09 July, 2020: By Ajoy Maitra
The roots of blockchain technology can be traced back to 1991 when Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta proposed a concept called a block chain. It was a system that consisted of a chain of blocks secured by cryptography and digital timestamps that could not be altered.
In 2008, an anonymous entity (a person or persons) named Satoshi Nakamoto used this concept to introduce Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, that enabled people to carry out transactions without the need of an intermediary such as a bank. Over the course of a decade, several cryptocurrencies entered the market such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, EOS, and so on.

Rather than relying on a centralized system, a blockchain uses a Peer to Peer (P2P) network to store data at multiple locations. Each location is called a node, and it stores a copy of the data right from the genesis block. Every time a new record is added in the database, it automatically gets updated across all nodes on the network. The transactions are verified by users on the network by solving a math problem. Once the block is verified, it gets added to the chain of existing blocks.
The second aspect is security through the immutability of records. Once a block is verified, the data stored in it can't be altered. Even if someone tries to deceive a block in the blockchain, it will significantly change the data along with the hash of its previous blocks. Since the whole blockchain has now changed, it can't be verified with any other node. Anyone trying to hack into the blockchain needs to alter records at every node, which is practically impossible.
Since blockchain is a distributed digital ledger, all users in the blockchain have access to the transactions that have taken place. While this aspect might raise some eyebrows, there is no need to do so because although the transactions are available to the blockchain users, the identity of users remains concealed.


Blockchain in modern business plays an important role in managing data and secure privacy of the same through series of verifications. Though there has been a notion that marketing and technology are different, in recent times, the use of technology has boosted the marketing strategies to a large extent, where many new startups has also managed to use some advantages of blockchain technology in solving marketing problems.

Babs Rangaiah, who leads the Global Marketing Solutions for the Interactive Experience unit of IBM, said: "Blockchain is creating new ways of doing business across industries, particularly where greater trust and transperancy is required. As it relates to media, we expect blockchain to be able to provide a single source of truth to any given media buy, eliminating the doubt and uncertainity that is common today."

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has widely quoted: "Whereas most technologies tend to automate workers on the periphery doing menial tasks, blockchains automate away the center. Instead of putting the taxi-driver out of a job, blockchain puts Uber out of a job and lets the taxi-drivers work with the customer directly."

Another stating advantage of block chain is the removal of intermediaries in marketing industry, keeping the budget placed to its agreed resource allowing direct interaction between the customer and the contractor in which all processes from the execution of work to payment remains transparent & controlled securely.


In the latest news, Tech Mahindra Ltd., a provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions, has announced the launch of a new digital platform, branded as 'Blockchain based Contracts and Rights Management System' (bCRMS) for the global media and entertainment industry. The platform is designed to enable production houses and content creators to track revenue, royalty payments, manage rights and address content piracy by leveraging IBM blockchain. Tech Mahindra's new bCRMS platform is built on open source Hyperledger Fabric protocol and utilizes techniques like content hashing and forensic watermarking to track and trace content. The technology is industry agnostic and thereby it could also be used across other industries like trade, finance and healthcare that have a requirement for intellectual property and secured digital content. Built on IBM Blockchain, the platform will restrict unauthorized access and redistribution of digital content, mitigate content piracy and manage royalty payments. The platform is designed to be scalable and empowers artists, fulfilment partners and distributors with a clear, automated system for accessing and managing payments.

One of the most exciting things about blockchain is that it gives the value of data back to consumers. Up until now, many companies have benefited from being able to pull data from their customers. Everyone from PetSmart to Walmart wants our phone number, email address, address, and the name of our firstborn even to make a simple purchase in store or online. Yes, in some ways it helps the consumer, because it allows companies to market for personally to them. But in other ways it's invasive, and it means companies are making money by taking and sometimes even selling the personal information they gather from anyone in their wake.
Blockchain is changing digital marketing by removing companies' abilities to pull data from customers without also offering to reimburse them for its value.