchains most typically used to perform business transactions. Permissioned blockchains don't typically involve cryptocurrency mining. The governing body of trusted participants creates the rules to validate information across the network on the chain. Permissioned blockchains have actually been proven to be cost-effective. MYTH 3: Bitcoin is Blockchain and Blockchain is Bitcoin Beyond serving as the underlying technology used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain has many other potential uses across all enterprise activities, including insurance, healthcare, supply chain,and identity verification. So now that we've dispelled many of the misconceptions about blockchain, let's talk about the realities. Blockchain can help revolutionize current business processes in the following ways: Track & Trace: Enable distributed, autonomous marketplaces by allowing asset owners to track and trace things of value—such as outstanding invoices—in a secure, transparent, and private "chain" of transactions without need for reconciliation. This capability adds speed and flexibility to cash and asset management. Speed: Accelerate business transactions through automated smart contracts, instant payments, and Internet of Things (IoT)-activated shipments. Without conflicting data and paper-based processes, errors and missing information are reduced and business transactions can happen in seconds instead of days or months. Security: Manage and secure decentralized private records with encryption of each individual data record or element using a blockchain member’s key. This is not to say that blockchain makes all data 100% secure, but a cybercriminal would need to have access to each key of each member to access all of the blockchain data. Provenance:  Verify the authenticity of products,ingredients and raw materials to guarantee product quality and safety by making activities, like the recall of defective products like auto parts or spoiled lettuce, much faster and more effective. Goods can also be authenticated to prevent fakes. With all these benefits, it's clear that blockchain is a technology you might want to explore.  Here are a few resources to help you determine if blockchain might be right for your business. Get the complimentary infographic "Blockchain for Business:Separating the Myth from the Realities." To learn more about Blockchain Technology visit the Oracle Blockchain website.

From supply chain to human resources, blockchain (distributed ledger technology) will  impact every industry it touches. However, myths around what the distributed ledger technology is and how it...

Solving the Compliance Issues Around Ethical Sourcing of Conflict Minerals with Blockchain.

Solving the Compliance Issues Around Ethical Sourcing of Conflict Minerals with Blockchain.

Oracle Blockchain Platform announced the availability of its latest release today, the 19.1.3. It is an incredibly proud moment for the entire team. A key piece of today's announcement is the evidence that Oracle's enterprise-grade blockchain platform is already winning the hearts and minds of our enterprise customers in a short time since the launch back in July 2018. This speaks to the value the platform has created for our valued customers.  Here is what everyone ought to know about the latest release and the benefits:   Customers Go Live: Production Use of Oracle Blockchain Platform The announcement showcases several of our enterprise customers that are now deployed in production on the Oracle blockchain platform - Circulor, SERES, and CDEL. Additionally, Arab Jordan Investment Bank, CargoSmart, Certified Origins, HealthSync, ICS Financial Systems, NeuroSoft, Nigeria Customs, OriginTrail, and TradeFin have built or integrated their production-ready blockchain applications on Oracle Blockchain Platform. "Oracle's blockchain solution delivers enterprise performance, security and scalability right out-of-the-box," said Doug Johnson-Poensgen, CEO and founder of Circulor. "We started with the Oracle Blockchain Platform four months ago and were able to go from zero to a production system spanning multiple organizations in a matter of months. Another key advantage is that we were able to integrate Oracle's blockchain platform into a hybrid blockchain network spanning multiple clouds and easily integrate with our existing systems and applications."    New Features in Oracle Blockchain Platform 19.1.3 Key themes for this release are productivity and privacy enhancements for IT/DevOps and smart contract application developers. Oracle has added developer-oriented productivity enhancements, enhanced privacy, confidentiality, and identity management features that are critical to diverse organizations conducting business transactions. New DevOps capabilities make the platform easier to integrate with existing business and IT systems. Additionally, as blockchain becomes an important data store in the enterprise, the platform enables Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse customers to transparently capture blockchain transaction history and current state data for analytics and to integrate it with other data sources. New features include: Enhanced world state database to support standard SQL-based ledger queries reducing the complexity of developing chaincode using readily available programming skills, ensure smart contracts can safely rely on the query results, which are verified at transaction commit, and significantly boost the performance of rich data queries. Rich history database shadows transaction history into a relational database schema in the Autonomous Data Warehouse or other Oracle databases, which transparently enables analytics integration for interactive dashboards and reports. Here is an example of the use of rich history stored on Oracle's Autonomous Datawarehouse and visualized using Oracle Analytics Cloud.   Enhanced REST APIs for event subscription, blockchain administration/configuration, and monitoring of network health, transaction rates, and other statistics, which simplify integration with existing enterprise IT tools. Identity federation further extends authentication capabilities to work with external identity providers to facilitate consortium blockchains with many diverse participants using their existing identity management systems. Third-party certificate support for registering client organizations on the blockchain network to enable them to use existing certificates issued by trusted third parties. Hyperledger Fabric 1.3 support, which adds many new features based on the evolving open source version, including chaincode development in Java, further leveraging existing enterprise skills, and support for private transactions among a subset of members, preserving privacy and business confidentiality. This demonstrates Oracle’s commitment to stay current with the Hyperledger community by leveraging new releases and contributing to the open source community.    Summary: Oracle Expands Its Enterprise Blockchain Platform This new 19.1.3 release of the Oracle Blockchain Platform highlights Oracle's continued strength and customer momentum in enterprise blockchain space. Enterprises around the world have come to trust Oracle Blockchain platform for their demanding production deployments. Oracle continues to invest and develop its Blockchain Platform to provide fully-managed and production-ready enterprise blockchain cloud platform that is based on open source Hyperledger Fabric project. To learn more about Oracle blockchain technology, please visit the Oracle Blockchain website, or if you have any questions drop us a note here. To sign-up for the service visit here and search for Blockchain and add to cart. Key contributions to this blog post from Todd Little, Deepak Goel, Mark Rakhmilevich, Mary Hall, Carlo Innocenti, and the PR team           p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Menlo; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff} span.s1 {font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures}

Oracle Blockchain Platform announced the availability of its latest release today, the 19.1.3. It is an incredibly proud moment for the entire team. A key piece of today's announcement is the evidence...

Oracle has joined with UCLCRT and MONOCHAIN to launch a Retail Blockchain Consortium (RBC) designed to advance the use of distributed ledger technologies within the Retail Industry.

Oracle has joined with UCLCRT and MONOCHAIN to launch a Retail Blockchain Consortium (RBC) designed to advance the use of distributed ledger technologies within the Retail Industry.

Analyst Neil Cattermull looks into his crystal ball for blockchain predictions for 2019.

Analyst Neil Cattermull looks into his crystal ball for blockchain predictions for 2019.

Oracle OpenWorld is kicking off this week on Jan. 16 & 17th at the London ExCel venue. It's no surprise that one of the hottest topics in tech- blockchain- is on the agenda at the Oracle conference.

Oracle OpenWorld is kicking off this week on Jan. 16 & 17th at the London ExCel venue. It's no surprise that one of the hottest topics in tech- blockchain- is on the agenda at the Oracle conference.

The Blockchain Connect Conference, happening Jan. 11, 2019, in San Francisco, aims to provide education around digital ledger technology (DLT) from leading academics and technologists. This is the third year for the conference, hosted by SV Insight.

The Blockchain Connect Conference, happening Jan. 11, 2019, in San Francisco, aims to provide education around digital ledger technology (DLT) from leading academics and technologists. This is the...

Lawyers, legal professionals and inventors have long struggled with the difficulties of processing patent applications and keeping up with the amount of patent filings via the patent database system. As a young lawyer, I spent many long hours doing patent and trademark searches.  If only the intellectual property records were on the digital ledger of blockchain I might have been able to save a considerable amount of time and research effort! The Problem of Siloed Data and Intellectual Property In common-law and many countries, the Patent and Trademark systems favor the first to file. This is a problem when the databases inventors file their applications on is backlogged and out of sync. It is estimated that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (UPTO) is currently backlogged by hundreds of thousands of patent applications with only a few thousand examiners reviewing them. Patents and Trademark applications can be filed in the USPTO systems, but not be immediately discoverable by others. Inventors and intellectual property holders may legitimately believe they are the first to file, but in actual fact there may be other applications filed before theirs which they simply can’t find in the government databases because they don’t show up yet in search. This is one of the reasons why many law firms tell clients that it will take them 2 to 3 weeks to do a thorough patent or trademark search.  They know if may take time for intellectual property filings to be discoverable in the traditional database systems. According to the Erikson Law Group, “ The average time it takes to obtain a patent from the patent office at this time is about 32 months or a little under 3 years.”[1] Intellectual Property: Creating a Digital Ledger for Patents with Blockchain  According to the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), it takes roughly two years just for the Office Action, resulting from an investigation of the patent application, on an utility patent to be completed. After that, the inventor must then respond to the action which takes about another year. Even though the status of “patent pending” carries some legal weight, and gives notice to other applicants that there is a filing on record, it is still frustrating for entrepreneurs to have to wait so long. While they wait, they are deprived of the full legal protections that registrations provide against infringers, fakers and opportunists. Blockchain holds the promise of automating the process of patent discovery and approval. With difficulties, inherent in the patent system stored on traditional database, some inventors have become involved in lawsuits and legal conflicts over patents upon the completion of the development of technologies and solutions. Using a blockchain networks, first movers are taking their intellectual property records, patents and trademarks to blockchain. Inventors and attorneys  with access to these digital ledgers have praised the efficiency of patent  and trademark searches using the blockchain digital ledger technology. For intellectual property lawyers, paralegals and researchers,  blockchain technology holds the promise of being able to share records easily and in real-time. Blockchain's immutable digital ledge can be used as a secure way to protect the intellectual property of authors, inventors and organizations Perhaps even more importantly, laywers and laymen can use data logged onto the ledger to both defend and support intellectual property infringement claims.  Putting the data of intellectual property filings, on the blockchain also expedites communications between attorneys and clients, patent and trademark examiners and inventors. Another use case is using blockchain technology to automate the licensing of patents through smart contracts, ensuring that all parties meet the agreed upon terms.  The license would execute when the terms are meet and consensus is reached. Speed to file: the benefits of blockchain technology Ultimately, a patent system based on blockchain technology could significantly to reduce the wait time for patent registrations. This would allow inventor, who are often sole proprietors or small businesses, to better protect their intellectual property. A blockchain systems of patent filings and registrations also can facilitate better development or licensing of ideas that are publicly available.  Currently, there is no universal patent or intellectual property registry that cuts across countries or jurisdictions. Blockchain could make a universal intellectual property system available to entrepreneurs, lawyers, legal professionals and inventors. If there was one, this could quite simply revolutionize the traditional trademark and patent system.  As blockchain technology evolves and becomes more mature, this technology could change the practice of intellectual property law by simplifying access to data and enabling greater collaboration.  The Chamber of Digital Commerce has formed a Blockchain Intellectual Property Council to both promote and contribute to blockchain innovations in this space. Intellectual property and blockchain technology could be a great combination to accelerate applications and registrations of unique ideas.    [1] Erikson Law Group, “How Long Does it Take to Get a Patent” 2017

Lawyers, legal professionals and inventors have long struggled with the difficulties of processing patent applications and keeping up with the amount of patent filings via the patent database system....

You may have heard of this thing called blockchain, but what is it? That's the point of this new blog from the Oracle blockchain team. At its most basic, blockchain should be thought of as a digital ledger. Just like bookkeepers once kept hard copy ledgers of transactions with detailed accounting information, now blockchain enables us to make a digital accounting of transactions that can be shared.

You may have heard of this thing called blockchain, but what is it? That's the point of this new blog from the Oracle blockchain team. At its most basic, blockchain should be thought of as a...

Oracle Blockchain customer CargoSmart has announced the formation of a Global Shipping Business Network consortium to connect and enable collaboration among carriers, terminals, shippers, and forwarders throughout the supply chain. Nine leading ocean carriers and terminal operators have signed a formal statement of intent for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a consortium to develop the Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), an open digital platform based on distributed ledger technology.

Oracle Blockchain customer CargoSmart has announced the formation of a Global Shipping Business Network consortium to connect and enable collaboration among carriers, terminals, shippers,...

During Oracle OpenWorld 2018, Ghassan Sarsak, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, ICS Financial Systems Limited took to the stage to discuss blockchain in the banking industry. Mr. Sarsak and the team at ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS) recently completed a successful blockchain PoC at Arab Jordan Investment Bank. If you're looking for a simple explanation of blockchain, read this blog post.

During Oracle OpenWorld 2018, Ghassan Sarsak, Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, ICS Financial Systems Limited took to the stage to discuss blockchain in the banking industry. Mr. Sarsak and the...

Oracle has announced four new Blockchain mobile apps that are specifically designed for business use to enhance collaboration with trading partners, customers and supply chain parties by providing reliable, immutable information on the digital ledger of Blockchain.

Oracle has announced four new Blockchain mobile apps that are specifically designed for business use to enhance collaboration with trading partners, customers and supply chain parties by providing...