Page 68 - SACCO STAR ISSUE 43

OPINION
In 2009, a monumental event
occurred.
The first blockchain was released
to the world in the form of Bitcoin on a page, then the page is full after 50
sparking what some have termed as
the fourth industrial revolution.
In the ten years since its inception, the required to record every transaction
Blockchain phenomenon has taken over
the world and has led to a new economic
model that threatens to overturn the
economic landscape. All this is very new
and the question that is on most people’s information safe, we have 20 different
minds is “ What is blockchain and how do
we use it to our benefit?”
BLOCKCHAIN FOR SACCOS
To begin with, the Blockchain is the
underlying technology behind what
is termed as a distributed ledger with
cryptocurrency serving as its unit of
account.
To understand the purpose and function
of this technology, we can use the
example of a book. I call this the book
of blockchain. Say for example, you
have a group of 100 individuals who
are Transacting with one another in her
peer to peer lending fashion and they
choose among themselves 20 individuals
that will be tasked with accounting the
balance that each individual holds at any we have many copies of the same book
one time.
Every time a transaction occurs the
accountant will write it down in a book.
All of the books are exactly the same
and each accountant is required to write
66| SACCO Star Magazine
How SACCOs Can
Benefit From Blockchain
Technology
By George Mosomi
Senior blockchain Lead, Solo Energy, The United Kingdom. George has over 8 years
experience in the blockchain and renewable energy industry across Europe, South
America, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa
one transaction per line. That way after
a specific amount of transactions the
page is full so, if the book has 50 lines
transactions.
Every one of the 20 accountants is
such that we have 20 different copies
of all the transactions that are occurring this example, its evident that the
in real time. Instead of trusting one
single accountant to keep the entire
individuals keeping track of the data.
If one party decides to cheat we can
easily detect this because multiple
copies on the transactions exist.
Because all accountants are writing
the same transactions in their separate
books, they each turn to the next page
at the same time. Each page has a
number and that number is unique to
that specific page. If you take any of
the books and compare to any other
book they should be exactly the same.
If however, you change any of the
information in one of the books, the
book cannot look the same as the rest
and will therefore not be trusted.
In the same way that in the event that
we can tell what information is on what
page, the fact that the blockchain is
multiplied over many databases means
that if any of the databases are altered
it is easy to tell where the alteration
has occurred and that that database has
been corrupted. In fact if one of the
actors wanted to hack the blockchain
they would have to hack every single
copy of the database at the exact same
time.
This gives us an accounting tool that
is chronological permanent publicly
verifiable and immutable. From
technology of the blockchain would
be a powerful tool for SACCOs. Not
only would members be assured of a
consistency in the accounting of their
current and past balances, it opens up
new avenues for SACCO’s in general.
Now, there is no limit to how many
members can be involved in a SACCO
and because the blockchain is a trust
less system, members from across the
world can come together in a lending
platform without having to even know
each other or meet physically.
This opens up a world of potential uses
and SACCOs can easily move into the
world of venture capital due to this
newfound openness.
A SACCO wanting to open its own
blockchain is free to do so and can be
populated by from across the world as
long as they seek to improve their lives
of all of its members.