7 Making Sense of Blockchain: How Firms Can Chart a Strategic Path Forward ^Top streamlined payments, liquidity readjustments, and reconciliations based on real-time data and embedded trading rules.6 Such payment platforms can eliminate financial intermediaries like clearinghouses and money transfer firms that charge high transaction fees (especially for international transactions). The disintermediation that blockchain provides can render transactions in the insurance sector more transparent, reduce moral hazard, verify claims, and reduce transaction disputes.7 Similarly, verification of the authenticity and validity of government records, land titles, and notary services can be automated so that their accessibility is improved and their management is made vastly more efficient.8 Every transaction record on a blockchain is time-stamped. When time-stamp- ing is combined with hash functions and smart contracts that build consensus mechanisms for recording data, supply chain controls change dramatically.9 Danish shipping firm Maersk is creating a global shipping container platform.10 When a shipment container arrives at the U.S. border, the Department of Homeland Security can view the shipment’s entire history. Inspectors can see who has handled it, in what condition, at what time, and whether customs 6 Nasdaq, “Nasdaq and Citi Announce Pioneering Blockchain and Global Banking Integration,” news release, May 22, 2017, https://www.nasdaq.com/article/nasdaq-and-citi-announce-pioneering-block- chain-and-global-banking-integration-cm792544. Jordan French, “Nasdaq Exec: Exchange Is ‘All-In’ on Using Blockchain Technology,” The Street, April 23, 2018, https://www.thestreet.com/investing/nasdaq-all-in-on-blockchain-technology-14551134. 7 Suzanne Barlyn, “AIG teams with IBM to use blockchain for ‘smart’ insurance policy,” Reuters, June 14, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aig-blockchain-insurance/aig-teams-with-ibm-to-use-block- chain-for-smart-insurance-policy-idUSKBN1953CD. 8 Buck B. Endemann and Benjamin L. Tejblum, “Blockchain Energizer – Volume 21,” National Law Review, February 1, 2018, https://www.natlawreview.com/article/blockchain-energizer-volume-21. 9 KPMG and Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Supply Chain Big Data Series, part 4 (June 2017), https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/au/pdf/2017/disruptive-technologies-sup- ply-chain-future.pdf. 10 David Z. Morris, “Maersk Tests Blockchain-Based Freight Tracking,” Fortune, March 5, 2017, http:// fortune.com/2017/03/05/maersk-tests-blockchain-based-freight-tracking/.