Blockchain- Ever came across this term before? If not, then you’re probably missing the trending buzz of the IT world. The revolutionary technology behind the highest-valued digital currency Bitcoin is making its way ahead in different industries and domains. On the top of that, it’s ruling out other technologies too. But don’t get the wrong idea, this doesn’t mean that blockchain will replace other technologies rather it is here to strengthen those by introducing itself in the process of development.
It’s not only because of the surge in Bitcoin prices that restores the faith of people in Blockchain but the abundant number of reasons that make the technology worth spending on. According to the simplest of its explanation, a blockchain can be considered as a decentralized, immutable, set of records called blocks, which store information related to transactions in a secure manner such that it cannot be hacked, modified or tampered.
Each block in a blockchain is tamper-proof and only the miners (people validating the transactions) of the network can add or make modifications to the blockchain after successful verification and validation of information. Another amazing quality of a blockchain is that it is decentralized i.e. no single entity can control the network thus making the hackers try to their wits’ end for breaking into the network.
Talking about 2017, the year has been undeniably big for blockchain. The escalating price of Bitcoin and rise of the cryptocurrency markets made people and businesses curious for learning about the technology lying behind the whole concept. Now that blockchain has seen the spotlight, its potential is expected to rise a lot more in 2018 making it ‘the ruler’ amongst the other technologies in the markets. Here’s why-
- Increasing Implementation in Industries
According to Forrester, the number of blockchain projects would face a whopping rise in the year 2018. Wondering why? Blockchain has proved its worth in sectors ranging from healthcare to gaming to healthcare. Many new companies based on blockchain are working on these.
To name a few, there are names like patientory, firstblood etc. who’ve made a mark in the marketplace. Of course, there have been downfalls for a few too but that won’t stop new businesses and ideas from moving ahead with blockchain. Predictions state that the projects will fall into three major categories including research and development, apps for business benefits as well as long-term transformation projects.
- Benefits of Tokenization
As per the definition, “A digital token is similar to issuing a cheque in a digital form. The holder of the token has the right to claim the underlying asset. Any transferable asset such as a car, a house, a computer, or also intangible assets such as property rights and licenses, can be represented through digital tokens.” Simply stating you can say that tokens provide a new and efficient way of buying or selling physical assets.
Tokenization in a blockchain makes the process of transferring really smooth in supply chain and fiat currencies. Though blockchain technology has made the use of tokens amazingly simple and appealing for physical assets, they are able to make exceptional profits for fiat currencies as well. 2018 is expected to be a strong year in terms of discovering the power of blockchain tokenization for businesses.
- Analytics with Blockchain
The strength and potential of blockchain are being recognized in multiple industries as it proves to be more accurate, private as well as protected means of exchanging monetary value for both businesses and individuals.
For industries like finance and real estate, the introduction of blockchain can help greatly in streamlining the process of mortgage approval. Avoiding the tedious process of going through the paperwork which is time-consuming as well as error-prone, Blockchain can be used by borrowers to share the accurate income and expense metrics with lenders.
These metrics can be efficiently used to analyze and deliver insights that can prove helpful for future predictions. Moreover, improved analytics via blockchain can be achieved in the healthcare sector by collecting patient data on a blockchain and sharing it with the doctors for gathering insights about the individuals and using this data in improvising EHRs, PHMs etc.
- Rising Value of Cryptocurrency
Constant fluctuations in the crypto markets might show a hint about the volatility of the market but the value of cryptocurrency is sure to rise in 2018. Reason being the emergence and more importantly the acceptance of new cryptocurrencies like Ether, Ripple, Litecoin etc.
Crypto assets will likely be increasing their value in the days to come as we are yet in the early stages of it right now.
Moreover, the price rise in the most highly valued digital currency i.e. Bitcoin has restored the faith of people to invest and the markets. The year of 2018 is expected to see an increasing percentage of investors. According to Don Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution, “For Bitcoin to sustain its rally, scaling solutions must work in the real world and critical governance challenges must be overcome."
- Governments Seeking to Step-in
As per the predictions, the year of 2018 will be the year of accepting and appreciating blockchain as an innovative technology by the governments. The innumerable applications of this distributed ledger technology has opened doors for the global public sector as the citizens would want to closely learn about the issues and impact of the technology themselves.
Even though the cryptocurrency market is not yet regulated, it isn’t stopping the governments from exploring different use cases of blockchain for the public. For instance, governments are constantly testing this emerging technology and seeking ways to replace the current voting systems. Moreover, the system of identity management of citizens is also being worked upon because let’s admit it, who wouldn’t want to avoid carrying those papers and cards to justify their identity all the time. Similar to other important documents, blockchain-enabled birth and death certificates will enable modern models of managing one’s identity securely.
- Resilient Cryptos
In the past one year, cryptomarkets have been very volatile in nature often resulting in chaos. Heard about the China ban? A recent report stated that “On 4th September 2017 China outlawed ICO’s and issued a statement. ICO financing refers to the activity of an entity raising virtual currencies, such as bitcoin or ethereum, through illegally selling and distributing tokens.
In essence, it is a kind of non-approved illegal open fundraising behavior, suspected of illegal sale tokens, illegal securities issuance, and illegal fundraising, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other criminal activities.” This resulted as a threat to bitcoin exchanges which in turn, increased the price of Bitcoin. Similarly if by chance, someday Ethereum gets compromised, the result will be introducing more robustness and security in the system to make it resilient.
- Increased Automation with Smart Contracts
Simply defined, Smart contracts are self-executing pieces of codes that automate the business process, operations, and make enterprises productive by harnessing the power of blockchain. Smart contracts a the vital part of the overall blockchain umbrella. They govern the execution in an automated manner when the conditions of the smart contract are fulfilled.
Many applications of smart contracts have been defined and worked upon so far including industries like supply chain, healthcare, media, education etc. However, the need and acceptance of smart contracts will take time as the disputes resolved via them will take time. For instance, consider the government courts and legal and voting systems, how will the implementation of blockchain help in such a vast cases? These are the current challenges that are expected to be resolved by implementing this truly decentralized system in 2018.
- Blockchain Will Disrupt Modern Commerce
The introduction of new technologies always leads to disruption as well as challenges in the present scenarios. This is where Blockchain stands at the current time. Transforming industries with transparency, transactional trust, and security, blockchain has established itself in the list of emerging technology markets.
As per a report from Gartner, more than 2500 patents related to blockchain have been filed and its impact is predicted to raise up to 176 billion USD by 2025. These huge numbers ensure one thing for sure that blockchain is going to disrupt modern commerce by establishing a new way of making transactions. Though the technology has achieved its golden badge of fame already, the coming days will show its impact in many established and growing industries.
- Emerging Use Cases
Systems of records are being revolutionized constantly via blockchain. New imaginations are on the verge of being transformed into reality as the technology allows application of any idea to a trustworthy record. Moreover, the power of cryptography has come into the hands of individuals due to blockchain. This has resulted in increased faith of individuals as well as enterprises to discover more and more benefits and use cases of blockchain.
In 2018, industries from travel to government to media and entertainment will constantly be working to find new areas of applications of blockchain. As a system of record, blockchain resolves the issues related to digital identity, tokenization, and inter-organizational data management. Also, when it comes to applications of blockchain as a platform, it can be used for smart contracting, automated governance, streamlining of clearing and settlement, automating regulatory compliance etc.
- New platforms are on their way
Just like the email introduced us to the power of the internet, Bitcoin has made us familiar with the capabilities of blockchain. While there is no other competitor of the WWW yet, blockchain sure has new players around it. To name one, let’s consider the Ethereum platform.
The platform is growing at an extremely fast pace, changing the scenario for distributed applications based on it. But that’s not all! Other emerging platforms solving scalabilities include names like Cosmos, ICON etc. This concludes the fact that while the applications of blockchain are increasing, many new competitors are stepping in. 2018 is the year that’ll clear the smoke and offer clarity about this.