Former AWS Vice President Reveals ``Why AWS Didn't Make Strategic Investments in Blockchain''
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ongoing by Tim Bray AWS and Blockchain
https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2022/11/19/AWS-Blockchain
Mr. Bray was a vice president and senior engineer at AWS for several years, but in 2020 Amazon's warehouse employee who asked for improved measures against the new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) was fired. I protested and resigned.
Amazon's heavyweight resigned due to disappointment of ``dismissal of employees who protested to improve measures against new coronavirus''-GIGAZINE
Even after leaving Amazon, Bray has been careful not to share behind-the-scenes work on AWS. However, after seeing the news that the Australian Stock Exchange gave up blockchain implementation, I was reminded of the events of 2016 and convinced myself that those episodes were already irrelevant to AWS and other business plans, so I revealed the backstage at that time. said he decided to
In the middle of 2016, Andy Jassy , then CEO of AWS and CEO of Amazon at the time of article creation, gathered several senior engineers, including Mr. Bray, and held a meeting. Mr. Jassy was an excellent communicator, receiving explanations on various topics and concerns from the chief technology officer (CTO) and chief information officer (CIO) of large companies and making decisions.
“Every leader asks me what AWS’s blockchain strategy is,” Jassy said at the meeting. I need to have a good answer for them, but to be honest I don't get it when they explain how great it is It seems that he asked Mr. Bray and others about the prospects of blockchain.
I don't remember if it was at the meeting or in an email some time later, Bray and his colleagues said, ``Most of the blockchain business is bullshit and probably doesn't fit AWS's strategy, but it's being scrutinized. I will do it,' he replied. A few people, including Mr. Bray, researched the blockchain industry and actually interviewed various people in the industry.
Mr. Bray and others say that they discovered the following before conducting the interview survey.
1: It is very difficult to find a “working business application” that implements blockchain.
2: There were many blockchain products claiming to be 'sophisticated', 'robust', 'product-ready', and 'regulatory-approved', but they were quickly abandoned.
3: The
4: Blockchain is basically a database structure, and it seems that other data structures can be substituted.
5: The Australian Stock Exchange is seriously betting on blockchain.
6: A huge amount of venture capital is investing in blockchain, mainly in Manhattan.
7: Many blockchain companies use AWS or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to build infrastructure, and AWS has already benefited greatly from the blockchain business.
After obtaining this information, in August 2016, Mr. Bray and his colleagues held meetings with major Wall Street companies and several startups to analyze the blockchain industry. The two questions that Bray and others wanted to ask were basically 'What do you want to do with blockchain?' and 'How can blockchain help?'
However, although startups are certainly developing exciting businesses and services, and although we were able to rationally explain that they needed a database structure, the point of 'why should we use blockchain?' was not clear. He said. One startup was very well received by investors, but a very smart CTO didn't hesitate to ask, 'Are there any systems in all of these that wouldn't work without blockchain?' He replied, 'No, I don't.'
Mr. Bray and others also met with several key figures with
Bray said, 'Remember Andy Jassy saying, 'I don't get it when they explain it to me?' He was probably the most adept person in the world when it came to listening to people about tools, and if he didn't see value in blockchain, it would be doomed for business.' said.
Mr. Bray and his colleagues not only conducted market research, but also considered several AWS services using a distributed ledger network. However, there was no rational explanation that the real world would want a zero trust system, so there was no reason for the service to adopt blockchain. ``Civilization needs trust at some point, and I think this is the biggest reason civilization exists,'' said Bray. I claimed.
In the end, Jassy said, “Ledger and cryptography technologies are useful, but blockchain is not, and the field is full of charlatans. It is said that he reported the contents such as 'You can build
AWS launched Amazon Managed Blockchain in 2019 to help build blockchain infrastructure, but Bray said he was not involved. “The VC seizure of cryptocurrency will continue into 2022, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon Managed Blockchain made a welcome but non-strategic amount of money,” Bray said. I can't imagine a bright future for Amazon Managed Blockchain.'
After that, Mr. Bray said that he was approached by various companies and institutions about blockchain. At a conference in Seattle, the CIO of an international organization gave an example of how blockchain can work: “When a small farmer lost his land boundary marker in a flood, a malicious landlord could find it. Taking advantage of the fact that there is nothing, trying to take part of the land.' The CIO allegedly argued, “If the demarcation sign is on the blockchain, you can’t do that, can you?”
``As a lifelong engineer, I've always questioned technology as a solution to political problems,'' Bray said. I think, with or without blockchain, could large landowners find other ways to falsify records and take their land? Isn't it about power?' He answered. Bray describes blockchain, which is often touted as a solution, as “a solution looking for a problem to be solved.”
At the end of the blog, Bray said, 'I'm not saying that blockchain-based systems don't do anything. I will continue, and I'm glad AWS didn't bet big on blockchain at the time.'
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