Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology have slowly made their way into our daily lives. What initially started as a trustless payment method, Bitcoin, eventually ended up becoming the Internet 2.0.
It took people a while to realize that the core system of Bitcoin could be applied and used for much more. Today, the blockchain technology is used in a wide variety of applications and the adoption is just starting.
Laws and Rules
For the most part, the uncertainty around cryptocurrencies and anything related to the blockchain technology kept a lot of the big companies to enter in the crypto market. It’s now clear that in 2019 most governments around the world are taking the blockchain seriously and applying regulations and laws to it. Recently New Zealand came up with a new legislation to allow people to get paid in digital assets.
The U.S. government, arguably the toughest when it comes to cryptocurrency laws and regulations has also been working hard to facilitate cryptocurrency use and adoption. Coinbase, for example, works hand in hand with the U.S. government to ensure they are up to date with legislations and to help customers pay their taxes.
Why use the Blockchain Technology at all?
If you are new to the blockchain technology, you might be wondering if there are any real benefits from using it. A lot of people think it’s only good for speculation or making a quick buck, nothing further from the truth. The beauty of the Blockchain Technology is the possibility of eliminating third-parties from any equation. Imagine buying something online, you will have to trust that specific company to actually deliver the product, how do you know they are legit? How do you know they won’t just run away with your money? It happened many times and it will keep happening, however, using the Blockchain Technology, we can get rid of that third-party, everything could operate automatically through smart contracts.
A smart contract is in essence like a normal contract between two parties. Both parties agree on certain requirements beforehand and the buyer will send the money to the smart contract which will only release it to the seller once the requirements are met. A smart contract in theory cannot be hacked or accessed by anyone in any way.
As you can see, the blockchain technology can be a tremendous and useful tool. It can also be applied to a huge amount of businesses and applications.
Current Uses for the Blockchain
People are trying to use the blockchain technology for many things, since it is a fairly new technology, it’s not entirely clear what it can be used for. There are, however, a lot of examples about the Blockchain technology in action:
Dacsee
Dacsee is a ride-sharing platform that uses the blockchain technology to create a decentralized model that empowers members of the community to develop their own network of passengers and drivers.
Dacsee is similar to Uber and other well-known ride-sharing platforms and apps, however, Dacsee is looking to solve some of the problems that traditional apps like Uber are facing. For instance, the unsustainable business income model and the lack of loyalty privileges as well as not being able to select your preferred driver.
Dacsee is trying to improve the way users ride, drive and socialize together by providing a better income model for drivers, more features for riders and an overall better user experience. The ride-sharing business is still a relatively new business model that is rising every single day, Dacsee is looking to expand its business to China and has been aggressively promoting its service.
Hybrid Exchanges
Currently, the most used cryptocurrency exchanges are centralized, something that might seem a bit ironic or hypocritical considering that cryptocurrencies are supposed to be decentralized. There are a lot of decentralized exchanges out there, however, they lack a lot of functions that are crucial for trading, transaction speed for instance. Decentralized exchanges are slow, they offer only the basic trading orders and they lack liquidity.
A new wave of exchanges are being created which leverage the benefits of centralized exchanges while using features of a decentralized exchange. They are usually called hybrid exchanges and offer users the possibility of having decentralized deposits while benefiting from fast trading speed and a wide variety of trading tools.
Decentralized Internet in the near Future
A good amount of cryptocurrency projects are attempting to create a decentralized internet using the blockchain technology. The idea here is to create an environment where user’s data is not held by a central authority. The data would be stored on the blockchain (a distributed ledger) making it really secure.
Steemit is a prominent example of this, Steemit is a blogging platform where users can get paid for posting content in cryptocurrency. Steemit saves all the text posted on the platform in the Steemit Blockchain which means users retain ownership of their content forever since no one can delete it.
Storj is another good example of a project trying to decentralize the internet. Storj is a decentralized cloud storage meaning that data is not stored in a central database but rather on different computers around the world that make up the blockchain network. This means that your data is far more secure than centralized cloud storages, an attacker would need to somehow hack tens of thousands of computers if not more to access your data.
Decentralized Markets
The blockchain technology is revolutionizing online markets. Decentralized markets enable users to trade directly with other users without the need of a third-party and without having to trust anyone using smart contracts for the most part. Users can interact with each other, agree on previous requirements and use a smart contract to conduct the trade.
A good example of decentralized markets in action is Openbazaar which allows users to conduct peer to peer commerce online. Openbazaar does still make use of third-parties when it comes to trading problems like getting a wrong product.
Payment
Of course we couldn’t ignore the most popular application for the blockchain technology, payments. Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin created it as a form of trustless payment. There are a ton of cryptocurrencies that are being used as payment systems. 2019 seems to be a great year for cryptocurrency payments, countries like New Zealand have actually made it legal to pay employees with cryptocurrencies.
The benefits of using cryptocurrencies over traditional currencies is that you actually own your money even if it’s in your online wallet. A bank has the ability to close your account whenever they want, but no one can close your blockchain wallet, ever, no one can delete your money and no one can create more money.
Conclusion
The blockchain technology is still in its infancy but we already have hundreds of real-world applications for it. Businesses have certainly noticed the potential of the blockchain technology and are jumping rapidly into the market. Even giants like Facebook, which created its own cryptocurrency, are trying to get in the crypto market.
People already use the blockchain technology to buy and sell all sorts of objects, car leasing, healthcare services, messaging apps. You might not even know that you are making use of the blockchain technology while playing with your phone or computer.
Who knows what amazing applications we will see in the near future, it seems the limit is only our imagination.
