Toyota and Merck Join Ethereum Group to Build Blockchain Network

Toyota and Merck Join Ethereum Group to Build Blockchain Network
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An effort to transform how businesses work by using blockchain technology added new members from multiple industries as Toyota, Merck, State Street and other companies joined industry group the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, according to Bloomberg.

They join existing EEA members JPMorgan Chase, BP, Microsoft, IBM and ING that are all trying to determine if shared databases recorded on the ethereum blockchain can cut costs by speeding up financial transactions or ensuring the efficiency of a supply chain. The reason ethereum is creating such interest among industries from finance to health care is because it allows for much more complex actions to be done in a shared and decentralized manner than with bitcoin, which introduced the first blockchain to the world in 2009.

The bitcoin blockchain is like a banking system that runs itself, but its main use is just to allow people to move the digital currency from one place to another. Ethereum’s ledger does more. It stores fully functioning computer programs called smart contracts on its blockchain: If person A performs job B for company C, it will trigger a payment of D back to A and so on. Ethereum is a way for people to make agreements and automate enforcement, all on a distributed network of computers. Once you can create contracts, which are just operating procedures, you can use them to manage almost any kind of enterprise or organization.

Adoption of blockchain technology such as ethereum has significant hurdles to overcome, such as convincing competitors to work together in a network that shares market information. There is also the fact that very few if any actual uses of blockchain have been released to date. Regulators also have to be convinced the system is safe. And the EEA is far from alone in seeking an edge in creating standards for blockchain systems. Competitors include R3, Chain, Digital Asset Holdings and the Hyperledger Project.