Blockchain is the ingeniously simple technology that powers Bitcoin. But it is much more than that, too. It is a public ledger to which everyone has access, but which no single person controls. It allows for companies and individuals to collaborate with an unprecedented degree of trust and transparency. It is cryptographically secure, but fundamentally open. And soon it will be everywhere.
Marc Andreessen calls it “the big breakthrough, the distributed trust network that the Internet always needed and never had”.
According to a recent survey of 134 global market participants, over US$1B is likely to be collectively spent on bringing Blockchain technology to capital markets in 2016.
Wall Street got totally obsessed with Blockchain as Fintech startups continue to disrupt traditional banking. So what will happen in the future after most banks have adopted Blockchain?
“Banking fees are set to plunge—which might as well be the greatest legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto,” writes Howard Yu in Fortune Magazine.
In Blockchain Revolution, Don and Alex Tapscott reveal how this game-changing technology will shape the future of the world economy, dramatically improving everything from healthcare records to online voting, and from insurance claims to artists royalty payments.
Raconteur created some nice visualisations on the future of Blockchain, you can view them here in 8 charts (example chart below).
Using the law of diffusion of innovation curve, Blockchain is predicted to move past the ‘Innovators’ phase in 2016 and reach the 13,5 per cent of “early adopters” within financial services. The “tipping point”, according to Accenture, is then expected to happen in 2018 when the early majority of financial services begin to see the benefits of the early adopters and new models emerge. This growth phase is predicted by Accenture to last until 2025 when Blockchain will finally become mainstream within financial services.
Related: Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy. Melanie Swan considers the theoretical, philosophical, and societal impact of crypto currencies and Blockchain technologies.
