Delivery of Trust to All Realms of Our Digital Lives Will Drive the Next Wave of Human Advancement

When we think of trust, we tend to think of interpersonal relationships. That is, connections between human beings. We may have evidence-based theories for whether we choose to trust someone, based on experience. Or, we may just have a ‘hunch,’ otherwise known as gut instinct.

And it follows that if we can trust, we don’t have to verify. The ability to develop trust in each other is what has, uniquely, unleashed humanity’s potential.

Trust allows us to do things that would be almost impossible if we had to verify everything for ourselves. Many well-established household brands operate largely on the legacy of their good name and the trust they have accrued.

When we apply this to the business world, it is the same. Parties transacting with each other need assurance that they will proceed according to the same principles of fairness and transparency, and that they will make good on their promises. Ultimately, trust is the fundamental enabler of trade. And trade is what creates wealth. 

This is why I say trust is the basis of human civilization. And the fact humans can develop trust in each other explains the dazzling opportunities, wealth, and living standards so many of us can enjoy.

Little trust exists in the digital realm

In the early days of the web, you had no way of knowing if your browser really was talking to the company that you thought it was. So, eCommerce and online banking struggled to take off. But the advent of the browser padlock — literally creating trust that you are connected to who you think you are — unleashed trillions of dollars of opportunity.

Until recently, firms doing business with each other had no way of knowing if they had the same records. And so, they wasted staggering amounts of money reconciling with each other. Blockchains are solving this problem. Literally creating trust that “I know what I see is what you see.”

But there is so much further to go. For example, when you send information to a third party, you have no technological way to know what they will do with your information. So, you have to spend a fortune on ‘data scrubbing’ or audits. Or, more likely, you don’t share sensitive data at all. It’s mind-blowing to imagine how many opportunities to create new value or serve customers better are squandered because we can’t trust how our information will be processed when it’s in somebody else’s hands. 

The keys to the kingdom

The reality is that we will look back on 2021 in awe at how much we managed to achieve in the digital realm when the levels of digital trust were so low.

But things are changing. Trust technology is now here. The convergence of blockchains, confidential computing, and applied cryptography is happening, and the most forward-looking firms are applying this to massively increase the levels of trust that exist within and between firms of all sizes operating in the digital realm. 

To take just one aspect of ‘Trust Technology,’ consider confidential computing. Applications secured by this technique can cryptographically prove to their users that their data is encrypted in such a way that nobody, not even somebody with full control of the service, can see it, and in a way that lets the user know when the business logic of the service has been changed. And this proof is provided by the physical hardware that is doing the computations. So, your customers can gain more trust in your good intentions, and they can be enlisted as an extra set of eyes and ears in the fight against attackers should the unthinkable happen and a hacker gains control of your systems.

There is undoubtedly an irrationally large amount of hype and exuberance in the crypto world at large. But, for those of us focusing on the foundations and seeking ways to carefully apply modern cryptographic techniques such as confidential computing to solve problems faced by real-world businesses, the maturation of these tools is proving to be transformational.

It’s a powerful combination for a business providing a service to a customer. That business can use this technology to convince a customer what the service will do with their data before the business has even sent it. Customers no longer have to trust you; they can verify for themselves. That’s the essence of confidential computing, and it’s a game changer.

Author Info

Richard Gendal Brown has served as CTO at R3 since September 2015, leading the team that builds Corda, the world's most advanced enterprise blockchain platform. He was formerly Executive Architect for Industry Innovation and Business Development for IBM's Banking and Financial Markets business in the U.K.