IBM launches Bitcoin extension app to support fintech companies

Tech giant IBM has launched open-source blockchain technology to support financial and tech companies including JPMorgan Chase, London Stock Exchange, Wells Fargo, Cisco and Intel, among others.

According to reports from Wired and Fortune magazine, IBM is the first company to create the "Open Ledger Project," which is essentially an alternative blockchain technology system overseen by the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to operating an open source operating system .

The Open Ledger Project is described as a library of developers that will allow businesses to build custom distributed ledger solutions without relying on an open public blockchain like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, IBM researcher Jerry Cuomo said that in his opinion, the Open Ledger Project is an extension of Bitcoin:

“I have nothing against cryptocurrencies, but I strongly disagree with blockchain as a solution for supply chain and the Internet of Things. I agree that Bitcoin is an interesting application of blockchain, but there should be many other very interesting applications beyond Bitcoin .”

IBM’s research has reportedly added several thousand lines of code to the distributed ledger space. Blockchain company Digital Asset, run by former JPMorgan Chase executive Blythe Masters, has made unremitting efforts to brand Hyperleger and provide development resources.

Companies working on this path to Hyperleger branding include Accenture, ANZ , CLS, Digital Asset and Fujitsu, IC3, Mitsubishi Financial Group, State Street, Swift, VMware and Wells Fargo, among others.

Future collaboration

Although large companies have joined forces to join the project and have achieved initial results, related reports show that the future development path is still unclear.

Wired magazine reported that although the Open Classification Project is an open-resource project that theoretically allows all participants to share resources, in reality, among the many companies that have joined the project, only DAH and IBM have truly contributed to its development.

In addition, IBM's efforts are contrary to its original intention. It was originally thought that any company could control the market, but this is not the case.

Cuomo, an IBM employee, also said in an interview with Wired: "Just like on the Internet, there is no unified rule to regulate them. Similarly, there is no same blockchain to regulate enterprises. There are too many blockchains and they are too complicated. If these enterprises do not communicate and cooperate, it is easy to cause trouble."

Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, praised the need for collaboration on the project, explaining that this is because the technology is still so new and complex that companies must work together.

“Blockchain requires cross-industry, open source collaboration to advance technology development,” Jim said in a statement to Bloomberg.