“Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic. — Arthur C. Clarke (Author)”
It was 2009 when Bitcoin, supposedly created by an unknown person or group of people, was released for the first time as open-source software. It took a few months before we heard about this cryptocurrency, wrapped in its halo of mystery.
The media did not help in building a good reputation for this newly launched disruptive technology, as they mainly focused on any possible criminal usage which could be done with it: money laundering, dark web purchases, drug-related businesses, whichever illegal traffic. Then suddenly Bitcoin was not alone anymore, as new cryptocurrencies were rising and growing fast.
After a few years joking about these cryptocurrencies, as if they were just a funny game for technology-addicted people, since a tremendous hype in market cap took place in the second half of 2017, media started talking seriously about the emerging cryptocurrencies world, yet providing poor information about the amazing technology behind it.
What do we know about cryptocurrencies?
According to a research made by COBINHOOD, based on a poll of 1,035 American adults and conducted on December 2017, only 56% of consumers know that a cryptocurrency is a digital decentralized currency and only 21% of those surveyed know where to buy cryptocurrencies.
If the appealing financial side of cryptocurrencies is the most promoted and popular topic, and yet only a few people have a deeper knowledge about practices, it is not a surprise that the concept of blockchain is more a “niche” area for a few experts and/or supporters.
Issues preventing blockchain from mainstream adoption
There are some major reasons limiting blockchain from becoming widespread. There is a lack of information about the amazing advantages of implementing a technology based on decentralized, immutable digital ledgers, whose application allow creating new business models, based on Peer-to-Peer trustworthy relationships, with no need of intermediaries.
Some major hackers’ frauds and the extreme volatility of the crypto market have discouraged people from investing, and, consequently, it has not been easy to build a safe and robust environment. As all new technologies in their early stage, user experience is far from being friendly.
And this far-from-being friendly experience is the main stopper for a extensive and intensive usage of the technology.
“Blockchain will never go mainstream if we keep using the word blockchain in any product-related and marketing communication. Period.”
Is it Instagram talking about its backend or amazing technology on its website? We as developers and entrepreneurs need to change our point of view, building from the user/customer to the technology. Have we already forgotten the mantra of putting our users’ needs first?
As any “traditional startup”, the lean and agile methodology still makes sense. We need to solve problems. Blockchain, or any other technology, should provide a better, faster, cheaper, more efficient (or all of them) solution to the problem that we want to solve and not the opposite.
This mysterious entity called “Wallet”…
Wallets are not yet 100% secure and, most of the time, their use is not that intuitive. Improvements are in progress at all levels to allow every user to be able to access his/her wallet easily, the same way he/she accesses any currently most popular app.
Early adopters of blockchain solutions are tech savvy, but, for this technology to go mainstream, the focus must shift to a user centric approach, as current interfaces are too complex to be used by non-tech people. Communication is still led at a really technical level, with words being too specific for people who are not familiar with this technology.
Scalability
The speed of transactions is another important limit, as it results in a double-sided problem: constraints in realizing operations and high fees. As far as the number of transactions is growing, blockchain faces a scalability challenge. There is an issue with mining operations, being both costly and highly electricity consuming. Several innovations are being led by different platforms to improve mining algorithms and make them more efficient.
Proof of Stake protocol (PoS), for example, is eventually replacing the Proof-of-Work (PoW) system for realizing faster transactions, with less energy consumption and then being also more sustainable.
“Blockchain” is not just “cryptocurrencies”
Blockchain is opening a world of opportunities that will not be strictly related to its financial aspect. The rise of smart contracts will change the way we make business, by creating a reliable ecosystem. Smart contracts help users exchange anything of value in a transparent way, not only defining the rules and penalties around an agreement, but also automatically enforcing these obligations.
In a near future, the world “blockchain” will most probably not go mainstream, but this will happen just because this technology will become of common use, without no need to know it is at the base of an application we will use.
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