What is the Trust Economy and why must brands join the shift to on-chain?

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Brands should move on-chain. What does that mean?

At the London Blockchain Conference (LBC), a panel addressed how a new kind of economy, the trust economy, emerges through the utilization of blockchain solutions.

The discussion “The Trust Economy and Blockchain – How Trust Maintains Customers and Increases Their Affinity for Your Brand (Especially During a Cost of Living Crisis!)” was moderated by CoinGeek reporter and producer Becky Liggero.

The panelists included:

• Dr. Agata Slater, Blockchain Strategy Consultant for IBM (NASDAQ: IBM)
• Steve Smid, Project Manager for TrueWorld
• Justin Pauly, President of VX Technologies
• Kirsty Barany-Gibson, Program Lead – Scale Facilitation for Access New York

One thing in advance: all the panelists are actively working on and with BSV blockchain solutions to gain competitive edges in their fields. The BSV blockchain recently hit a new scaling record by processing over 85 million transactions in 24 hours—at an ultra-low cost per transaction.

Building relationships with customers by integrating them into revenue streams

“IBM works mostly with enterprise clients on blockchain solutions, and we try to help them enter the space that many people still associate with cryptocurrencies,” Dr. Slater said.

According to Dr. Slater, transparency and consistency are key elements of successful brands. However, she sees the interaction of brands with their customers changing now, as in becoming less transactional and more of a relationship.

“A brand that can offer some unique experience to a customer makes them feel important and feeling taken care of, can boost trust with the customer. (…). Blockchain can meet all those demands,” Dr. Slater explained.

Concerning the implementation of blockchain solutions for brands, Barany-Gibson agreed with Dr. Slater and added: “One of the things that has been very useful for us in terms of transparency, when you have this open ledger, you can really go back to your clients, and make them part of the revenue piece!”

Now that is interesting. Customers with benefits, so to speak.

Growing interest in blockchain solutions—aside from so-called ‘cryptocurrencies’

Barany-Gibson referred to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report that estimated the Trust Economy and the associated blockchain space (not cryptocurrencies!) at 1.7 trillion in global gross domestic product (GDP).

“We, as an investment firm, get about 300 submissions—a month (…). There is a lot of money to be made; it is just a matter of being creative and think about trust as a way of unlocking value,” Barany-Gibson said and invited the audience to dive deep into what specifically the BSV blockchain has to offer in that regard.

Tracking and verifying environmental data on the BSV blockchain

“Climate crisis—are people actually believing that it exists? That would be the first question to ask. Then you ask the next question, where is the evidence for it? We are moving to a model of telling you that it is happening, to a model of proving that it is actually occurring,” Smid said.

With TrueWorld, running on the BSV blockchain, Smid and his team are collecting data on a public ledger—making it verifiable and easy to access. For example, Smid explained that some environmental problems are evident, such as polluted air, but other challenges, like the loss of species, are not that easy to detect.

Therefore, TrueWorld is aiming to deliver real evidence recorded on the BSV blockchain to make the loss of biodiversity visible.

“The blockchain can timestamp it, can record it in time,” Smid said.

Identity and digital ownership therefor

Pauly and his team at VX Technologies offer solutions on the BSV blockchain to enable partially shared identity data.

“As a digitally sovereign person, I cannot look into your wallet; you cannot look into mine—unless I share it. (…). It allows peer-to-peer sharing,” Pauly said.

For example, one might want to apply for a job without sending their whole CV. However, some data needs to be shared, of course, or else the potential employer cannot see if the candidate fits the job description. On top of that, the applicant’s certificates could be verified on-chain without having to share the full document.

Imagine your identity as a toolbox in your BSV blockchain wallet, where you can grant access to some sections of it—and revoke the access when it is not necessary anymore. That is the digital ownership world Dr. Craig Wright was referring to in his keynote speech at the London Blockchain Conference.

“It is up to the individual end user to control their identity,” Pauly said.

How the panelists see the future of blockchain in enterprises and business

Dr. Slater pointed out that soon there will be strict regulatory frameworks in the European Union for transparency of products, aiming at the manufacturers to disclose their practices and the origins of goods.

“A digital product passport issued by Trace makes a company compliant by design. This is the beauty of this solution. It solves real-life problems, and it also is very easy to use. It is offered as a service and will become a default for many companies out there,” Dr. Slater said in regard to the BSV blockchain solution Trace by IBM and Gate2Chain.

Smid drew attention to how important the accuracy of government data is. Especially concerning identity, the governmental information has to be spot on; otherwise, third parties could not process true identity solutions even with the available blockchain applications.

“Verified data is essentially the counterbalance to AI nonsense. AI is beautiful, it is going to run so many things, but bad data in is bad data out (…). At the core of what VX Technologies does is: we make sure that we have verifiable data,” Pauly added to that.

Barany-Gibson stated that she sees microtransactions and smart contracts “permeate everything,” as in getting customers engaged and involved. For example, rewarding customers for interacting with an app. BSV blockchain wallet CentBee is already doing this by paying tiny amounts of BSV directly to users who login, shop, and actively use the wallet.

BSV blockchain is ready to be implemented

While the panelists are already busy working with the BSV blockchain, other brands and businesses may seem to wonder how to follow up.

At the London Blockchain Conference, Brendan Lee explained how to leverage the BSV blockchain for enterprise usage. We recommend watching Lee’s presentation, as it is a short but very dense introduction to the topic.

Watch: London Blockchain Conference 2023 is not just utility, it’s also about love