The global trade relationships are vital to trade and investment and drive economic development in emerging markets. It’s hard to imagine a better area for blockchain technology insertion than these highly complex and often opaque supply chains. Read more about interesting crypto news on StockHAX.com.
Currently, roughly 200 companies are receiving a blockchain-based supply chain audit. Many of these companies are in the food and beverage industry, but others include tech giants like Dell, pharmaceutical distributors, and construction companies.
In fact, due to its transparency and security benefits, about half of the audited firms’ management teams plan on using significant portions of their supply chains on blockchain by 2022. Undoubtedly, blockchain’s utility is spread to many different industries, but cryptocurrency’s utility is straightforward. This simple utility has the potential to be far greater than the utility of blockchain.
DECENTRALIZATION
Cryptocurrency transactions are, for all intents and purposes, instantaneous. As a result, it is a massive boon for supply chain management and trade. As one Wall Street analyst told Yahoo Finance recently, blockchain can make every transaction instantaneous by removing the ‘middle man’ of banks and payment networks. It means no more stops at some global clearing house bank to settle accounts before passing that value onto the next party in line.
It is because, with a private key, transactions are secured against tampering by any third party, especially cybercriminals. These security benefits are invaluable to companies when dealing with counterfeit goods, product serializations and thefts from the supply chain.
Blockchain’s advantages don’t stop there, however; it can also be used as a utility for international tax write-offs. In addition, paperwork and wire transfers for cross-border payments are not only costly but time-consuming. Even when a company hires a private courier like FedEx to send payment documents, they still have to wait five business days or so for the funds to clear before receiving the payment. With blockchain, this wait time can be slashed by users to mere minutes. Finally, cryptocurrency is an ideal driver of liquidity in all areas of commerce as it creates cash flow through previously impossible transactions.
CUSTOMIZATION
Efficiency is another feature that blockchain can bring to the table. As mentioned in an earlier post, each blockchain has unique features that users can customize based on the organization’s needs or the industry. The Blockchain space is still in its infancy, but many see this as a potential point of differentiation for businesses as the commoditization of all technology continues.
While blockchain will be used for various purposes in different industries, especially within business and finance, it’s essential to realize that companies will have the ability to customize their applications however they want. Many companies will seek out robust security features and more substantial options for data storage than what is offered by the general market.
FUTURE OF CRYPTO: TEN THINGS THAT GOVERN THE FUTURE
With blockchain still being such a new technology, many things go into how it evolves in the future. Unfortunately, at this point, it has been talked about for so long that it has become over-hyped and misconstrued by the mainstream media.
Many quotes in print are just vague descriptions of what they hope to see in the future. In reality, as far as cryptocurrency is concerned, only a few things will matter in the long run. Likewise, only a few things have to happen for blockchain to advance further than it currently has and become the technology change we’ve all been waiting for.
CRYPTO MUST STAY DECENTRALIZED
The first and most important factor is that cryptocurrency must stay decentralized. It is the most significant differentiation between traditional fiat money and cryptocurrency. So it goes for Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, Dash, Cardano, and all the other altcoins in circulation.
If cryptocurrencies ever move away from their decentralization principles, they will lose their competitive edge to fiat money and any potential to become a widely accepted form of currency. However, as long as they are still decentralized, then they have a chance to overtake the fiat money in circulation today.
CRYPTO MUST ENCOURAGE DEMAND
Bitcoin and other altcoins are currently just a high supply of currency in circulation with very little demand. They are trading at a fraction of their fundamental values, but this doesn’t mean that demand can’t be increased. Many believe that as governments raise taxes on fiat money, cryptocurrency will become far more appealing to investors and speculators alike as it has already proven far superior in terms of security.
Others believe that if cryptocurrencies can achieve some form of stabilization and effectively act as a daily currency, they will see an increase in supply and demand due to their efficient use throughout the economy.
CRYPTO MUST BE MORE SECURE
As mentioned, blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies can be customized in many ways. However, one of the most important areas to focus on is security. Security is a critical factor in the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, and any future innovation will have to keep security at the forefront of their thinking. Many cryptocurrencies have already done very well with this, but improvements still need to be made as we advance.
For example, Ethereum’s smart contracts platform is still susceptible to attacks from evil coders who can do in-depth research into the source code to exploit vulnerabilities that could potentially cause harm down the road.
