2020 is here. In the last decade, blockchain has garnered the attention of technologists, entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts, leading to experimentation and exploration. Talk about characteristics of blockchain is diminishing and discussion around use cases are soaring. Organizations are investing in blockchain development. What’s coming now is the new face of blockchain, endearingly called blockchain 2.0.
Here are some trends from the blockchain industry that are adding more trust to business processes.
1. Blockchain-as-a-service
Gartner‘s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends’ suggests that companies and start-ups should start evaluating DLT technology. Not to adopt, but at least see how the technology will disrupt their existing business processes. The Gartner report cites increase in revenue for businesses using blockchain.
Microsoft and Amazon are offering blockchain-as-a-service, enabling start-ups to experiment and build blockchain-based products. IBM Cloud, VMWare, and Oracle blockchain offer similar plug-and-play services for businesses to get started with blockchain development.
2. Adoption of stable coins will increase
Bitcoin’s value soars to unpan recedented level, but it came down drastically too. Stable coins value wouldn’t fluctuate as much as the value of Bitcoin. For this reason, stable coins like Tether will increase in adoption. Facebook will launch Libra this year too.
Stable coins will facilitate:
1. Faster remittances and cross-border payments
2. Safe from fiat-currency crashes
3. The alternative for fiat currency
4. Streamline regular recurring money transactions
Cryptocurrencies have set a foundation for trustless operations. Coupled with non-fluctuating value stable coins will take the vision of the global cashless economy forward.
3. Blockchain in social media
Social media networks like Facebook have been embroiled in security concerns, data breaches, and privacy violations. Blockchain offers strong security features, compelling entrepreneurs to build secure systems. Implementing blockchain across social networks reduces security concerns. Diaspora, Minds, Mastodon, etc are showing the way to blockchain-based social media development.
4. Federated blockchain development
Federated blockchain is similar to permissioned blockchain in that select few organizations are authorized to be part of the network. Except that instead of relying on one body to validate a block. A few numbers of organizations are involved
Federated blockchain picked pace in 2019. In the coming years, 2020 and beyond, the application of federated blockchain will increase. Financial services, supply chain management, insurance claims, and multiparty aggression will see increased adoption of federated blockchain.
5. Ricardian contracts
From smart contracts, blockchain will expand to ricardian contracts. These contracts are human-readable contracts and list the intentions of the involved parties. These are contracts as machine-readable as well, therefore make a good case for becoming a technology trend this year.
Blockchain contracts are legally binding contracts so ricardian contracts will be valid. This will be helpful to automate various business processes.
6. Interoperability across blockchain
Blockchain will be used across various spheres of the industry. Being able to communicate on different blockchain networks will make business operations more transparent and fast. Imagine being a part of one blockchain, and still being able to access data on a completely different blockchain network.
Experimentation and application of interoperable blockchain will be a trend in the years ahead.
7. Hybrid blockchains
Beyond private and public blockchains, hybrid blockchains will be gain the attention of the industry. It will utilize the best parts of the public and private blockchain. Some parties of the network will use the network as a private network, while others will use it as a public network.
Hybrid blockchains will make transactions faster as validating nodes will be a selected few authorities. This network will further maintain the confidentiality of the project (due to its private attribute) while communicating with the public. Hybrid blockchain network operates in a closed ecosystem so data remains secure on the network and reduce cyberattacks.
8. Blockchain education will increase
The increasing ubiquity of blockchain will increase demand for blockchain professionals. As companies adopt and experiment more, the need for blockchain education will rise. Universities, colleges, and employers may offer courses and short duration programs.
Lack of proven blockchain development experience will raise demand for certified blockchain professionals.
Blockchain technology has proven itself to be a revolutionary technology by offering a large trustless source of medium. It continues the legacy ¦
