Cryptocurrency & Blockchain’s Bright Future
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is not a trend or a fad. The many uses cases and applications for both are beginning to make an impact on business and society on a global scale. Since most cryptos are decentralized (not authorized by banks or financial institutions), anonymous, and fast, cryptocurrency is creating a simpler way to pay for goods and services and send and receive money in minutes’ or seconds’ time. Originally their uses were designed for the financial and payments sector, but cryptocurrencies are now being adopted by industries like e-commerce, travel and hospitality, healthcare, AI, philanthropy, education, entertainment, and more.
Futurist and author, Thomas Frey—formerly of IBM and currently of the DaVinci Institute in Colorado—recently said in a Time Magazine article ,
“Cryptocurrency is very much here to stay. Cryptocurrencies are going to displace roughly 25 percent of national currencies by 2030. They’re just much more efficient, the way they run.”
Like any nascent innovation, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency have navigated through early challenges. Like in the early dot com era, cryptocurrency’s early issues incited disparaging comments from naysayers and cynics who rebuked their value as a technology. But, as cryptocurrency is becoming more regulated and their values are dictated more by intrinsic use in society than speculation, the ones that help transform industry or solve a real-world problem will be in a position to make a global impact.
If Crypto is Robin Then Blockchain is Batman
For all the hype cryptocurrency gets, an underpinning that plays a major role in the success of digital assets is blockchain technology. All cryptocurrencies, tokens or coins, are in some way linked to or reliant on the blockchain networks they’re built atop or for—like the $PMB Token being built on the Ethereum blockchain.
Attempting not to bore you with the technologic specifics, blockchain’s immutable distributed ledger technology, smart contracts, and cryptographic security allows participants to exchange information and value in a completely decentralized manner, unable to be manipulated. A never ending secure database of agreements or encrypted bookkeeper, blockchain technology keeps companies, leaders, citizens and societies accountable for the actions they take when blockchain tech is utilized. Hand-in-hand with cryptocurrency, blockchain is branching from finance, becoming adopted by a number of industries for a variety of society-changing purposes like voting, border control, and healthcare.
Jason Lickliter, PrimeMyBody’s Director of IT, who’s been working in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry for seven years, had this to say about blockchain’s future growth.
“As we get more autonomous or we get more robotic, we’re going to see blockchain being utilized for tracking, accountability, and reliability. For example, I think one day what we’re going to end up seeing when two cars do collide, there’s going to be an automatic exchange that happens on a blockchain and you’re going to have everyone’s information instantaneously. I think we’re going to see more and more from blockchain. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it only makes sense that as bigger companies take on AI (artificial intelligence) they’re trying to look for a way to govern the exchange of information and blockchain is really the best way to do it.” says Lickliter.
A Smooth Sea Never Made a Skillful Sailor
Cryptocurrency is new. It’s exciting. And by many indications has a transformative and innovative place in society. As fans and enthusiasts of cryptocurrency jump out of their seat with giddiness about the future of crypto, or as financial experts and venture capitalists leap at the chance to debate the cynics who are dead set on cryptocurrency being a gimmick, it’s important to remember, crypto—and blockchain technology—are going to take time before being significantly adopted by mainstream society and culture.
If you’re new to cryptocurrency, or if you’ve become accustom to the landscape as a participant or spectator, patience is key. Cryptocurrency is getting its legs. It’s learning the power that lies in its wings. The leaders behind its innovative potential are starting to understand how to put its technologic value to practical use.
On the current status of the cryptocurrency industry, PrimeMyBody Director of Crypto Operations, Chris Champion, had this to say.
“I think crypto heading into 2019 is building a lot of infrastructure that is going to make it easier for big institutional money to come in. And as that happens I believe you’re going to see the crypto space surpass the trillion dollar mark in market capitalization.”
There are a few aspects outside of the technology itself that are needed for cryptocurrency to gain substantial market momentum. One is regulation. Cryptocurrencies were initially created out of a mistrust for strict government and financial institution rules and fees that governed currency or fiat use and transactions. A 2016 Facebook survey showed 92 percent of millennials—the generation soon to overtake the Baby Boomers in population next year—do not trust banks or financial institutions to handle their money. The thing is, banks and governments aren’t just going to roll over to the technological value cryptocurrency and blockchain tech possess. They’re also not dismissing them either.
We’ve entered a stage where blockchain and cryptos are now recognized by banks, investment institutions, and governments. As they begin to integrate blockchain and cryptocurrency into their operations they are working to ensure people’s security is prioritized and fraud is minimized.
“In the crypto space we need regulation to keep bad actors out and that’s what’s happening. Bad actors will come out the woodwork and take advantage of people left and right. The real projects that are using the blockchain for what it was designed for are going to benefit greatly by weeding out those bad actors. PrimeMyBody’s $PMB Token is a great example of a company with a real use token that has real leadership that will be around for a long time.”
Cryptocurrency as a whole has a long journey ahead of it, but it’s definite that the ship has made its way out of port and now sails confidently in open seas.
“I think as people are looking at crypto and this project ($PMB Token) at the end of the day you have to do your own due diligence. You have to look at the parties’ leadership and ask yourself, “is that a group of people that I can get behind?” Are they delivering on what they say? And you also have to believe in the industry, like hemp, that is involved.”