Many of the early proponents of blockchain still find themselves fending off unwarranted criticisms that the technology is worthless. While it’s indisputable that blockchain is a fascinating and innovating development that’s reshaped our marketplace over the past few years, it certainly hasn’t yet achieved the wondrous changes that many of its backers have been predicting. With 2019 just around the corner, some are beginning to muse that blockchain could soon finally be coming into its own.
Will blockchain finally make its mark in 2019? While blockchain technology is still hurtling forward at an impressive pace and will make large gains in 2019, it still has some way to go before it’s universally accepted.
Businesses are embracing blockchain
If you’re trying to determine the future of blockchain, it’s worthwhile to start by analyzing its current strengths. By far the primary engine of blockchain’s growth over the past few years has been the widespread embrace of the technology by businesses everywhere, which has proven it has long-term potential and driven impressive investment levels ever higher. There are a few reasons to believe that spending on blockchain related services will slow down anytime soon, too.
After all, some predictions are already positing that blockchain spending will reach nearly $12 billion as early as 2022. While blockchain was a relatively obscure name in the marketplace just a few years ago, it’s since developed an impressive reputation for itself that’s warranted increased investment by businesses of all shapes and sizes. Corporations and mom and pop shops alike have been probing blockchain’s potential, trying to see if it’s worthy of their time and attention in a disruptive marketplace where many innovations promise a lot but deliver little.
Perhaps the reason some are so ambitious about blockchain and how it will fare in 2019 is that the technology is so varied in its applications. Many of blockchain’s proponents argue that it can be applied to virtually any industry, with behemoths like IBM investing in it while small-time entrepreneurs exploit it to make a better living for themselves. It was recently speculated that blockchain could become an essential tool for aspiring musicians trying to sell their art to fans, for instance.
There are still plenty of reasons to be sceptical that 2019 will finally be the year that blockchain makes its huge mark on the economy. Despite the fact that spending is still ticking upwards and that some businesses are embracing blockchain, the technology is still advancing in fits and starts that haven’t yet convinced all investors of its potential.
Blockchain could be overpromising
The biggest reason that critics continue to dismiss blockchain as being overhyped is that they feel the technology is substantially overpromising and underdelivering. The market has been inundated with a myriad of arguments centred around how blockchain would soon radically transform our everyday lives, so the fact that the technology is still in its infancy has led many to dismiss predictions about its eventual dominance.
Critics aren’t the only ones arguing that blockchain could be getting eyes that are bigger than its stomach, either; even some investors and IT professionals working in blockchain services, such as payday loan lenders, are worried that they’ll burn out the energy driving this innovation forward if they overpromise to the public. When it comes to how blockchain will disrupt contemporary logistics operations, for instance, some professionals are warning that we should be cautious about buying into the revolutionary nature of this technology.
These criticisms are entirely warranted, and they won’t be disappearing anytime soon. Similarly, the fact that some investors in certain areas are increasingly interested in blockchain doesn’t mean that everyone everywhere will begin pouring money into blockchain initiatives. Exciting new technologies like cryptocurrencies are full of immense potential, but many dismiss them as being unrealistic and far too volatile to get involved with seriously. Thus, you can expect blockchain to keep sailing into fierce headwinds for the foreseeable future.
That doesn’t mean that blockchain is worthless, nor that investors and businesses will abandon investing in blockchain based services as a fruitless endeavour. When it comes to fundamentally reshaping the market and making the mark that its proponents keep expecting, however, 2019 may not yet be the year of blockchain.
