10 Things Blockchain Technology Could Change Forever
How the way we live our lives could change with the application of this exciting new technology
The cypherpunk movement used powerful encryption, which was previously under the monopoly of only government and military organizations, to envision a technology that would enable individuals to take control of their wealth like never before, completely removing the need for middlemen and other third-party involvement.
This radical thinking developed many important cryptographically-secure peer-to-peer networks, starting with the now legendary Bitcoin in 2009, and continuing the technological evolution of ideas on to the Ethereum blockchain in 2015. While Bitcoin’s true creator still remains a mystery to this day, Ethereum we know was the brainchild of a 20-year-old Russian-Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin.
Whereas Bitcoin was the more established and valuable of the two, Ethereum was based on a ‘Turing-complete’ coding language, which essentially meant complex ‘smart contracts’ could be written and deployed on its blockchain. This feature would allow autonomous computer programs to exist perpetually in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and execute irreversible, immutable code when properly interacted with.
In ordinary language, this means that blockchain promises the potential to remove overly complicated, time-consuming, costly or fraudulent human processes in a system (dubbed ‘inefficient actors’ and ‘bad actors’ respectively) and replace them with secure automated programs that prove to be more efficient and trusted than current methods.
Fast forward to 2020, where serious blockchain interest is at an all-time high, what can we really expect blockchains to do that will completely revolutionize the way we live?
10 Food and Agriculture
For consumers, labeling data can be stored on the blockchain and accessed by smartphones, while supermarkets can improve the traceability of their produce, gathering more accurate and verified data from farms and distributors. This extra layer of information will enable food to arrive fresher and faster with improved logistics.
Land could also be broken up and sold or rented in dedicated sections without difficulty, with leases and agreements validated on-chain, leading to an increase in available agricultural activities. With international interest and investment, cooperatives do not have to be owned or operated locally any longer, bridging the gap of the first and third world while bringing a fairer economical model to the lives of the people that actually grow the produce.
9 Manufacturing
The high-tech manufacturing industry has been waiting for something like blockchain for a long time. This new technology could streamline operations, give real-time insights into supply chains and track assets with extreme precision. With this greater efficiency, prices of mass-produced products would lower, while shipping products could be improved through innovations like tokenized container and air cargo space, increasing the availability of specialized goods.
The counterfeit market would be crippled by real-time authenticity systems that verify products on the blockchain. This change would increase the resell ability and prices of genuine goods and make forgeries economically non-viable.
8 The Internet
The blockchain could usher in web 3.0, a new way that we connect to people, businesses and services.
Using verified online personas, social media and dating sites could be populated by only real people, seeing an end to fake profiles and spam bots. Nefarious individuals and organizations would no longer be able to operate in the shadows, instead, they would be forced to disclose their true identities and cease their wrongdoings or be blocked access from the service entirely.
Additionally, internet services could be made more affordable and accessible through the sharing economy. File storage, bandwidth, and computation could be tokenized and sold on the open market, creating a buoyant peer-to-peer data economy.
7 Investing
Trading in stocks and shares would become a whole lot easier, faster and more transparent. In current stock markets, companies are traded in whole shares only, whereas blockchain could enable fractionizing shares into smaller fragments, allowing people to invest certain amounts rather than buy a certain number of shares.
The whole process of fundraising will also be transformed with individuals and corporate entities alike investing in shares of businesses directly without brokers or agents, and in turn, receiving a share of profits — all these calculations seamlessly executed by autonomous smart contracts. This would fuel new investment in more unusual projects that would not normally be ‘eligible’ for traditional funding, as well as allow anybody to become an early investor, not just venture capital firms and high net worth individuals.
6 Shopping
Face-to-face and internet transactions could all be done securely on the blockchain, with records and receipts accessible at any time of the day. Stores could reward shoppers with their own token or any other cryptocurrency, and returns could be handled smoother with perpetually stored proof-of-purchases.
Credit card fraud would no longer be a problem as the security level possible with cryptography eliminates most dangers inherent with current implementations. Stolen goods would also be much more difficult to dispose of, as serial numbers could be stored on-chain and available for reference by resellers and pawnbrokers.
5 Art and Collectibles
The entire way we see, appreciate, value and trade art and collectibles could be transformed with the blockchain. Each art piece could be tokenized and sold wholly or in part to individual and syndicate investors alike. Owning rare classic cars and unbelievably expensive paintings would no longer be the luxury of the very wealthy, but instead a speculative market that anyone could be involved in.
4 Games and Apps
Games will reach a next level of immersion with blockchain. Video games will be enhanced with a new type of virtual goods, items that are guaranteed unique or limited and owned by the players themselves, not the game publishers, and tradable for other goods and cryptocurrencies in community-governed marketplaces. This non-fungible tokenization will create a whole new economy of digital collectibles, the potential of this clearly demonstrated by a blockchain game called ‘Cryptokitties’, which at its peak almost brought the Ethereum network to a halt with in-game transactions (one of which incidentally sold a certain cat called Dragon for $170,000).
Esports will also take off, with players from all around the world competing for real cash and other rewards from the comfort of their homes. Casino games will be ‘proven fair’ by the blockchain, generating unique random numbers and events that cannot be pre-determined, predicted or remotely tampered with.
A new wave of dApps (decentralized apps) will empower people to earn money in a whole new economy, by offering their goods and services in online marketplaces. These goods and services can be tokenized, enabling features like proof-of-ownership which would eliminate fake listings, and escrow services for clients to release payments based on completing certain tasks or criteria.
3 Business
The way we do business together is set to transform into the blockchain age. Imagine employees getting their salaries paid daily or companies doing joint ventures where revenues are distributed based on a smart contract digitally signed by all parties.
All these things and more are possible when tokenization meets distributed computer networks. Taxes and payroll could be fully automated; smart money could be given to employees for redemption on pre-specified items or services; company expenses could be logged and reimbursed immediately; business reputation could be permanently stored online and viewed by anyone who wishes.
2 Real Estate
The advent of blockchain technology could enable a whole host of improvements in an industry that has barely changed in hundreds of years. Firstly, all deeds for properties could be digitized and stored on the blockchain. Coupled with seamless zero-knowledge identity checks, this could mean that the transfer of deeds is controlled by a smart contract and property transactions could happen almost instantaneously, instead of the months it currently takes.
Renting could be just as revolutionary, with security checks and deposits happening at the touch of a button and within minutes tenants could potentially move into their new homes. Landlords and properties could be reviewed with the statistics and comments immutably stored on the blockchain, supplying accurate and transparent unbiased information.
1 Banking and Money
More than any other entry, the monetary and banking system has the most potential to be revolutionized. The global financial crisis of 2008 sent shock waves through the world as the most trusted institutions needed to be rescued by big government bailouts, and some believe this was the catalyst that led to the inception of Bitcoin itself. It was, after all, the only message embedded into the Bitcoin codebase by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto — “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.
Decentralized finance or ‘DeFi’ is a term used to describe autonomous peer-to-peer platforms that enable users to interact with ‘smart contracts’ and do things like lend or borrow money; mint ‘stablecoins’ that are pegged to a fiat currency; seamlessly exchange cryptocurrencies; trade all types of financial derivatives. These services that were previously the privilege of banks and licensed operators, could one day be profitable financial tools for everyone to use and benefit from.
And so, with people taking full control of their financial affairs in this brave new world, where increased options for passive income become available by replacing the roles of traditional banks, a new economy could arise that benefits all instead of the few.
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