The gradual transition to new technologies in our world is a process that unfolds over time, as history has shown us through the various industrial revolutions. The First Industrial Revolution, characterized by the shift from manual to machine production, took approximately 60 years to fully materialize. The Second Industrial Revolution, often referred to as the Technical Revolution, brought about mass production and required another 50 years to come to fruition.
Following these transformative periods, the Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution, spanned a span of 46 years, from 1975 to 2021. Now, we stand on the cusp of the next industrial revolution, poised to propel us into a new era of technological advancement. Each of these epochs has been defined by the introduction of groundbreaking technologies that have signaled the need for profound change.
Currently, we witness a similar phenomenon with the emergence of blockchain technology, along with other nascent technologies such as IPv6, Web3, the metaverse, and artificial intelligence (AI). While previous industrial revolutions unfolded gradually, the pace of innovation has accelerated in recent times. Informed predictions by experts suggest that the era of the new Internet may be upon us within the next decade.
The advent of the Internet and its interconnectivity with devices has revolutionized global communication, erasing borders and enabling instantaneous interaction between individuals across vast distances. Online platforms and social media have become deeply ingrained in society, evolving to the point of necessity.
Currently, there are approximately 5.18 billion Internet users, representing 64.6% of the world’s population, and this number is expected to grow steadily. This growth necessitates the scalability of the current Internet Protocol (IPv4) to provide IP addresses to every connected device. Simultaneously, this surge in connectivity leads to an exponential increase in generated data.
According to a study conducted by Statista, the volume of data created, copied, captured, and consumed is projected to reach a staggering 180 zettabytes (one zettabyte equals a trillion gigabytes) by 2025. The critical question that arises is, “How can our existing digital infrastructure process, manage, and store this overwhelming amount of data?”
This question lies at the heart of the London Blockchain Conference, an event aimed at addressing real-world data challenges and finding solutions. The conference, held from May 31 to June 2 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, is renowned as the largest enterprise and government blockchain conference series. Its primary objective is to usher in the next industrial revolution by tackling these pressing data issues.
The conference’s first day commenced with a speech by the producer of the event, Calvin Ayre, the Founder of CoinGeek Media and Ayre Group. This was followed by a keynote presentation delivered by Christen Ager-Hanssen, the CEO of nChain, a global blockchain research and development firm. Ayre succinctly outlined the role of blockchain technology in shaping the future of the Internet, while Ager-Hanssen passionately emphasized how blockchain empowers individuals to regain control over their own data.
Ayre asserts that although the advent of the Internet marked a pivotal moment in history, its evolution remains incomplete. The introduction of Internet Protocol 6 (IPv6) was essential to enable the Internet to scale and meet global demands. The widespread implementation of IPv6 had to wait for complementary technologies that would facilitate true IP-to-IP communication, a crucial aspect of transitioning from the current Web2 to Web3.
Ager-Hanssen expounded upon this notion, highlighting the inherent flaws of Web2, where individuals were unwittingly exploited by companies like Facebook and Instagram, turning users into products for profit. In contrast, Web3 represents a paradigm shift by empowering individuals and granting them control over their data, allowing for personalized monetization and a meaningful voice within society.
The pivotal technological enabler that complements IPv6 and enables the realization of Web3 and other emerging technologies is blockchain, particularly the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain, as Ayre elucidates. BSV, having restored the original design of Bitcoin and locked its protocol, possesses the unique capability to scale unbounded. This means that data blocks and throughput can be increased as needed, while transaction fees are reduced to minuscule fractions of a cent.
Currently, BSV boasts processing 4GB data blocks and achieving a throughput of over 100,000 transactions per second, with an average fee of $0.000015 per transaction and a swift completion time of two seconds. These figures represent significant advancements compared to the BTC Blockchain’s limited 2MB data blocks, seven transactions per second, and average fee of $4.43 per transaction.
BTC’s low throughput and data block size render it vulnerable to network crashes and latency, contributing to its volatile fee structure. It is abundantly clear that BTC cannot accommodate even a fraction of the predicted 180 zettabytes of data to be generated by 2025. Only a blockchain with the capacity for continuous scalability can address this impending challenge.
Lucy Hedges, the technical journalist and BBC travel specialist who served as the business stage host at the London Blockchain Conference, announced a groundbreaking achievement: BSV processed over 86 million transactions in a single day, accounting for 95.2% of all blockchain transactions during that 24-hour period.
With visionary leaders like Ayre and Ager-Hanssen actively working towards securing the future of the Internet through widespread blockchain adoption, it is plausible to assert that the Fourth Industrial Revolution may be upon us sooner than anticipated.
