The current era of big data, Internet of Things, and blockchain technology has been an era of rapid innovation. Arguably, the field with the most innovation in the last few years is blockchain technology. We have witnessed the technology go from idea to concept with Bitcoin in 2009, and then the technology being explored in other, non-financial use cases. In this article, we will look at the current state of the blockchain space and what the future may hold for blockchain technology.
Snapshot of the Current Blockchain Space
The current trends in blockchain technology are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. Both are notable and exciting innovations in the blockchain space with a lot of potentials. In order to unlock the potential of these two and future, blockchain innovations the underlying technology (the blockchain itself) needs to be improved. This realization is leading one of the main drives in the blockchain space. Let’s take a look.
The Current Development Drive In the Blockchain Space
The race to create a blockchain solution that simultaneously addresses the 3 main problems of blockchain technology is the main focus of blockchain projects in the space. These 3 problems are the interoperability of blockchain technology, its throughput, and its scalability. These problems have not been solved simultaneously in the same blockchain project. Solving all 3 of these problems would unlock the technology’s potential and open up a multitude of new use cases.
Another key focus in the blockchain space is the multichain debate. Let’s take a look at what this debate is in more detail.
The Multichain Debate
There are quite a few blockchain projects in the blockchain space. Each project focuses on a unique use case and may focus on the same use case as another project. With all of these projects in the blockchain space, some members of the blockchain community feel that it would be beneficial to the whole community if the features of all of these blockchains could be combined into one large blockchain ecosystem. This belief has led to the multichain movement. However, not everyone in the blockchain space feels that combining all of these blockchains into one solution is a good idea and instead feel that each blockchain should coexist with all the other blockchains in the space.
The Future of Blockchain Technology
Multiple factors influence the future of blockchain technology. Factors such as:
- Whether or not the sustainability of blockchains is addressed.
- If the blockchain trilemma is solved.
- The blockchain community’s decision regarding the multichain movement.
These are some of the main factors that influence how the future of blockchain technology will look. Only time will tell what the future holds for technology. If the blockchain trilemma is solved, then blockchains will have the required functionality and capabilities for mainstream adoption and usage. This is one of the biggest concerns around blockchain technology as it will remove the majority of arguments that are not in favor of blockchain adoption, giving blockchains the required throughput and scalability for global mainstream adoption.
The sustainability of blockchains refers to whether or not blockchains will have the necessary capabilities to play a more significant role in the future and the environmental impact of blockchain technology. If the blockchain trilemma is solved, then blockchains have better throughput and are also more scalable, allowing them to be used in a plethora of new use cases, forming the backbone of a lot of the technological systems in the future. Furthermore, with the majority of blockchains shifting to a more environmentally-friendly consensus protocol, the environmental impact of blockchain technology will not be a topic of discussion in the blockchain space for much longer.
Lastly, the decision around the multichain movement could also change how the future of blockchain technology looks as it will either lead to a future where we have one large, interconnected blockchain ecosystem or a future where individual blockchain projects compete with each other in the race to own the largest market share. Of course, by promoting the multichain movement, addressing the blockchain trilemma will be a lot easier because the functionality of each blockchain could be leveraged to overcome all of blockchain technology’s current limitations and restrictions. It really depends on whether or not the members of the blockchain community can mutually agree on one outcome for the movement.
To Recap
The future of blockchain technology depends on a number of factors, mainly the sustainability of blockchains, whether or not the blockchain trilemma is solved, and the blockchain community’s decision around the multichain movement. Only time can really tell what the future holds for blockchains. However, the future is looking bright for the technology as more and more use cases are unlocked for blockchain technology on almost a daily basis. Furthermore, the current adoption rate of blockchain-based digital currencies is also a promising sign that blockchains will play a substantial role in the future.
CORE MultiChain
CORE MultiChain is a super-performant blockchain ecosystem that enables the scalability of blockchains, increases the throughput of blockchains, and enables true cross-chain communication within blockchain networks. Not only does this ecosystem address the blockchain trilemma, but it also improves user privacy on the blockchain and decreases the environmental impact of blockchains significantly thanks to its AI-enabled consensus protocol.
