Craig Wright Bitcoin Masterclass (London) – May: Day 1 Session 2
Dr Craig S. Wright, Chief Scientist at nChain, held another edition of his Masterclass series at an exclusive venue in London in May 2023.
The Masterclass course forms part of a monthly series aimed at helping attendees understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin and the technology behind it. The series will give you a comprehensive overview of Bitcoin’s history, theory and design. Wright discusses the future of Bitcoin and the unbounded scalability of nChain’s blockchain solutions, with potential use cases across several industries.
In this part of the series, Dr Craig Wright discusses the importance of integrating businesses into the BSV blockchain ecosystem and extending access to various business tools simply and easily. He specifically focuses on opening up markets and integrating technology into supply chains.
The goal of the workshop: facilitate usage of blockchain as ‘plumbing’
Dr Wright uses the metaphor of plumbing to explain to workshop participants the role of the BSV blockchain as a technology. Similar to plumbing, the blockchain represents an infrastructure that provides a lot of benefits to its users in everyday life.
Although a lot of work goes into operating and maintaining this infrastructure, a user can rely on the service of plumbing without much knowledge about e.g. hydraulics or water clarification.
The task of the workshop is to find out how BSV blockchain services can be offered to businesses as simply and intuitively as possible so that they can reduce costs, increase efficiency or gain other added value compared to previous working practices.
Free APIs, reducing costs and speeding up deliveries
In this context, Dr Craig Wright discusses the idea of making APIs accessible and free for businesses, enabling them to use the BSV blockchain as a means of conducting various transactions.
This approach can open up opportunities for businesses to engage with larger players in industries like logistics and supply chain management, offering liquidity and improving the current lack of liquidity in certain markets.
A participant in the workshop suggests tokenising receivables to inject liquidity into specific projects, such as construction projects facing cash flow issues. Wright emphasises the ease of integrating legal contracts and simplifying technology for small businesses, allowing them to compete with larger enterprises.
The discussion then shifts to supply chain management and logistics. The participants highlight the need for secure and efficient processes in these sectors. Wright points out the potential for blockchain to improve transparency and efficiency in supply chains, making it possible to track goods and integrate various aspects of logistics, including warehousing, shipping, and transportation. This could lead to reduced costs, quicker deliveries, and better customer experiences.
Overview of problems and considerations in supply chain management
In the next section of the workshop, Wright discusses the intricacies of supply chain management. To set off this segment of the workshop, Wright asks for the definitions of supply chain management and logistics to differentiate these two terms. When the workshop struggles to define the two terms, Wright gives the definition that supply chain management involves all the inputs required for a product, while logistics focuses on how to move those inputs efficiently.
To highlight the problems in supply chains, he asks whether all commodities from different countries are equal. He clarifies that their value can vary based on factors like location, standards, proximity to markets and specific conditions like subsidies.
Traveling salesman and knapsack problem
Wright briefly mentions optimisation problems in logistics, such as the travelling salesman problem (creating the most efficient ad-hoc route) and the knapsack problem (maximising volume/value with limited capacity), to highlight the complexity of real-world logistics. He then relates these problems to the challenges faced by companies with fleets of planes of varying sizes and capabilities when optimising cargo distribution.
Wright emphasises the need to find practical solutions quickly, especially in industries like air freight where customers expect timely deliveries. He also mentions the possibility of extending the use of algorithms and data analytics beyond traditional fields like financial data interchange (XBRL).
He discusses how different metrics based on statistics and price can help determine the optimal time for delivery, acknowledging that optimisation problems are complex and often require running simulations and extensive calculations. He suggests that using computer algorithms for optimisation if they take days to compute, is not acceptable in industries with time-sensitive operations.
The last mile
A workshop participant discusses the logistics challenge known as the “last mile,” which refers to the final leg of product delivery to customers. She mentions that this phase becomes complicated once items leave the Amazon network and need to be delivered to various locations, including homes, offices, or designated post boxes.
Wright then expands on the need to track the movement of goods and the challenge of determining their location in real time, highlighting the features offered by logistics companies like DHL and FedEx for tracking shipments.
Wright also mentions the importance of linking purchase orders and invoices to logistics and the need for a seamless process in which customers can track their orders from purchase to delivery, ensuring they receive the products they bought as promised.
The discussion then touches on how integrating blockchain and technology into supply chain management can offer solutions for tracking goods, ensuring product authenticity, protecting high-value items, and simplifying API coding for invoice and order processing.
Tracking goods on blockchain
In the final part of the workshop, Wright discusses the potential of integrating blockchain technology and data sharing into supply chain management and logistics. He begins by mentioning the integration of inventory databases with APIs to simplify tracking and product management using barcodes.
Wright then shifts the discussion towards the challenges faced by small freight companies that may not be technologically advanced. He emphasises the importance of creating user-friendly solutions for these companies.
The conversation touches on the high transaction volumes involved in supply chain management and how integrating blockchain technology can enhance traceability and transparency, reducing fraud and simplifying business processes.
Wright also highlights the potential for adding location information to product tracking without compromising privacy. He argues that this data can be anonymous and pseudonymous, allowing for data analysis without violating privacy.
The discussion concludes with Wright’s vision of integrating various services like invoicing, purchase orders, and bills of exchange, which can lead to reduced fraud and increased efficiency in the supply chain.