Blockchain in retail
A new set of building blocks
Published by Mastercard Asia Pacific, June 2023
In 1997, David Bowie, presciently aware of the havoc the internet was about to unleash on music sales, hit on the idea of selling securities that would pay out royalties from future sales of his back catalog over a defined period.
Dubbed “Bowie Bonds”, the approach was as innovative at the time as his music. Were he introducing the bonds today, Bowie might plump for blockchain as the latest innovation.
With the bonds tokenized as crypto securities, smart contacts could automatically release dividends on schedule and cancel them at term.
Tokenization would not alter the bonds, but it would simplify any transactions associated with them.
The same goes for any other crypto asset, and blockchain’s impact on
retail and its associated assets will not alter retail’s foundations either;
it will just build on them.
New builds, even ones on existing foundations, do not generally happen overnight. That is particularly the case when the necessary technology is nascent. Rather, they call for carefully planned and considered investment one block at a time.
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