20 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Using Blockchain in Your Project | by Daniel Diaz | Web3 Magazine | August 2022

It is well known that Blockchain provides great value for many use cases. But when it comes to choosing which form of storage to use, we shouldn’t get carried away the hype generated by this technology. Follow me through this post where I analyze a number of issues to take into account.

NOTE: The process will be guided by images, as well as some considerations.

Some of these questions can give you clues as to whether Blockchain is a good fit for your project:

• Do you need consistent shared storage?
• Do you need one tamper-proof register?
• Is it trust issues with your solution?
• (…)

If after this first filter you still think you need to use blockchain, it’s up to you to decide: public network or private network?

If you plan to save personal data or other sensitive information (company secrets, invoices …), reject this option! Even with the use of cryptography, the information will be distributed through unknown nodes all over the world, which can lead to information leaks and lawsuits. Due to their limited nature and smaller size, private networks may be a more secure option.

Likewise, ditch a public network if you need to high flow rates (high transaction volume and low waiting time). It should also be said that networks such as Ethereum (“the merger is approaching”) promises to significantly improve these prices. Likewise private networks present better performance metrics.

If you need it too update or delete datadon’t use a public network!

Perhaps a private network would be a better option…

Even in this case, sensitive information must be treated with care. Consider using cryptography or other mechanisms such as e.g Hyperledger fabric Private data collections.

On the other hand, although some private networks allow updates and deletions, these are only fictitious. A copy of the previous state will remain in the previous blocks. You have to be extremely careful with this aspect because legal obligations such as the right to be forgotten in some countries.

How many organizations participate in your network? If your answer is one and you are not in an auditing use case, you may want to consider using a private blockchain again.

Have you been honest? Well, you still need to consider many other questions (surprise!):

• Technical questions: how many nodes are there, and how distributed are they? Are they enough to withstand 51% attacks?
• Economic and financial questions: is the project viable, does it provide value, does the market need it?
• Environment question: how is the environmental impact of the blockchain solution adopted? Is it in line with Corporate Social Responsibility and the company’s values?

Finally, remember that smart contracts are programs whose rules must be very well defined. Does your project fit? Great, now you “just” need to implement it and take it to production, with an exhaustive process of testing and security investigations.

Good luck!