Do Millennials Now See Blockchain To Be New Saving Grace ?
Unless you live in Plato’s cave chances are you’ve heard blockchain and Bitcoin, the two technologies now hailed as the most impactful inventions since the Internet.
(Refresher: blockchain is a peer-to-peer distributed ledger of time-stamped transactions. In other words a very lengthy chain, the links of which connect to form an open, incorruptible database. Open in this case means you and I can freely look up the chain to trace how and when a value was exchanged, but we can never alter or “hack” the blockchain. It is an immutable marriage of trust and transparency.
Blockchain’s groundbreaking terms of exchange has sparked an entrepreneurial gold rush and the digital currency craze basking in the media’s attention has entered the cultural mainstream. Investors, especially millennials are betting I mention millennials because according to Blockchain Capital 42% of them agree that most people will be using Bitcoin in the next 10 years.
“Despite the jargon-heavy conversations abound, it is clear that cryptocurrencies are not as niche as they used to be. One look at the variety of the token-based digital currencies that raise money through initial coin offerings is enough to gauge the breadth of interests blockchain technology can cater to. This expansive “coinscape” may explain why millennials are so keen to invest in blockchain. In the beginning of 2018 we will see two new companies launch ICOs, one for home sharing, (think decentralized Airbnb) and one for decentralized web services - a proposed solution to the anxiety of losing our net neutrality. The models of these projects eliminate the need for third party handling of data (and the middleman’s profit along with it). The decentralized nature of the projects paves the way to putting the power back in the hands of the people. With the blockchain home sharing platform you will not pay fees like you do for using Airbnb. With the decentralized web services there is no single authority to regulate your computing resource distribution ( how much bandwidth and/or speed you are allotted). With decentralized social media platforms you own your personal data and only you have the power to monetize (sell) it if you choose, not the platform. (Facebook and Instagram sell your data to advertisers, decentralized platforms won’t have that kind of power). The issues these blockchain projects are trying to solve for receive a telling amount of coverage on social sites from tech savvy millennials. So it does not come as a surprise to see millennials putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to these initial coin offerings later this month.
Over “one in four of millennials” would prefer to invest in bitcoin over stocks and bonds. Fair enough. Blockchain is resonating with the informed, busy skeptics that millennials are. They don’t want to put their financial well-being in the hands of the same government that gave them the 2008 financial crisis of 2008 and a great green ocean of debt from student loans. Moreover, though some are hesitant to partake to traditional investment vehicles, millennials figure they can utilize blockchain investing not only for ridiculous returns, but also to boost their sociopolitical agency.
Is investing in blockchain the new voting?
Supporting decentralized alternatives to inefficient or costly businesses is one way millennials can act out on issues that bug them, i.e. fuzzy regulation, mistrust of corporations and lack of ownership of personal data assets.
For example, let us choose a Blockchain bank over Bank of America. This choice is a form of resistance that is less like signing a petition and closer to having the power to bypass lobbying legislature to get bills signed into law. Would you pass a bill that meant you never have to pay another “overdraft fee” again? Yeah? Cool, by choosing decentralized projects you can virtually do that. Blockchain is disruptive, and now financial institutions and other corporate behemoths will need to change their ways if they wish to ride out the changes blockchain has introduced into their ecosystem.
We know that blockchain technology is still in its infancy. Much like a good Merlot, getting better as it matures. You don’t need to be a financial analyst to predict that this shift in investing preference will continue, driving up the value of tokens (the digital currencies we mentioned earlier).
“Okay, so what? “ you say, “Why should I care what millennials are doing?”
Here’s how it affects you.
When multiple innovative technologies merge to transform the economy and potentially redistribute wealth on a global scale, we speak about being in a state of convergence. Blockchain can become a key factor to making things like digital twins, IoT products and FinTech solutions more secure, efficient and interconnected, pulling us away from dated institutions and corruptible systems in place.
Whether you invest in applications built to run on blockchain and/or their respective cryptocurrencies, one thing is certain — they’re not going away. The year of 2018 is expected to bring more decentralized services, presumed to disrupt more than just investment banking. According to Gartner “blockchain has many potential applications beyond financial services, including government, healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain, content distribution, identity verification and title registry.” We could even see a peer to peer power grid in sustainable energy. Financially affected by the divergence from centralized authority, utility branches in infrastructure like transportation, energy, water and housing will adopt blockchain for the logistical benefits of the consensus algorithm at its core, enabling trustless transactions.
Lastly, blockchain is affecting how we interact with e commerce platforms. (See more on this in my previous post) Companies responding to customer requests are introducing Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment methods on their websites and in brick and mortar locations, scanning QR codes to enable real-time value exchanges. Many more have promised to add Bitcoin as a payment method in the near future.