The Future of Blockchain is Hidden in the History of Architecture

Blockchain 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and Onwards…

Published in

Free Startup Kits

6 min readFeb 12, 2018

One of the most powerful articles I’ve read on Medium is “The Future of Web Design is Hidden in the History of Architecture” by Mike Sall. This is a nod and response to that article. In a nutshell, the article by Mike Sall draws some parallels to past trends in European architecture and some of the web design trends that have erupted over the years.

Being so logical and precise is fun for only so long. Eventually we’ll just start breaking rules. In architecture that meant literally breaking apart Classic elements and twisting them into complex forms. Compared with the Renaissance intellectualism, Baroque designs were emotional and theatric. How will we do this with web design? It’s hard to say. But wait for it — it’s coming in a couple years. — Mike Sall (2015).

At the time of the writing of the article (2015), it says circa 2017, there would be a “Baroque” era of the web. I believe that this is manifesting itself in Blockchain technology. History repeats itself, so let us begin our own path down the links in architectural styles through history to the development of Blockchain technology itself.

I. Neolithic

Blockchain 1.0 (Circa 2008)

Simple, limited structures

The form was entirely meant for the function.

Blockchain 1.0 is currency.

“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.” — Bitcoin’s Whitepaper

Blockchain (the digital ledger in which transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are recorded chronologically and publicly) was the method for facilitating such a “decentralized”, third-party-less system. The blockchain was wildly popularized by the implementation of such a payment system.

It is basically a bunch on nodes on a graph where every new node needed to be accepted by the whole network. The nodes/records/blocks are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data.

The purpose was currency — the deployment of cryptocurrencies in applications related to cash such as currency transfer, remittance, and digital payment systems.

II. Classical

Blockchain 2.0 (Circa 2014)

Order and proportion, with some embellishment

Blockchain 2.0 is contracts — the whole slate of economic, market, and financial applications using the blockchain that are more extensive than simple cash transactions like stocks, bonds, futures, loans, mortgages, titles, smart property, and smart contracts.

The difference between Blockchain 1.0 and 2.0 is that the validation network that is blockchain became used to validate and record external non-Bitcoin transactions. The development of more “just” smart contracts brought a whole new level of order, embellishment, and practicality to a wide set of applications.

“Because [Bitcoin’s] contract is no more than a software program and gets executed on a stranger’s computer, it had to be made sure that the programmer cannot exploit the stranger’s computer or the whole network. To fix the problem, Ethereum came up with its native programming language — Solidity. Although the language is Turing-complete, which means any program can be written in it, there’s still a steep learning curve — and the developer community is in its infancy.”-Techcrunch

Blockchain 2.0 is marked by the emergence of smart contract alternatives to bitcoin, (namely, Ethereum). Alternative Bitcoin implementations that are basically easier to build various types tokens on top of.

People eventually realized that a system of ‘trust-less trust’ and global ownership validation can prove much more valuable than Bitcoin itself as a digital currency. When the concept of decentralization became more popular and accepted, the next use cases were financial, legal, and record-keeping industries could be totally disrupted with smart contract platforms that could be relied on.

III. Romanesque

Blockchain 3.0 (Circa 2016)

Defined forms, quality, and separation

Blockchain 3.0 is blockchain applications beyond currency, finance, and markets, particularly in the areas of government, health, science, literacy, culture, and art.

This is the emergence of the “Initial Coin Offering”, and decentralized apps (dApps). This “bubble” as some might call it, is building it’s way to disrupting industries of traditionally centralized applications.

dApp = frontend + smart contract contracts (i.e. on Ethereum)

IV. Gothic

Blockchain 4.0 (2018 and beyond)

Ornate and Mesmerizing

The landscape is this evolving and the ideas are pretty fresh, but this article summarized it great.

[…] this industrial revolution demands an increasing degree of trust and privacy protection — this is where blockchain kicks in.
[…]
Blockchain 4.0 means, making Blockchain 3.0 usable in real-life business scenarios. Satisfying Industry 4.0 demands by making blockchain promises come to life.

What can be peeled from the semantics of 4.0 are themes of enhanced governance, better performance, and more applicability for the enterprise.

Dfinity, Unibright, and Seele are startups that proclaim they will bring 4.0 to the world.

V. Renaissance

Mass Adoption and Regulation (2019/2020?)

Logical, revitalized structures

After 4.0 and mass adoption, clearly government intervention and regulation will play a large part in mainstream adoption of blockchain. Blockchain in applications, currencies, and the decentralized mindset as a whole will have a clear, simple use case, be consumable, ubiquitous and understandable by everyone. It may be globally regulated in many cases.

VI. Baroque

Twisting all the rules (???)

Once the rules are established, as we’ve seen, again, and again, innovation will rear it’s head, and the playing field will see some radical change. What will this look like? Revisit this article in 5 years!