Blockchain & Smart-contracts - where are we going?

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With the recent years' buzz around Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, focus finally seems to have shifted towards the real value behind the technology: Blockchain and smart-contracts.
But where are we going from here? Bitcoin still takes all the headlights, and due to the latest months' volatility, some people seem to be dissociating themselves with Bitcoin, and thereby, by default, blockchain. In the meantime, somewhat more under the radar, Ethereum and other blockchain-based technologies are working on technologies such as smart-contracts that could potentially change the way we think about trust in virtually all industries.
But how will blockchain and smart-contracts advance if the volatile cryptocurrencies, led by Bitcoin, keep stealing the headlines and removing focus from the groundbreaking technologies that blockchain could bring along? Where do we go from here? How do we reach the general public?

Stefan Geisler
79 months ago

5 answers

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Stefan:
Good question to spark a debate but the industry as a whole has another 2 to 5 years of learning curve before making a dent.
Adoption is multi-pronged topic for this emerging industry so there is no one-size-fits-all response. Here is a quick take based on having watched this industry for last 5 years, and the debate shift from Bitcoin to Blockchain adoption debate.

  • Bitcoin did its job (like TCP/IP), by gifting the world a the concept of a cryptographic protocol and a ledger. It will continue to exist as a "store of value". By the way, which Bitcoin do we want the adoption for :-) - BTC, BCC, BTG, SegWit2x? The dissociation from Bitcoin isn't evident in the inception to date transaction volume which hit a new high in October 2017, but I understand "some people are dissociating")
  • Blockchain's advance in Enterprise isn't hinged upon Bitcoin or any other crypto currency for that matter as it is already evident that for now B2B trade will rely on private, permissioned ledgers with or without tokens (mostly the latter). See Mastercard announcement from 10/25/17 (USD only), or IBM's Hyperledger Fabric based Payments System (USD only). They don't use crypto or tokens only Fiat for now
  • Regarding Blockchain's impact on B2C front - that is a much more loaded question that needs to overcome regulations, build and deploy B2C use cases (Civic (CVC) is a good one and you can see it working already), DAPPS to enable the use case (this should be easiest part as it can build upon the recent lessons from the App economy), network effects, network economy, game theory & incentivization (refer Basic Attention Token (BAT) as a good example) etc.

My 2 cents. Thanks!

Rohit Tandon
79 months ago
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imho blockchains solves somethings really well. It does not solve everything. Smart contracts may be interesting but there are a lot of dependancies before they will happen. when the dependancies are sorted at scale, then lets look at the tech to determine a viable solution. solutions looking for problems to solve lead to bubbles

Tony Fish
79 months ago
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When people disassociate "Bitcoin" from "Blockchain”, then the real value of Blockchain will soar.
Right now I see three layers and distinct areas of value creation.
The bottom layer is Blockchain. That is a shared, collaboratively verified, immutable ledger with the ability to write cryptographically presented contracts. ("smart contracts") This layer will be the Enterprise software layer that will lay the groundwork for many corporations software in the next 25 years like Enterprise Java was able to do as a foundation layer for modern enterprise software 25 years ago. There is no need for currencies or cryptos at this layer, though they may be used in some use cases.
The next layer is crypto currencies, which at the end of the day is a use case on top of Blockchain technology. With Cryptography being used to limit the total amount of something produced, value is produced by limiting supply. A limited supply create demand and hence the reason for crypto currency values. We don’t know how much gold is in the ground, but we do know the amount a “coins” a crypto currency can have in its lifetime. While Cryptocurrencies are all the rage right now, I see this as a political disruptor more than anything. Depending on how the large countries design their crypto currencies (And they will all have one in the next 5 years, except the US which is too politically divisive to enable one) and legislate their uses, this may just be another enabler. Crypto currencies will exist and proliferate, but legislation and criminal penalties will change the nature of their impact. The main change to Fiat currencies will be the fact the the total amount will be limited (mathematically) and change the entire way countries print money on demand to handle various situations.
The final layer is an application of the first two. This is the "tokenization" of payments and chaining the economics of money flow. This is an application of Blockchain technology and crypto restricted value centers. The "ICO" phenomenon is the first affect of "Blockchain and crypto tokens" being put to use. Allowing money from anywhere flow in the finance of things. Today it allows companies of dubious ability to grow by issuing tokens to be traded for future value . Tomorrow it will be the way goods and services are sold. This will mainly be a use case and economics driven change to the worldwide economy. The Blockchain technology and crypto used in a currency example are the technology "applied" to a unique use to trade for goods and services.
So I think there are three layers, Blockchain technology applications, crypto that is mathematically limited in numbers and services built around the application of these technologies.

James Barry
79 months ago
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The current dissociative trend goes beyond bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) vs block-chain.
There are now frameworks and providers solely focused on enterprise hyper-ledgers, the basis for cluster economics which, as a sideline, also trivialises API-based business models.
Terminology-wise, for the time being, block-chain still underpins “immutability”, the essence of hyper-ledgers. But immutability, especially in a quantum context, will sooner or later dissociate itself from block-chain as the cryptographic scene (including post-quantum ones) radically changes or is driven out of context.
Application-wise, a “need” to reach the general public is in my view secondary respect to how such technologies will manifest themselves, obsoleting past applications: for example, with any type of “public registries” (land registries, academic records, medical records, board minutes, accreditations, auditable records for regulated industries and insititutions, etc.) where immutability is paramount and achieved more easily, securely and unequivocally via hyper-ledgers, therefore obsoleting any other type of public data repositories.

Giovanni D
79 months ago
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The thing you need to keep in mind is you are talking apples and oranges... Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero etc. are just that.... They are digital currencies that reside on top of the blockchain and are used and traded as such whereas apps, tokens aka smart contracts are generated by a machine learning model via Ethereum and other similar machine learning environments... That said, you are attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole when comparing... This is not a pissing contest, there is no comparison to be made however the two sciences can compliment eachother in certain circumstances.

Robert "BitRebel" Tiger
79 months ago

Have some input?