MEDIA Protocol And The Future Of Blockchain — Part 4
The team here at MEDIA Protocol are deeply committed to creating a more direct, transparent and secure ecosystem for content creators, publishers, and consumers through the revolutionary application of blockchain technology. In fact, it’s the very revolutionary nature of the technology that really excites us.
We’d like to share our thoughts about blockchain technology and how we see it progressing into the future, hopefully demystifying and clarifying some of the misconceptions that currently exist about blockchain and its applications. We want to help create a common understanding of the technology for everyone’s benefit.
This series of articles aims to explore developments within blockchain technology, the relationship between institutional investors and blockchain, and the move towards regulation within the space. We want to help everyone — the marketeers, the technologists, and the content consumers — understand the potential for this game-changing technology.
Strap in, and welcome to the MEDIA Protocol Future Of Blockchain Series.
Part 4 — Investing In The Future
Blockchain is paradigm-shifting. As the technology and its applications continue to develop and improve, the stage is firmly set for blockchain to disrupt hundreds of industries across all sectors. There can be little doubt that the future of blockchain technology is looking very promising.
Although institutional investment and mass adoption is still some way off, this hasn’t prevented some of the worlds biggest companies, organisations and investment firms from dipping their toes in the water and exploring blockchain’s potential for themselves.
IBM, for instance, was voted as having the strongest credentials in the blockchain sector by a market survey, and has also announced a blockchain-based collaboration with brands such as Unilever, Nestle and Walmart. Similarly, large VCs are also investing in range of blockchain companies.
Since the onset of investment in blockchain startups, circa 2012, there has been continued and exponential growth in organisations looking to back blockchain companies. Investing in blockchain-based companies is currently more attractive and lucrative for VCs and corporations as opposed to investing in actual tokens and cryptocurrencies, due to some of the risks associated with these.
However, investing in existing blockchain startups is just the tip of the iceberg. Numerous well-known multinationals, such as MasterCard, are directly investing money into developing blockchain patents and projects within their organisations.
Investments From Financial Industry Leaders
Blockchain’s potential has been recognised by Big Four firms. Deloitte and PwC in particular have both spent considerable amounts on research and reports on the use of blockchain. The Goldman Sachs Group, a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm, is listed as one of the main investors in Circle Internet Financial Ltd. The blockchain company, known for for its crypto investment app Circle Invest, recently announced a further round of investment worth $110 million, bringing its valuation close to $3 billion.
Circle is a peer-to-peer payment network, run on the blockchain, that intends to solve a fundamental problem in digital currencies: volatility. To do this they plan to develop a stable coin (a fiat-backed token) that is an improved, and faster, digital version of the U.S dollar.
The significant investment in this project demonstrates how major financial institutions are beginning to adapt to and adopt blockchain, and more importantly, what it represents to the future global economy.
Funding For Energy Blockchain-Based Projects
Reducing emissions and carbon footprints, improving green energy, and providing customers with transparent information about their energy supplies, are challenges that can also be solved through the application of blockchain technology. Tokenisation projects like WePower, GreenX and the Zero Carbon Project, that use blockchain to provide access to green projects and renewable energy, are disrupting the sector from the ground up. Large corporations are starting to invest in blockchain solutions for their own energy consumption and supply.
The blockchain startup Applied Blockchain Ltd recently landed its first funding round from Shell. This startup develops blockchain applications, focusing on distributed ledger technology and smart contracts.
In a recent statement, Shell Global Solutions International Chief Technology Officer said: “Blockchain applications have huge potential to shake up how we do things in the energy industry from the streamlining process to simplifying how we work with our suppliers and serve our customers.”
Investments In The Software And Ecommerce Environments
Improving processes and the customer experience is another major focus of investment within the blockchain space. Major organisations are investing in blockchain companies that harness the technology in order to streamline and improve digital interactions and the general user experience online.
The online retail giant Amazon has already partnered with blockchain company Kaleido to improve their customer experience.
“Introducing Kaleido to AWS customers is going to help customers move faster and not worry about managing blockchain themselves,” Amazon Web Services recently stated.
Similarly, Microsoft has announced the Azure Blockchain Workbench — a set of tools created for people who work with blockchain technology regularly. The industry leader hopes that this will allow users to develop blockchain-based dApps within days as opposed to months.
In a not too dissimilar way, MEDIA Protocol is also looking to facilitate the creation of dApps around our open source protocol. Our mission is to facilitate better content creation and distribution and make the value exchange a two-way flow directly between producer and consumer. Producers in search of a more direct and transparent relationship with consumers can work with and adapt the protocol to their advantage, developing it in whatever way suits them. There are no restrictions in its use or application.
Software development, in the shape of dApps and improved blockchain protocols, is understandably a major focus of investment. How far can blockchain technology go? Only time and investment will tell.
What is clear to see, however, is that market leaders are starting to develop their own blockchain projects or investing in blockchain-based startups. This is what the future of technology looks like and all industries should be preparing to adapt to the change.
In the next part of this series we’ll be looking at the rise of blockchain trading platforms, and what these mean for the Future Of Blockchain.
Read All Parts In Our Future Of Blockchain Series
Part 1 — What Is Blockchain?
Part 2 — What Does The Future Hold For Blockchain Technology?
Part 3 — Why Aren’t Tokens Mainstream?
Part 4 — Investing In The Future (This article above)
Part 5 — Trading Platforms (Coming Soon)
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