Blockchain this year was being wedged into absolutely everything and anything. So much that in the process they wanted to abandon the word itself and replace it with a phrase “Distributed Ledger Technology”. As a result, everyone calls it however they like, in hope that everyone understands what they are on about. The world was on the verge of a decentralized revolution, where there is a guarantee that the information gets recorded and, as a consequence, gain a cheap way to move digital assets.
Physical toys information about which is recorded in the blockchain is the latest demonstration of the magical meaning of the word. The project is real, launched in the UK ahead of the Christmas season. Buy it and you can receive a guarantee that this is a unique toy. Do not believe? It's a blockchain, anything can happen here. The fact that there are no technical prerequisites needed to use this technology, can be easily forgotten. Blockchain also solves the marketing functions.
Real solutions are in the real sectors. Delivery and trade on industrial scale use papers that constantly lie and cause numerous disputes, the result of which are falling revenues and mutual fines. VAKT is an example of a union between the oil companies, independent traders and banks, that will forego using papers and in doing so reduce the costs of disputes. The project is being launched right now, but the transition period will take some time. But as a result, the blockchain or the distributed registry has already caused a little revolution in an established sector.
You can combine the incompatible. For example, a mobile phone and blockchain. SIRIN Labs collected 150 million during the ICO, and as a result, they released an Android-based phone with a built-in crypto wallet. Staying within the tradition, all this has its own tokens, which are traded rather well on a stock exchange. The existence of this, in reality, is striking, as are the possible applications.
The book of records of income and expenses has come from the trade sector. And there, the blockchain really does fit in well. The WTO believes that the technology will revolutionize trade in the next decade. The current system with a multitude of disconnected counterparties will be replaced by a digital medium, where each trading operation is the result of numerous mathematical calculations, but not papers and signatures.
Everything is already operational, so it remains to be seen, how soon it will be distributed to the whole world. Today, getting a blockchain is just as easy as starting an email. Every big company is now providing the blockchain as a service. Microsoft, Oracle, SAP or the market leader IBM. Even Huawei could not pass by this and is now ready to provide its solution.
If you forget about wow-factor and soberly assess the situation, then the use of technology is not always justified. No one has suddenly canceled the normal databases, they work quickly, and most of their pitfalls have already been studied. Far from the fact that decentralization and the legendary registry in which it is impossible to retroactively change information will bring a significant reduction in costs or a dramatic increase in capitalization. Some had the courage to admit it, others did not.
One perfect example of such an industry is the art market. The number of blockchains that will guarantee the provenance of work now stands at around ten and there are more than enough of those that wish to tokenize art objects, too. There are also attempts to turn the process of decentralized life, mining, transactions, and tokens, into a work of art in its own right. The creative industry recycles the phenomenon in all the possible ways. But all this is still difficult, so expecting a revolution here in the coming few years is not worthwhile.
Elections is one of the most popular sectors, where the immutability of the data that is being sent seems necessary, while the number of participants who wish to deceive each other goes beyond any scale. Blockchain, it seems, should reassure the participants of the process, transferring the technological consensus to offline. And here, a lot of people want transparency. Platforms and solutions for various types of voting on the blockchain appeared in numbers, but judging by the reports — they are not very popular.
Increasingly, there are calls to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here are the cryptocurrencies, tokens, the financial market and the rate of bitcoin, which is being closely monitored by the whole world. But the technology is applicable to very different industries. The digital currency market may turn out to be a fake and collapse, but the blockchain, the very distribution of the registry will stand. A point of view could have the right to be if one could exist without the other. But the function of cryptocurrency is an integral part of the technology. Much like the blockchain, with its algorithms is the main element of any cryptocurrency.
The blockchain is becoming available to everyone. Network deployment, integration into existing businesses — an accessible and understandable service that was used by thousands of companies this year. Forecasts for the market volume are different, but it is obvious that we are still in the growth stage. However, this is not the most interesting. This year, only those that are lazy didn’t try to use a blockchain in their business. The next year, only the brave ones will admit how much it helped and whether it made sense to mess about with this technology.
It all started with a book where debts, receipts, and expenses were recorded. This registry, where information is stored about who owes whom and how much - the center of local and world trade. Today, this is represented by a pile of paper, which are no longer reliable and convenient, will be replaced by a computer, which, unlike a regular book, can provide a guarantee. Let's wait a few more years to see in which industry robots will begin to push the humans out. Blockchain, whatever it may be, it is more trustworthy.