Blockchain: The Revolution that hasn’t quite happened yet

I consider Blockchain technology to be potentially as disruptive as the internet. Many crypto pundits have likened Bitcoin’s bull run in 2017 to the Dotcom Boom and Bust at the turn of the millennia. I read recently that, in terms of adoption by numbers of users, permission less blockchains are roughly where the internet was in the late 90’s (50-70m users worldwide). To use an example, the first web page was served on the open internet as early as 1990 yet many might argue that the internet did not really fulfil its potential and achieve widespread adoption until the mid to late 2000’s.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have already proven their usefulness through cross-border collaboration. Although some might argue that blockchain is behind the internet’s timeline in terms of commercial use cases, it has already achieved comparable social functions and has caused giant brands such as Facebook, Telegram and IBM to sit up and take note. Also Mastercard has filed over 30 Blockchain related patents which is not surprising given how clearly disruptive cryptocurrencies can be to payment processors.

Some say that the killer app has not yet been developed whilst others say that Bitcoin could be widely accepted as the killer app once more people understand its values. The last Bitcoin bull run was driven around the hype of “magical internet money” during a time when everybody was issuing their own token or cryptocurrency. Demand for crypto should be consequential to the fact that that it’s a non-sovereign asset, is a digital store of value, there is a finite amount and it can be used in day-to-day transactions. The more people understand this the more they will want to take part in the revolution.

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