- The Blockchain-as-a-Service model takes care of all the additional tasks that typical African business models would struggle to accomplish.
- According to MarketsandsMarkets, the global BaaS size will grow to an estimated $11 billion by 2026.
- BaaS has similar advantages to blockchain technology with an addition of cloud-based factors.
Africa’s Web3 community has steadily grown over the years, more so after experts discovered that blockchain technology is uniquely adaptable in various industries. This discovery significantly boosts the rise of African blockchain developers and industry. Each seeks to understand and create new and improved blockchain applications. As a result, the blockchain-as-a-service model soon rose from the depths of creativity. It provides a better solution for African business models. Unfortunately, not many know of its existence and even how to implement it.
BaaS’s relatively new and somewhat complex nature has deterred many African businesses from implementing it despite its various advantages. Thus we are here to shed some light on the concept of Blockchain-as-a-service of BaaS and how the typical African Business can significantly profit from its implementation.
Understanding Blockchain-as-a-service
Blockchain technology has proven its capability to function beyond its initial application; cryptocurrency. African blockchain developers have designed and modelled various ways for the new technology to benefit other industries. Blockchain in education, structure, the health industry, voting systems and content creation are all the result of an individual seeing and testing the potential blockchain technology. Likewise Blockchain-as-a-service model is no different, in layman’s language, it is another attribute of a blockchain application that stretches beyond its conceivable boundaries.
Baas is a third-party service that enables African business models to create and manage cloud-based networks to build blockchain applications. It is a relatively new development within Africa’s web3 community and offers numerous advantages to organizations and their respective blockchain systems.
Also, Read Blockchain in business, DAO technology transforming Africa’s web3 ecosystem.
The creation of Blockchain-as-a-service came from the high demand for decentralized applications. In Africa, several organizations and institutions are flooding the ecosystem. This sudden drive is to take advantage of the country’s increasing number of blockchain developers.
With the rise of decentralized applications, the need for more sophisticated hosting services also increases. Before its implementation, most blockchain applications had to undergo several alterations to run normally on a Web2 platform. In most cases, African business models dealing with Web3 technology had to turn to organizations such as Ethereum or Polygon to host their applications.
The BaaS is based on the Software-as-a-Service model and functions similarly. It enables customers to leverage cloud-based solutions to save on cost, increase performance and ensure the security of their respective blockchain applications. Essentially it gives the African business model an alternative hosting option aside from Ethereum and Polygon.
How does the BaaS work
Like its predecessors, SaaS and PaaS, Blockchain-as-a-Serive is generally an external supplier for any African business model willing to deploy blockchain applications. It offers all the required equipment desired by Africa’s web3 community and alleviates any hustle on maintenance.
BaaS handles all the backend dynamics required by organizations. This ensures the preservation and management of crucial blockchain objects and services. In addition, Blockhain-as-a-Service also has additional cloud-based capabilities such as regulating bandwidth, allocating capacity, assessing the stage needed by a specific blockchain process and identifying the security risks.
The Blockchain-as-a-Service model takes care of all the additional tasks that typical African business models would struggle to accomplish. This allows the organizations to focus on their core activities. It paves the way for blockchain-based websites allowing users to only worry about the design and its main functionality while BaaS can handle the rest.
How can Blockchain-as-a-Service aid Africa?
It is important to note that Africa is home to one of the fastest-growing blockchain industries in the world. The main aim of Africa’s web3 community is to fully replace Web2 or the Internet with a more decentralized and superior alternative. Blockchain-based companies such as Flitterwave and Yellow Card, have revolutionized the final industry. Their application of blockchain has allowed users to acquire much-needed financial services. Remember that the current state of Africa’s blockchain industry is steadily growing without the Blockhain-as-a-Service model.
Scalable
BaaS offers a more scalable alternative for African business models. Its ability to exclusively shape startups and SMEs is thanks to the large data silos already available in Africa. In addition, it comes with a package of smart data protection and competitive advantages. With both these elements, African business models will have no concern over data reaching or system failure, mainly because the BaaS provider will handle them.
Similar to its counterparts, BaaS also saves on cost. According to MarketsandsMarkets, the global BaaS size will grow to an estimated $11 billion by 2026.
Its application also benefits already existing blockchain applications within various Industries. Instead of the wagering cost of hosting on their servers, African blockchain developers can utilize the benefits of the Cloud without any worry of system degradation or low incompatibility.
Also, Read Discover Africa’s leading country for Crypto: Which nation takes the lead?
Transparency
BaaS has similar advantages to blockchain technology with an addition of a few factors. It incorporates transparency allowing African business models and their customers to trace and view information without the worry of compromise. It also allows African business models to focus on their product rather than on where to host their product. This saves ample time for African business models to redefine and perfect their blockchain applications. In addition, it allows some level of freedom to African blockchain developers.
Customizable
Similarly, Blockhain-as-a-Service contains customizable templates. These enable blockchain developers to integrate any additional feature or update they require. This allows them to avoid rebuilding or re-structuring their blockchain applications from the ground up. This fact also aids in testing, a primary concern of Africa’s web3 community.
Despite its ability to curb fraud, blockchain applications are still hackable primarily through social engineering or human error. The latter is more common because smart contracts are immutable. Once launched no one can change it unless the entire network agrees to it. With BaaS, it allows African blockchain developers the freedom to test their applications before launching them. This ensures that every agreement and coding is up-to-date.
Existing models
Several existing organizations provide Blockchain-as-a-service models. They include:
- Ethereum Blockchain-as-a-Service on Microsoft Azure. Microsoft, together with ConsenSys, launched this project in 2015 as a way of introducing blockchain technology into Microsoft’s ecosystem. This BaaaS contains tools that allow rapid development of Smart Contract-based applications, Ether. Camp and BlockApps. The former is an integrated development environment that enables the integration of any blockchain-based extensions. The latter is a private and semi-private Ethereum blockchain environment.
- Amazon Managed Blockchain– this is a Baas launched by Amazon to enable easy management and creation of scalable blockchain networks. Since Amazon heavily integrates Web2, it employed Ethereum and Hyberledger Frabric to build its BaaS. It eliminates the overhead required to create a blockchain network and with smart contracts, enables automatic scaling to meet the demands of its blockchain applications.
- R3 is a leading organization within the Web3 community and offers numerous blockchain-based functionalities. It is a BaaS that can host several blockchain applications ensuring the user can easily navigate their ecosystem. In 2014, David E. Rutter, Todd McDonald and Jesse Edwards founded R3 with the main goal of being at the forefront of the Web3 revolution.
- Alastria – a Spanish blockchain network that offers BaaS functionalities within its ecosystem.
These are but a few of the top payers within BaaS. Each offer relatively unique and general functionalities with the main aim of capitalizing on the growth of blockchain applications.
Also, Read Africa Blockchain Institute Hosts a new program for blockchain developers.
Bottom Line
BaaS can create a level of confidence among African business models. It ensures that no data is altered and takes responsibility for the security aspect of any organization. It accomplishes this through the constant monitoring of the network. In addition, it sets up encryption keys on the network.
The application of smart contracts alleviates the need for third-party organizations allowing the African business model to fully earn their pay. Aside from these, if Africa’s web3 community were to embrace Blockchain-as-a-service, it would relieve the workload on African blockchain developers.
This would allow them the chance to focus on increasing performance and other significant factors. Unfortunately, many argue that BaaS has an element of Centralization and thus doesn’t fully realize the true goal of Web3. Despite this, its functionalities embrace an increased adoption pace in Africa, and it will aid the continent’s economy in the long run.
