COSO to Release Guidance on Blockchain for Businesses Aiming to Deploy Tech

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) is planning to release guidance on blockchain for companies looking to deploy the technology.

As The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 27, COSO — an initiative to fight corporate fraud — is working on guidance on blockchain to give a better understanding of the tech for businesses that aim to integrate it into their internal processes. COSO expects to release the guidance in the first quarter of 2020.

To improve supply chains

Specifically, the guidance targets executives in financial services and businesses that use blockchain to improve their supply chains. Paul Sobel, the chairman of COSO, said that he wants “to make sure that we’ve got that properly controlled because it is a very different view of the world when you have distributed ledgers. It isn’t something that is contained in your own system.”

COSO’s guidance is geared to help companies set up internal controls and manage enterprise-wide risks. According to Sobel, the organization hopes that its frameworks will push executives and board members to start a dialogue about what their oversight responsibilities are.

Projections on blockchain adoption

A November study by Juniper Research revealed that blockchain technology, in combination with Internet of Things sensors and trackers, will greatly reduce retailers’ costs by streamlining supply chains, while simplifying regulatory compliance, offering more efficient food recalls, and tackling fraud.

That same month, news broke that measured by patent applications in the sector, China was handily outpacing other countries including the United States in blockchain technology.  At the time, the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Germany together submitted around 12,000 blockchain-related patent applications through 2018, with China accounting for over 60% of the five-country total.

A study by American market intelligence firm IDC projected that China’s spending on blockchain technology will exceed $2 billion in 2023.