Ten years ago the first blockchain was launched thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto. Now we have thousands of blockchains supporting countless tokens, coins and the recently emerged decentralised applications (dapps). It's no longer the case for speculation and guessing is this technology worth it. The blockchain is a success!
Despite its negative reputation by the mass media this tech is here to stay, and will probably change profoundly the way we interact online and offline. It is also true that 95% of the blockchains out there are absolutely useless and will fail to deliver. Leave them to the traders and speculators. We all witness the volatility and speculation surrounding the crypto space. It's one risky market. Nevertheless, the time for speculation is over.
Some really good projects are being built right now and are attracting regular users, governments, investors, businesses, corporations and institutions. As the blockchain is entering its next generation crypto is no longer just a means of value exchange and speculation. Smart contracts and dapps are providing new solutions for The Web 3.0. Now we have dapps for games, social media, security, privacy, data storage, stable coins, and many other useful applications entering the blockchain space.
One thing is for sure, the crypto revolution has already begun, and there's no turning back. As this technology gets more accessible and user-friendly, more people will use it. I doubt it will completely replace centralised services. Maybe some of them need to stay centralised. I imagine an Internet where the two don't exclude one another. We need centralisation for certain tasks and decentralisation for the free internet.
Out of the ocean of coins out there, there are only a handful of projects that are creating something new and useful. Let's take a look:
Bitcoin - As the first blockchain ever Bitcoin started it all. For the average person, Bitcoin is probably the only coin they ever heard of. Despite all its flaws, Bitcoin gave us decentralisation and financial freedom. Bitcoin is here to stay and it's not going anywhere.
Ether - if Bitcoin is the Internet gold than Ethereum is the fuel. It changed the blockchain space with its smart contracts and started the second generation of blockchains. It still has a long way to go, but I already use it on a daily basis to interact with the hundreds of dapps out there. Most of them run on the Ethereum network.
Monero - probably the best privacy coin. If you want your funds to be untraceable, Monero is your friend.
Stable coins - having a stable cryptocurrency is vital for the crypto space. If you don't like to risk and play with the market you can deposit your funds in a stable coin. Currently, most of them are centralised, but this is about to change.
STEEM/EOS/POA - these blockchains are unique with their own differences. They are fast, really low to no transaction fees. With their architecture, many new dapps emerge pushing the competition even further. You need to do your own research and choose which one is right for you.
And the list ends here. As I said only a handful of blockchains are building real-life solutions to real-life problems. Many other great project are still in development and promise new services and better user experiences. We just going to have to wait and see. I'm sure I've missed a couple of projects, feel free to share them.
