Oracle Wants To Make Blockchain, Crypto More Mainstream

Oracle is the latest company to take advantage of the benefits blockchain technology has to offer. It plans to create a free crypto secure data management offering for Oracle database users.

This feature differs from Oracle’s blockchain platform, which is built on Hyperledger Fabric. And often used for supply chain management.

Rather, Oracle’s crypto secure data management leverages “blockchain tables” within the database. These tables are classified as immutable tables that organize rows of data into several chains.

Each row is chained to the previous row, much like that of a cryptocurrency network. The hash is then automatically calculated on the insert based of that row’s data and the hash value of the previous row in the chain. Timestamps are also recorded for each row upon data insertion.

Blochchain tables allow customers to use the Oracle database when they require highly tamper-resistant data management. But do not wish to distribute a ledger across multiple organizations.

Said Juan Loaiza, executive vice president of Mission-Critical Database Technologies at Oracle. “We are not trying to solve a decentralized multi-party problem. But rather, we are releasing a new technology that integrates the idea of blockchain into an Oracle database.

“This ensures that mainstream enterprise applications only require minimal changes. We are trying to combine blockchain with all of the functionalities Oracle offers today to bring it to the masses.”

The purpose of Oracle’s blockchain tables is to prevent business-critical data from being modified or deleted. “This feature protects against those who may gain access to the database legitimately,” added Loaiza.

Oracle users aware of potential concerns using blockchain

Oracle users must be aware of some downsides when using a blockchain to store business-critical data. Organizations that store sensitive data on a blockchain could be vulnerable at the endpoints.

Said Lior Lamesh, CEO and co-founder of GK8. “Once you own an organization’s private key, all of its blockchain-based assets are in your hands.

“So, migrating a corporation’s internal database to the blockchain has its benefits. As long as its endpoints are protected with the highest cybersecurity standards.”