Blockchain: A Privacy Centered Standard for Corporate Compliance

Abstract

Recently, the right to privacy has become an important global issue, and laws are being enacted in different countries to ensure that citizens have control over how their data are stored and used. In this scenario, corporates face an increasing burden to comply with these laws, while ensuring that their business models and workflows are interrupted to as little a degree as possible. This article presents blockchain as a potential technology that can help users keep their data under their control and yet allow companies to responsibly access the data they need to function. It begins with an overview of blockchain as a technology and the properties that make it useful as a tool for privacy compliance. It then explores more niche fields, such as Zero Knowledge Proofs, and considers two industries where blockchain can be of benefit to consumers and corporates from a privacy standpoint.