Blockchain As a Service: Providers and Trust
16 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2017 Last revised: 5 Nov 2018
Date Written: December 20, 2017
Abstract
Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are receiving much attention. As discussion focuses on the potential applications of DLTs, Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings are emerging to provide the underlying supporting infrastructure. BaaS entails a provider supplying and managing aspects of a DLT infrastructure to facilitate and bring efficiencies regarding the development, experimentation, deployment, and the ongoing management of DLT applications. However, much of the interest in DLTs stems from their potential to decentralise, disintermediate, and enable ‘trustless’ interactions. At first sight, BaaS – being offered by a provider – appears to run counter to this. In practice, whether BaaS raises substantive trust concerns depends on the nature of the offering, the application’s specifics, and the participants’ goals and risk appetite. This paper elaborates the nature of BaaS offerings, exploring the role of the provider as part of a wider infrastructure, and related issues of trust.
JEL Classification: C88, C99, K20, K29, K39, K49, L22, L24, L81, L86, O33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation