The technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, AKA The Blockchain, has proven to be of incredible value for simply put, automating the record tracking of transactions and creating a self sustaining ledger that can track transactions all the way to inception.
This concept however, can be replicated not only to the transfer and storage of value but also to the transfer and storage of data. When you come to think of it, today’s data titans, namely Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple otherwise known as FANG have managed to monopolize the data storage and management industries, and like them the infrastructure of today’s technology landscape has commoditized data to the point the product that they really sell are not shiny hardware free shipping and original content but your very own data.
The blockchain offers a new alternative, the possibility of an ecosystem where people can monetize on their data instead of paying for a platform with it. Our data is valuable, and we’ve come to completely ignore the fact that every click, every tab every new interaction we have online is being monetized by these players, who in turn sell it to advertisers that won’t stop reaching out to you selling you useless stuff you don’t need.
Imagine a world in which you get CouchSurfCoin for every nice review you get as a guest, or you earn currency bonus while being a good driver on RideShareCoin. Imagine earning AppCoins for using applications new developer applications or Hardware coins for lending the computing power of your old gadgets to maintain the very blockchain that confirms all of the transactions mentioned above.
Truth is all of the above is very far fetched, but all today’s data giants are really offering in return from making bank on your privacy is an intermediary platform that charges a steep premium on purposefully faulty business models intended to exploit your continual use. What do you get in return? NOTHING.
Ultimately this movement has some great challenges ahead, the legal landscape is mined with fearful regulators and outdated infrastructure that brings about great volatility, speculators are toying around with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a whole delegitimizing the field, even quantum computing could represent a potential threat to the usability of the blockchain in its current form.