9APRIL 2021Mass Adoption GoalsWhat then, are some of the key points in the mass adoption of blockchain technology? According to Chuck Ng, CMO at Project Pai, it's the public faith in the value of blockchain working in tandem with increased scalability and added clarity in terms of regulation which are the three main factors pushing the need for mass adoption.A quick look at Gartner's Five-Step Hype Cycle shows how, after the hype bubbles burst, the things which emerge from that unscathed, are what lead us onto the Plateau of Productivity. Mass adoption is also a lesson best learned from the recent history of the Internet, as to what the blockchain future holds. For instance, utilizing blockchain technology to build smart cities is one of the most exciting use cases that will be mass adopted in the future. Clues from that revolution suggest that in order for the blockchain technology to be embedded into the daily lives of users, it must have interoperability, easy navigation and crucially, hyper-productivity.Related: Blockchain Innovation & The Future of Capital Markets Can Blockchain Survive the ApocalypseLet's talk about the future then. Recent developments like the Huobi, are great examples of how the tides are turning, in terms of digital currency patronage and usage. Huobi is China's main player in their effort to create a "homegrown crypto-industry." It's the first crypto firm to have an in-house Communist Party committee, and the first blockchain platform in China to be backed by the state. What do blockchain consultancies have to say about this? Matthew Graham, CEO of Sino Global Capital suggests that Huobi's tendency to mold itself to regulatory requirements might lead to a loss of trust with overseas clients. This relationship, however odd it might seem, might actually become quite a common occurrence in the near future. In fact, one of the predictions of the future of cryptocurrencies is that in ten to twenty years' time, governments are going to use the technology, attempt to control global money flow, and probably even succeed, if only for a while. And this will, ABSOLUTELY, be against the founding principles of blockchain technology. As Naval Ravikant summed up in his blockchain tweetstorm, having a blockchain be controlled by a "sovereign, a corporation, an elite, or a mob" is an idea that is utter nonsense. That's because the fundamental philosophy behind it is that every person on it, is equal in terms of access to power. Authoritarian governments might start using cryptocurrencies over which they have the sole control, in a bid to exercise holistic power over citizens, both politically and financially. Decentralization is the key to acting as a check on the often-all-powerful systems in the world.Blockchain Consensus with Industry LeadersHere's what other industry leaders feel about this import topic (listed in alphabetical order, so no playing favorites LOL).Tim Draper - Founder at Draper Associates, DFJ, Draper University & Draper Venture Network: "Bitcoin is awesome, and when Lightning Network and OpenNode deliver, it will be easy to spread through payments. In fact, OpenNode claims that their Bitcoin network will be faster than Visas. Facebook is trying something great, but it will still be centralized, and less trusted than Bitcoin, which is decentralized. I think after OpenNode, Amazon, Apple, etc., will adopt Bitcoin rather than trying to go through the regulatory nightmare that Facebook is facing. JPMorgan is reacting the way many big companies react when they see that a new technology does a better job than they do with their customers. Merchants are going to go with Bitcoin. JPMorgan gets 2 ½ to 4% every time someone swipes a credit card. Merchants will no longer have to pay them once they start using Bitcoin. JPMorgan needs to figure out what they will look like in a post-banking world"Alex Mashinsky - Founder of Celsius Network:"It's the replay of the birth of the internet, which had a three-horse race for the future of the "information superhighway" we today call the internet. The lead players were Prodigy+Sears and AOL which represented the private internet. Tech giants like IBM, tried to sell you an Intranet. The third player no one was betting on, was the "public Internet" with its clunky TCP/IP protocol. The same three horse race is happening today with governments like China issuing a digital currency on their own blockchain, the JPMorgans and Facebooks trying to convince you to run on their private Blockchain. The third, is the "public Blockchain" which is quirky and unstable running on the Blockchain protocol. We know who the winner should be, but the Banks and governments are putting a much bigger fight this time as we are talking about ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD."Miko Matsumura - Co-Founder of Evercoin, General Partner of Gumi Ventures"With Bitcoin and others, what we are seeing is open source commoditizing trusted financial infrastructure. What we know from understanding the most valuable companies in the world, is that lowering the cost of entry increases the rate and volume of innovation on top of the platform. Because these ecosystems develop network effects, large organizations unable to benefit from this innovation will be left in the dustbin of history."Roger Ver - CEO of Bitcoin.com, Bitcoin Evangelist & Angel Investor"The thing that got me so excited about Bitcoin in 2011 and the reason I thought it was revolutionary, was its potential to be permissionless money for the entire world. Being that its decentralized, means no one controls the network; transactions can't be censored, and there is no need for a third-party to process payments. If we are going to reach true mass adoption, we need for the UX to be better than existing systems, otherwise, people won't use cryptocurrencies. We have to make them more useful than Swish, Paypal, Visa, and that is what we are busy trying to do with Bitcoin.com."Related: Recap presenting at NYC Security Token Forum with Tim Draper, tZERO, Securitize, Templum, and moreThe Future of Blockchain Depends on YouSo....is the future all bleak then, with these challenges to the egalitarian nature of blockchain technology? Not quite. Decentralized cryptocurrencies are also predicted to be growing as a parallel economy, backed by certain states and kinds of people. But shared, distributed transaction tech, such as the blockchain is seen to have many competitors in the future, with AI supporting and generating these newer entrants. Ease of use will make cryptocurrency more accessible, and disruptive combinations of older systems and newer ideas will bring about the mass adoption of a blockchain technology that stays true to its fundamental self. Above all, the tomorrow of cryptocurrency and blockchain depends on the paths they choose to follow today ­ much like humans, after all. ITO
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