Why does Blockchain matter to our future?
Author: Moe Levin
For those following the rollercoaster ride that is cryptocurrency, you may come to the point where you ask, “Is it worth it?”
Feelings about crypto may be understandably mixed, depending on your account balance. But I can’t stress enough that there should be no such confusion about our commitment to cryptocurrency’s underlying technology, blockchain. Blockchain is the bedrock on which we should build our future and concentrate our resources.
Here’s why:
The blockchain is so much more than crypto. Blockchain 1.0 was, essentially “giving your money a brain,” as James Chmielinski of SourceCon says. Anonymity and a trustless technology via a shadow currency ushered in an alternative form of payment (altpayment) that made us rethink store of value. But Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other altcoins were just the beginning.
Blockchain 2.0 saw the expansion of the “smart contract” applied to non-crypto uses such as crowdfunding and property management. This was a huge leap forward as it opened up possibilities to use the distributed ledger for basically any kind of financial transaction. Fintech and financial services companies started getting quite interested in blockchain as a way to increase efficiencies and reduce costs associated with financial transactions.
Then came Blockchain 3.0 and the rise of the decentralized app, or Dapp, an open-source mobile or web software application that leverages blockchain technology. By piggybacking on an existing blockchain (such as Ethereum), DAapps can provide the scalability, transparency, security, and anonymity of the blockchain with reduced development time. State of the Dapps lists over 1000 different distributed applications on the Ethereum blockchain, from games to smart contract creations between healthcare patients and providers. More are developed every day.
Many go well beyond fanciful apps for “tradable virtual tulips that fight each other” (EtherTulips) and “playing rock-paper-scissors” (EthRPS) and offer more value-oriented options like personalized education (Probiquery), software security audits (AuditDog), and document notarization (Nottar).
It’s not incremental; it’s exponential. So blockchain enables improvements, great. How much of an improvement are we talking here?
“We will need to get comfortable thinking about progress regarding 10x, 50x, 100x, and 1000x increases in performance. The potential value is mind-blowing when you start to understand how it works,“ Chmielinski explains.
It’s difficult to put a dollar value on that improvement, but consulting companies are trying. Gartner predicts that by 2030, the business value added by blockchain will grow to $3.1 trillion, but I think that estimate is low once all the ancillary effects are included.
Just as the true impact of the internet is still not fully realized, the effect that blockchain technology can — and will — have on the global economy won’t be felt or accounted for, for decades, if ever.
It will impact virtually every industry. Blockchain “packs the potential to change the way we live, work, consume and interact,” writes Qin Chen for CNBC. It will affect government, healthcare, education, manufacturing, energy, and supply chain, to name just a few. In fact, I think it will be a rare industry or field that will not be impacted by the blockchain.
It’s common to compare blockchain’s disruptive powers to the Internet, with good reason. But I think a better comparison is to liken blockchain to the printing press. The printing press enabled the democratization of information and knowledge, ushering in a new economy and political system. I expect to see nothing less from the widespread change and acceptance of blockchain. Bringing information and inclusion of all kinds to the unbanked, democratizing markets, and enabling transparency at the highest level of the socio-political elite will drastically impact our world.
We’re still in early stages. In the early days of the internet, many saw the Web as a way to put static information online. Most people had no idea that it could and would spawn the rise of ancillary technologies such as mobile computing, AI, and social media. They saw it as a cool way to present their company’s offerings online with brochure sites and animated gifs.
The same is true for blockchain. As I’ve discussed above, blockchain’s potential is just being explored, with innovative applications growing daily. As more people — with and without technical backgrounds — understand the application and potential of distributed ledgers, our future will be transformed at an unprecedented rate.
Moe Levin is responsible for the first global bitcoin conference in Amsterdam and is the founder of the North American Bitcoin Conference as the CEO of Keynote — a global events company. Levin serves as an advisor and board member for a number of blockchain companies including Unsung and RSK Labs. He is also a Co-Founder of Kingsland University — School of Blockchain, the world’s first accredited blockchain training program. To find out more about how the Kingsland University — School of Blockchain. Find out more about Kingsland’s leading-edge education at KingslandUniversity.com
