Impact of Blockchain on Supply Chain Industry-Samples for Students

Question: Provide a brief description of Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology. Appraise how blockchain may impact the logistics and supply chain industry as well as the finance and accounting sectors. Answer: Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology Bitcoin refers to the digital currency which was introduced in 2009 which is not backed by the central bank of the country. The application of bitcoin can be used for trading goods and services with the suppliers who accept bitcoin currency as payments for the goods and services. This form of currency is also known as crypto currency (Reid Harrigan, 2013). The bitcoin system is operated by network and the network is designed to produce 21 million bitcoins and also has regulations which can deal with inflationary pressure. Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet and can be send to different addresses as per the requirements of the users (Androulaki et al., 2013). In many countries such as United States, bitcoins are controversial as it is mostly used for transfer or hide funds. Bitcoins need to be backed by government currencies in order to keep track of the digital money. The technology which is associated with bitcoin and crypto currency is known as blockchain technology. The blockchain technology has the ability to change a number of important industries which are healthcare, politics, retail and other similar industry. Bitcoin and all alternative currency uses blockchain technology in different ways Crosby. In the case of bitcoins, new blocks are created in every ten minutes which performs the function of verifying, recording new transactions that have taken place (Crosby et al., 2016). Impact of Blockchain Technology The use of blockchain technology has been becoming more and more popular. The main application of the blockchain technology is widespread and it can be used in financial and logistics management. In case of a logistic industry, the main activities which are involved relates to transportation, storage and other similar related activities (Badzar, 2016). The main requirements of a successful logics and supply chain management are transparency, safety, accessibility and security of the products. All of theses are covered by the blockchain technology and therefore it is very effective for the development of the logistics and supply chain management department of the company. The logistic industry involves lot variables such as customers, suppliers, manufacturer. The introduction of blockchain technology will benefit every variable involved in logistics and supply chain management (Apte Petrovsky, 2016). With the introduction of blockchain technology in the process the customers will be able to keep a track of the product as the product is being delivered to the them. The entire process of manufacturing, packaging, supply and delivery can be traced easily. Another advantage is that with the help of this technology the overall process of verification of stocks gets easier as most of the information are stored in the blocks which is responsible for recording of transaction in the ledger accounts. The incorporation of blockchain technology allows the business to have a security for the information. Blockchain technology is a technology which is used in the process of accounting and it is related with effective management of ledger accounts keeping in track the accuracy level and also involves transfers of ownership of assets (Atzori, 2015). The impact of blockchain technology on the financing and accounting techniques are immense. The blockchain technologies are made up of smaller blocks which are responsible for recording all the transactions and also gets the same stored in the ledger accounts. The transactions which are recorded can also be easily be verified and further review for the process of auditing. Thus, with the use of blockchain technology the business will not only be improving the accounting process but also the overall auditing and control process of the financial statement. The primary focuses of the professionals who are engaged in the process of accounting is on accuracy, accessibility of the financial information. a lot of time of the professionals are taken up in the checking and reviewing of the financial statements and the items which are included in the same. The use of blockchain technology creates a single source of information which are used and have accuracy. Moreover, with the introduction of the blockchain technology in the finance business costly audit processes and internal investigations can be avoided. The time-consuming processes of cross-referencing and double-checking of the accounting records and ledgers can be avoided with the introduction of blockchain technology. Thus, from the above discussions it is clear that blockchain technology will be very much effective in the field of accounting and finance as well as logistics and supply chain management. The future implications of blockchain technologies is very much significant and it can impact major industries thereby making improvements in their processes. References Androulaki, E., Karame, G. O., Roeschlin, M., Scherer, T., Capkun, S. (2013, April). Evaluating user privacy in bitcoin. InInternational Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security(pp. 34-51). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Apte, S., Petrovsky, N. (2016). Will blockchain technology revolutionize excipient supply chain management?.Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals,7(3). Atzori, M. (2015). Blockchain technology and decentralized governance: Is the state still necessary?. Badzar, A. (2016). Blockchain for securing sustainable transport contracts and supply chain transparency-An explorative study of blockchain technology in logistics. Crosby, M., Pattanayak, P., Verma, S., Kalyanaraman, V. (2016). Blockchain technology: Beyond bitcoin.Applied Innovation,2, 6-10. Reid, F., Harrigan, M. (2013). An analysis of anonymity in the bitcoin system. InSecurity and privacy in social networks(pp. 197-223). Springer, New York, NY.