Historically, eras of technological progress and economic growth have been driven by a number of key technologies, known as general-purpose technologies (GPTs).

According to Bresnahan and Trajtenberg’s definition, GPTs have three fundamental features:

1. They are pervasive and are adopted by most sectors.
2. They inherently develop and improve over time.
3. They catalyze innovation in complementary technologies, resulting in the invention and production of new products or processes.

1. Pervasiveness feature of blockchain

In a world where digitization is continuously growing, a technology that allows cheap and secure transfer of digital assets seems like a fundamental building block.

Experts have identified three main use cases for blockchain technology that could be applied in most sectors:

• Execute digital payment
• Automated contracts execution
• Data ownership & management

Blockchain could be viewed as a new piece of IT infrastructure. And just as IT is pervasive nowadays, blockchain is becoming pervasive.

Though there is still a high degree of technological uncertainty, blockchain is being considered in many fields. From experimentation to commercial deployment, projects have been delivering value to a wide range of industries.

2. Development and improvement over time

Since the creation of bitcoin, the first proven public, and open blockchain, many have been advancing blockchain technology. From applications with more flexible privacy to applications improving speed and scalability, researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs have been exploring different implementations of the technology.

Developments and improvements in blockchain technology will naturally evolve according to the markets and types of transactions where it is being used.

3. Catalyst for innovation

Blockchain technology can be considered to have a general base use, and therefore offers opportunities to create, share, and store data. These opportunities are already fostering innovation in other technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things.

Today most of blockchain applications address intensive margin applications where traditional businesses are doing more of what they already do, with an increased efficiency brought by blockchain technology. This is particularly the case for blockchain application in Finance and supply chain management.

However, the real disruption behind blockchain technology remains in extensive margin applications, where new services and activities that deliver value to businesses and consumers can be executed. Bitcoin, or Filecoin which enables users to buy and sell cloud storage space through a tokenized incentive mechanism that powers the Filecoin blockchain, are examples of extensive margin applications.

Conclusion

The true power of blockchain resides in its ability to host the development of new environments, unlocking new capabilities with the use of complementary technologies and allowing new actors to reshape the market with new business models and incentives.
Based on these arguments, blockchain technology may be considered as a general-purpose technology that will generally foster progress and economic growth.

---

This article was originally posted on my personal website. I would LOOOOOVE to have your feedback on my other articles there. Please do me this honor if you have a few minutes to spare and I will find a way to give it back <3 Thanks !