The blockchain technology, which was once considered a niche for startups, and even successful companies, has now become a winning platform in which billion-dollar enterprises are investing to develop scalable, secure products and make the big bucks. As for 2018, blockchain had an edgy, rocky road and saw a massive decline in the value of Bitcoin – which is the flagship use case (cryptocurrency) for this technology. Despite that, it’s still evolving at such a rapid pace and has immense potential to revolutionize businesses and lives.
In a nutshell, blockchain is changing the way we do business and live, not only technically but socially as well. From introducing robust security tokens to creating decentralized ecosystem platforms as well as advanced business models, it’s becoming a great deal on the horizon. Blockchain practice experts say that companies are taking several bold actions to proficiently live by the transition period and improve growth and their business’s operational efficiency. Here are the top five predictions and trends for industrial blockchain every business should watch for this year.
Trend #1: The emergence of security tokens
With the appearance of Security Tokens Offering (STO), 2019 will be the year institutional, real estate, and stock market investors can make the grand entrance into the market. To aid them in this new adventure, investors may want to tap into resources such as https://www.moneyunder30.com/roofstock-review as well as others in the same financial line, so they can see what is available to them and how that can help. These tokens are the tangible assets that have been digitally characterized or tokenized, aimed exclusively to raise capital and resources for a specific project. These security tokens give holders the authority to buy stacks and gain the rights of ownership of assets. They are entitled to have a claim on equity, profit share, and dividends. Putting STO into the place will reduce the risk of scams and also set a translucent environment between the organization and its investors.
Trend #2: Increased adoption of IoT
About 23 percent of enterprises already started investing in blockchain technology to protect their IoT-powered infrastructures and devices. Additionally, the number of IoT endpoints is forecast to reach 85.6 billion by the end of the year 2025, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). The adoption of this technology significantly focuses on identifying and eliminating the potential threats to your organization’s cybersecurity by keeping a digital record of your machine-to-machine communications and monitor those logs.
Blockchain offers distributed, encrypted ledger technology to secure transactions and improve the process of authentication while ensuring attackers and unauthorized personnel can’t bypass security. The built-in digital identity verification process, such as P2P authentication protocol, prevents DDoS attacks and tackles the major security vulnerabilities surrounding IoT devices. Apart from adding ultimate security to the endpoints and networks, blockchain will significantly simplify the tasks of managing devices located at different locations while increasing the efficiency of communications and providing more agility and flexibility for businesses.
Trend #3: An Incredible Asset Tracking Tool
The blockchain and the rise of alternative asset classes will continue to gather pace this year. With several indicators pointing towards the potential of the tokenization process and the possibility of the slump in the bond and equity market, chances are that investors will shift from cryptocurrency to digital asset classes. That means they will be using coins or tokens to denote their specific assets that previously lacked liquidity. These coins or tokens can be used to track the well-performing investments and also represent convertible assets in your traditional currencies. Though this exercise lacks wide market access, it offers excellent opportunities for businesses to get robust returns and scale their business.
Trend #4: AI and Machine learning
A smart contract is one of the integral aspects of the blockchain technology that has the potential to digitally improve the performance and authenticity of a contract. Disputes and miscommunication are two primary reasons that are accountable to reduce the operational efficiency of the business and increase the propensity for fraud. Any kind of industry, from real estate to recruitment, that implements and relies on the contract to handle various tasks and process the automated payments should use smart contracts.
Doing so will clearly define the intentions and goals of both parties involved in the agreement, offer more security and transparency between groups, and also help in reducing disputes. In this, a secure code is placed on the top of a blockchain that records each and every little detail of an agreement and creates an airtight contract. Ethererum is one of the most popular examples of a smart contract platform. Since the costs involved in building and executing smart contracts are comparatively less, users will end up saving a lot of time and efforts.
Given blockchain’s disruption of financial services and subsequent widespread application across industries, it’s difficult to find an industry segment that hasn’t been influenced by the technology. Real estate is not immune to blockchain disruption. Only transacting high-value assets such as real estate through digital channels was not the norm. However, the inclusion of smart contracts in blockchain platforms now allows assets such as real estate to be tokenized and traded in the same way that cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (learn how to Buy Bitcoin UK) and ether are. Blockchain technology can be used to eliminate intermediaries from the real estate transaction process, lowering costs. As a result, it becomes even more important for you to conduct thorough research on your own when it comes to purchasing a new property ahead of time. If you intend to purchase a new home in your neighborhood, you may already be familiar with the area. However, if that is not the case, you should investigate the cost of living and other factors that may be advantageous to you if you intend to relocate to that location. You can read blog posts like https://dreamingofdallashomes.com/north-dallas-cost-of-living/ or others on the internet to get a sense of the area before you seal the deal.
Trend #5: Blockchain as a Service
Creating a robust and productive infrastructure around the blockchain technology is relatively simpler than maintaining it. Since the trends associated with blockchain may not always be feasible, it might get difficult to create, execute, and maintain a new blockchain solution for your business. Not to mention, one might need to invest tons of resources and highest value into the development of cloud-based solutions for their blockchain system. Many tech giants, such as Amazon and IBM, have noticed the increasing popularity for blockchain implementations and started offering BaaS platforms to allow SMBs and startups to employ cloud-based solutions to build, host, and scale their blockchain-based apps. The external BaaS provider will handle all the development and maintenance work to keep your infrastructure agile and productive for a specific fee.
Bottom Line
Apart from the above-mentioned trends, there are innumerable advantages and functionalities that blockchain has to offer to its users, including:
Creation and deployment of decentralized apps
Content streaming
Hybrid blockchain Models
Scalability and UX development
The convergence of AI to access big data rapidly and securely
Looking at all these trends, you can get a fine idea that how blockchain technology is going to take on an increasingly bigger role in various industries, from FinTech and payments to security to real estate. Not only would these amazing advancements shape the future of blockchain technology but also create new business opportunities for companies all around the world.