How human-readable wallets can accelerate mainstream adoption of blockchain technology
The ongoing pandemic has had corporations digitize with lightning speed, paving way for the promised land of mainstream blockchain adoption.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Jinse.com, and has been translated into English.
Blockchain technology holds the potential to streamline and increase efficiency in businesses, enable pathways toward new business models and provide seamless transactional transparency and security. But blockchain’s mass potential has still not come to fruition. What is holding blockchain from realizing its promised potential?
Despite proven potential and promise, blockchain technology adoption remains low. According to a Garter report, only 1% of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have invested and adopted blockchain technology within their organization. Only 8% said that they were already experimenting or short-term planning with the technology. 14% are in medium or long-term planning.
The slow rate of mainstream adoption can be alluded to barriers that businesses must overcome. First, most enterprises show skepticism about blockchain’s technical vulnerabilities and individual users find it challenging to use as the technology is still in infancy.
Difficulties in blockchain’s mainstream adoption
There have been several concerns in recent years regarding the adoption of blockchain technology. For enterprises, blockchain vulnerability is one key barrier that must be tackled to increase adoption. While blockchain is secure, there are instances where blockchains have been exploited.
Many people are hesitant to adopt cryptocurrency due to its volatility. Setting prices in the crypto format is liable to volatility, dramatic up and down spikes depending on the supply, demand and trading volume. Apart from the market standing, cryptocurrency and blockchain are challenging to use for the average user.
“Blockchain technology is too hard to use. Cryptocurrency private keys and public addresses are confusing, stressful, and difficult for day-to-day use,” says Luke Stokes, Managing Director of The Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO), a decentralized usability layer for cryptocurrency transactions.
While the process of purchasing and acquiring cryptocurrency is getting easier, users still need to learn the difference between public and private keys and go through several steps to use crypto to its max potential. Blockchain works differently than a traditional database, which means that there’s a new learning curve for users.
To overcome this challenge of difficulty, companies in the blockchain industry must introduce intuitive user interfaces and expand the general public’s knowledge. For example, introducing human-readable wallets can help speed up mainstream adoption and help users understand how a decentralized system can be advantageous for them.
Speeding up mainstream adoption of blockchain through human-readable wallets
“With the introduction of a decentralized blockchain-based Identity, [spam and illicit usage] become impossible as user identity is not stored on any centralized server and manipulating the blockchain to gain the identity can be a costly operation that can be easily caught and hence preventing spam and illicit usage,” explains Sharan Nair, Chief Business Officer of CRUXPay an open-source protocol for blockchain naming service and payment.
A human-readable wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that is made up of simple characters that can be easily memorized and communicated as if an email address or a username. With the introduction of human-readable wallet addresses, challenges in using cryptocurrency and blockchain can now be reduced. Users will be able to realize the full potential of blockchain technology, whether through cryptocurrency or transactions.
“With a blockchain payment system, you cannot be censored, have your account frozen, have your value hyper-inflated, and you do not have to get permission from anyone else to control your own store of value. Cryptocurrency is secure, decentralized, self-sovereign, and always available anywhere in the world with an internet connection,” explains Stokes.
The Future of Blockchain
The mainstream adoption of blockchain can proliferate due to easy and intuitive features, such as human-readable wallets. The ongoing pandemic has had corporations digitize with lightning speed, paving way for the promised land of mainstream blockchain adoption.
“The pandemic will change how we work, how we manage our relationships, and how we spend our resources — at an unprecedented rate of change. Companies must digitize operations as a means of survival. Internet piracy poses a key challenge to digitization. Technologies such as blockchain have emerged as the preeminent solution,” says Kenny Au, Co-Founder and CEO at Elevate Ventures, a technology ventures and advisory firm.
There is still a long way ahead before blockchain and crypto can achieve widespread adoption. Luckily, the players in the blockchain space are creating innovative solutions to overcome all imaginable obstacles. The space is full of visionaries and innovators that will lead us to the promised land.
Image credit: Pixabay
Featured in the story
Luke Stokes (FIO)
Luke Stokes is the Managing Director of FIO. He is also the Managing Director for the Foundation for Interwallet Operability as well as the Interim Executive Director for the EOS Foundation.
Sharan Nair (Cruxpay)
Sharan Nair is Chief Business Officer at CoinSwitch.co and CRUXPay, an open protocol simplifying the way people use crypto by creating human-readable CRUX IDs. Prior to joining CoinSwitch.co, Sharan served as Vice President of Business Development & Marketing at Unocoin — one of India’s first cryptocurrency exchanges. He has a deep understanding of the crypto industry and played a crucial role in driving mass awareness of digital currencies in India. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing.
Kenny Au (Elevate Ventures)
Kenny Au is the founder of Elevate Ventures. Elevate Ventures is a Technology Ventures and Advisory firm.. The team at Elevate Ventures has extensive experience in fintech and blockchain sectors focused in South East Asia and China.
