The potential for blockchain technology is to be able to bring about rather widespread changes that have been predicted since 2011 and with the focus being upon the emergence of Bitcoin. But it was this year when the concept really started to capture people’s attention.
There has no doubt been a rather meteoric rise in the price of Bitcoin, which is much indicative of blockchain technology – hype that has developed around encrypted and distributed ledgers in the financial sector.
Blockchain-focused financial services startups have indeed raised $240 million in ventures funding during the initial half of the year. However, its potential has begun to be recognized across other sectors as well as industries.
2018 is also likely to see a continuation of this trend of innovation and disruption.
Here are the five key ways how this is likely to take place:
1. More use outside of finance
While the implications for the financial sector might seem most apparent, any industry or organization in which recording and oversight of transactions are necessary could also benefit. Legal work which does involve the tracking transfer of the ownership, for instance, the intellectual property law, or real estate deeds which will be made more efficient through the implementation of distributed ledgers. Next year one should be able to observe to see the inroads by the innovators in the legal field thus making it a reality.
2. Blockchain and the Internet of Things
Though this sounds like a clash of the buzzwords, serious thinking is going into how these technologies could be made to work together to improve the business processes, and also one’s day-to-day life.
Bitcoin could be used for safeguarding one’s smart homes from a new generation of cyber-burglars that are looking to break in and steal the required data.
Also, cryptocurrencies that are built on blockchains would also prove ideal for the automated micro-transactions that are made between machines.
