Come together now
Distributed ledger technology has risen to mainstream awareness, posing major shifts in the way we interact. Finance, governance, media, law, journalism, gaming, and beyond, the practical applications of the blockchain are growing exponentially, spurring on much conversation and excitement.
With crypto-currencies and token events gaining widespread attention and support from regular investors and traditional finance, capital has begun moving in to the space, and recent market activity have sparked comparison between crypto and the dot com event. Like “www” and internet companies of the late 90s, crypto-currencies and companies adopting a token model represent a new market, one that is bound to experience growing pains as it matures and gains credibility. The recent volatility has provided a challenge for investors no doubt, but has also provided an opportunity to take a sober look at the market and for companies of value to establish themselves on the basis of present utility and future value.
These are early times and there is a lot of work to be done in order to bring the innovative capacity of distributed ledger technology to fruition. As in the early days of the internet, it will take time for programmers and entrepreneurs to develop the products required to establish blockchain technology as a feasible and foundational technology, and bring it to a broader base of users.
This process has certainly begun, and the landscape is swiftly changing. We want to take a moment and highlight those companies that are leading the charge:
Innovative & Open
- Digital identity: Civic — a tool for businesses and individuals to control and protect their digital identity
- Power supply blockchain/decentralized energy systems. Power supply blockchains where customers can make their own market choice versus participating in a heavily manipulated industry: Power Ledger — from their whitepaper: “We believe empowering individuals and communities to co-create their energy future will underpin the development of a power system that is resilient, low-cost, zero-carbon and owned by the people of the world.” Other companies in the power space: WePower and Restart Energy
- Supply chain traceability: WaBi — a digital token for anti-fraud safe product tracking. Similar offers include Waltonchain and Origin Trail.
- Digital ownership: Po.et — a shared, universal ledger designed to track ownership and attribution of the world’s digital creative assets.
- Journalism: Civil — bring self-governance and decentralization to the fourth estate, Civil is creating a “sustainable place for local, policy and investigative journalism while achieving a high standard for accuracy and trustworthiness.
Innovation — Cooperation — Collaboration
It is time to come together and consider the true potential of distributed ledger technology, the contributions that it is capable of making to all facets of our lives.
Beyond, what we have highlighted above, stewards of the blockchain space are emerging: companies and groups of people that we look forward to working with, innovators that we will be highlighting and documenting in coming posts.
The road to a decentralised and trustless future where people have choice and security in their personal lives, where disintermediation in commerce and governance is achieved, will require unity, teamwork and interdependence amongst many companies and technologies.
We at Hyperbridge are committed to contributing to a cohesive, creative, and cooperative environment where ideas and innovations are allowed to thrive.
Onward and upward to an interoperable future…
