What will it take for the blockchain(s) and the crypto market to achieve their potential? While there is little disagreement that we are heading into a 4th Industrial Revolution, lead by blockchain technology, what needs to happen to move things forward?
Three things stand out that need to work together, much like three legs on a stool. Until these elements were present in both the PC Revolution and the dawn of the Internet, the same chaos, "wild west" anything goes conditions were present as what we see now in the crypto market and on the blockchains.
Business Maturity
Standardization
Usable Products
Without everything from standardized programming rules to manufacturing standards, the newly spawned industries could not prosper and grow. A clear understanding and roadmap of the future including how to finance that future was the key ingredient necessary to putting personal computers in every home and business and later bringing the internet to every corner of the globe.
Blockchain companies need the same maturity. They need the same standardization, the same business experience, the same strategic partnerships. Cryptocurrency needs to have regulation to set standards on how they are traded, how security is managed, how value is determined, even an agreement on what crypto is! Institutional investors are needed as well as individual investors and without standardization and regulation we won't see that much needed group.
What do I mean by usable products? There has been much debate over the years as to whether Apple could have succeeded without PFS. Bringing a suite of office tools that ran on the Apple hardware was undeniably a huge boost to the next level for Apple. There were games, there were home applications, there was a handful of business application, but until PFS brought a spreadsheet, flat file database, and word processor to the personal computer platform, no hardware maker got traction in the wider business market.
Until a usable search engine , Google, was created and eBay, mySpace and other useful websites came along, the internet was the home of the adult industry and AOL.
The blockchain suffers from the same fate at the moment. Yes, there are some truly useful industry dApps being built and used, supply chain management, smart contract applications and the like, but for the most part, many of the apps are based on what a user can TAKE from the blockchain in some sort of coin. The dApps that will bring the coin of the realm back INTO the blockchain are few and far between.
And yet the people and industries are in great need of what the blockchain and crypto can provide. Since it is Christmas Eve let's take a quick look at how the blockchain could be used to good advantage for just one industry. This is a private company, run by a very well known, and well endowed figure. Here are the problems this industry faces
- remote locale
- enormous scale
- global delivery
- enormous database of naughty and nice
- security
And worst of all - the products must be delivered all over the world within 24 hours.
The blockchain could take care of each of these problem areas very nicely. The blockchain eliminates the middle man, and excels on security issues. This jolly corporate leader would no longer have to worry about the Elf Chaos unit taking control of the operation and wiping the database of product recipients, nor would he have to be concerned about bogus list entries.
Product sourcing and other supply chain management issues would be a thing of the past. Smart contracts and instant global transfer of cryptocurrency would make sourcing and manufacturing scheduling a breeze.
Until crypto and the blockchains build more apps of the type that will directly help improve various business niches, it will not reach widespread mainstream acceptance. Until more companies and development groups move out of the startup phase and begin acquiring the business chops needed to survive and thrive, those apps will not be developed. Until institutional investors and regulation and standardization begin to take hold in both the cryptosphere and the blockchain the financing even for maturing companies will be difficult to acquire.
All three pieces are vital to growth and acceptance and all three work together. When they do finally come together, the 4th Industrial Revolution will move society and the world forward just like the PC Revolution and the Internet. And yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause, and I think he is bringing the blockchain and the crypto market the gifts they truly need this year.