A new session of the Girbau LAB Innovators Club with Lucas Guasch, Blockchain expert at AlphaGrowth, AlphaNodes.io, and Ethernodes.io.
We’ve all heard of Bitcoin. But Lucas truly explains the technology that makes it possible. In his talk, he explores what a blockchain really is, how it enables new forms of trust without intermediaries, and what that means for the business world.
Delving into concepts such as smart contracts, traceability, and decentralized payment systems, he grounds his ideas and analyzes how they could be applied in industrial environments like Girbau’s.
Blockchain is directly associated with Bitcoin. Is this the most relevant use case? Why?
It depends on the context in which we analyze its relevance. If we consider Bitcoin’s use as a store of value due to its attributes as relevant, then undoubtedly, it is the most relevant use case. Bitcoin has remained faithful to the same principles since its creation, which gives it great robustness, security, and resilience for what it was designed to do: store and exchange value in a decentralized, transparent way without intermediaries.
If we consider relevant the use of blockchain for more complex and day-to-day applicable use cases (financial systems, traceability, digital identity, etc.), then Bitcoin’s blockchain is not very relevant today. Bitcoin is a slow network, processing very few transactions per minute, it doesn’t allow complex programming, and
it’s expensive to use. There are many other blockchains that offer a far more suitable environment for implementing business solutions adapted to real life. It’s like discovering the wheel (Bitcoin) and then inventing the bike, the car, or the airplane (other blockchains).
How do you envision blockchain’s impact in the business world in the coming years? Do you think its adoption will become widespread, or will it remain reserved for pioneering companies?
Interestingly, we’re already seeing a significant impact of blockchain in the business world, particularly in financial proposals when we focus on public blockchains. This is because these blockchains allow anyone to program smart contracts, upload them to the blockchain for which they were designed, and connect financial supply and demand without intermediaries! Smart contracts manage returns, loan costs, liquidations in case of insufficient collateral, etc. These implementations are still complex, as they are innovative, and we have a long way to go to see how we will use this technology in our daily lives. But we are already seeing the potential the technology can offer!
In this sense, the technology must be a means to an end. Widespread adoption will require companies willing to invest in more transparent, automated, and autonomous systems, without their clients/users even realizing they are interacting with a specific technology.
An analogous evolution would be the internet and email. Initially, the main use of the internet was exchanging plain information (emails in their most complex form). Today, we can do almost anything online: online shopping; manage real-time stock across factories; trace a product’s entire lifecycle in the supply chain…
With blockchain, we could say we know how to do more than send emails, but we are still far from solid implementations in complex business processes. There’s a long road ahead!
What are the main challenges a company, especially an industrial one like Girbau, might face when adopting blockchain in its business model?
The challenge is not the technology, but changing the “mindset.” Blockchain is not just installing new software; it’s thinking differently: sharing data, automating rules, giving processes autonomy. It requires trust, coordination, and vision.
But if we categorize the challenges, the first big one in any company, industrial or not, is understanding what this new technology offers to reflect on how it can help make the industry more efficient and transparent. This requires deep reflection: blockchain is a means and should be adapted to a specific end within the industry.
Once this initial challenge is overcome, the next question is about the value it brings to the industry and its final customer. Any airline could paint their planes with different colors and collaborate with various artists. But they are mostly white because painting them entirely adds significant weight, making them less efficient and more polluting without offering a real benefit to passengers. With blockchain, the reflection is similar: it’s communicatively attractive, but we must ask if it provides real value to our business and the end user.
The third major challenge is purely technological. Blockchain is in an early stage, and we are still learning how to implement it efficiently in companies. These are developments with considerable costs, so if implementing a blockchain solution in your industry truly makes sense and brings the expected benefit, you will need an internal adaptation period to the new technology.
In what way do you think the traceability provided by blockchain can add value to industrial companies, especially in terms of sustainability or operational efficiency?
This is a very clear use case. Industrial companies work with large, often globalized supply chains, which makes traceability and sustainability even more important. Currently, sustainability certifications are often based on a “snapshot” at a specific moment in time, and this information is hard to verify. Blockchain is very useful here, as it can provide a context where any action in the supply chain is recorded in real time, is immutable, and transparent to all involved.
This would not only improve the quality and robustness of sustainability certificates but also allow the quick identification of the specific origin of a defective product within the value chain and implement efficiencies.
Another question is whether this traceability system should be implemented by each industry/company under their own standards or if there should be a limited set of standards to facilitate implementation (like ISO vs SOC certification). We have already seen some companies implementing blockchain for supply chain traceability, and in the future, we may see private industrial standards eventually adopted by the government.
How do you think blockchain can specifically contribute to the laundry industry?
Much more than it seems. Imagine every industrial washing machine has a digital history: you know how much it’s been used, what parts have been replaced, whether it was used efficiently… This helps improve maintenance, extend its lifespan, and provide better service. And you could also reward technicians or clients who use it properly, like a smart “loyalty program.” Blockchain is not just technology; it’s a new way to organize relationships between people, machines, and data. If we also add the ability to prove greater sustainability throughout the process with immutable and verifiable data, the impact could be 360 degrees for the laundry industry.
However, it should never be forgotten that it is a technology that should serve the product or service, not the other way around. The core of a laundry industry should continue to be the washing process and the logistics around it. Technology should help improve that process.
How will we wash clothes in 2040?
With much less water and a stronger sense of community. Perhaps machines will automatically recognize the type of garment and choose the most efficient program. And maybe we will share community machines with incentives for using them during low energy consumption periods. It’s an exciting path to explore and build, where blockchain can hopefully play a role in making it better!
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