When bitcoin was the only show in town, things were a lot less complicated for blockchain developers. You either used some variation of colored coins to support your decentralized application or you did not.
Since then, a forest of blockchains has sprouted, each of them unique. Some are permissioned; some are public. Some use proof of work, while others rely on proof of stake. Some have substantial industry support, while some are rarefied and niche. How should decentralized application vendors choose one?
When faced with an overwhelming choice, perhaps the best approach is not to choose at all. Armin Ebrahimi, CEO and co-founder of blockchain identity management company ShoCard, is keeping an open mind. His team decided to adopt a multi-blockchain approach early on in product development, giving deployment teams the flexibility to choose their own. He said this blockchain agnosticism is essential in a fast-moving industry.
“I believe for the foreseeable future we will see blockchains evolve. They will improve and specialize in various forms,” said Ebrahimi. “Even when the underlying technology over the next three to five years becomes more stable and advanced, it is still prudent to be blockchain agnostic.”
By not picking winners, his argument is that ShoCard can more easily be interoperable with other blockchain-based identity management systems. ShoCard’s strategy can also allow them to support enterprises that have standardized their use of blockchain technology.
ShoCard does this by using a mobile application to gather user credentials. It then stores proof of these credentials on the blockchain using a cryptographic hash rather than the credentials themselves. This approach lets the user share only the credentials they are comfortable with, and only with those parties they trust.
The company needed a public blockchain to provide final verification of those credentials, explained Ebrahimi. “Using
