In my yesterday's post titled The Blockchain and The Birthpangs of Decentralization I talked about the things that have to be put in place for the Blockchain to achieve massive adoption just like the Internet did. I also talked briefly talked about the Importance of putting the right Infrastructure in place
Today I will dwell more of the Infrastructure aspect and how it will help the Blockchain achieve fast adoption. We are currently going through the stages of Infrastructure Inversion and things are very messy at this point
Infrastructure Inversion happens when a new technology has to first make use of the Infrastructure using by the old or existing technology, the conflict that ensues births a new technology
When we hear the Blockchain, Bitcoin easily comes to mind, but it is just a tip of the iceberg. The Blockchain involves decentralized network centric platforms that can be used for currencies , payments and other trust applications
Microsoft and some other companies who adopted Bitcoin for payments at first changed their stance when there were the issue of high transaction fees. Some companies adopted Bitcoin Cash while some choose other Cryptocurrencies that could ensure faster transaction speeds
All these issues bring faced by Bitcoin have made Banks and haters poke at it tirelessly, they want to kill the idea of a decentralized economy because it stands against everything they believe in. So the current friction caused by the lack of proper Blockchain Infrastructure have given them excuses they are looking for
Just like the saying goes : History always repeats itself
The fact is that what Bitcoin or the Blockchain is currently facing is not new in the terms of Criticism, whenever a new form of technology is introduced there is a period where it is going to meet fierce resistance from people. And the lack of Infrastructure makes it seems like it will never work out
When technologies like the Telephone or Automobiles were Introduced they were misunderstood and their invetors were ridiculed. Below is the opinion the Western Union had about the telephone in 1876
This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us
When Henry Ford brought the Idea of a horseless carriage, most people laughed at him. And when he eventually succeed he was laughed at by people because of the lack of infrastructure
You see back then when Horses were the mode of transport, there were no paved roads and the way people countered this in those times was to nail Iron shoes to hoofs of Horses, any horse that was not fitted with iron shoes suffered great Injury to the hooves due to the state of the road
So when cars were Introduced it first had to make use of the current Infrastructure that was In place and that was the road cleared for horses, and cars used this roads even though there were not paved. This gave anyone using cars a bad experience because of the state of the road
The early cars were front wheel drive only this means cars could easily get stuck in the mud, this were could with the fact that there were only one gas station in town. So people whose cars got stuck in the mud were often laughed by people passing by in Horse drawn carriage
As time went on however, roads were paved and the riding experience Improved and as a plus, Horses were still able to make use of the paved road comfortable and owners of Horse carriages also got an improved riding experience
The Infrastructure Inversion also paved way for different new forms of transport vehicles like Skate boards Trams etc.
Another technology I will use to illustrate this is electricity. When electricity was Introduced many people did not see it's value. it sounds Insane that something like electricity that we use to power a lot of things in our daily lives was once looked down upon , same with the Internet
People who Installed Electricity at first in their homes were considered stupid, and just like the Negative press Bitcoin receives whenever it encounters a problem. The Newspapers magnified all mishaps that came from mishandled electric power
People's whose houses burnt down due to electric mishap were made the laughing stock of the community. They were jeered for inviting fires into their homes
When electricity was introduced the Infrastructure to support it was also not in place. People only had gas pipes in their homes used to conduct gas for gas lights, and the pipes were not fit for electrical conduction
It was over time that the Infrastructure like transformers an power stations were put in place to ensure proper conduction of electrical power
Now we are in the Genesis of the Blockchain evolution, I must also state that this is an amazing time to be alive in. The Blockchain is still in the early stages of Infrastructure Inversion.
Just like I stated above, Bitcoin is a decentralized trust platform that enables settlement of Global transactions but we are still very dependent on the old system. Cryptocurrency exchanges still have to depend on the traditional banking system to function
The speed of Cryptocurrency transactions is bing hampered by a lot of factors like slow bank confirmation time. The Blockchain is yet to birth the amazing things we know it will be able to do, and even the ones we cannot Imagine at the moment
What I am sure of is that just like the Automobile and Electrical technology birthed whole new Infrastructure in the years to come , the Blockchain will birth amazing Infrastructure that we will over time come to see as normal
In the words of Andreas Antonopoulos
First the banks will resist, then the banks will ryn their systems alongside the Blockchain and Bitcoin systems, then finally they will run all traditional banking applications on top of the decentralized trust ledger
