![Image result for crypto](http://msmegarage.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/crypto-800x420.jpg)
The uncertainty that surrounds cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin of
late do hold some significance. Currency markets are a
rollercoaster of peaks and troughs, meaning no coin, not even the
heavily cemented big players like Bitcoin, are safe.
Theoretically, they could fade out in an instant, leaving a lot
of very disgruntled people behind. Each ‘brand’ of the blockchain,
each coin is a vulnerable idea, left to the wrath of the internet.
The blockchain itself however is seemingly yet unexplored. Whilst I
don’t need to go into specific details about how the blockchain
works, it is important to consider it as a database, a centre for
the storage of data produced by cryptocurrency transactions. It is
the blockchain that puts the ‘crypto’ in cryptocurrency, otherwise,
it would just be Pay Pal.
There are many more uses for a blockchain format of data storage
that might end up being integrated into our daily lives, insofar as
that blockchain technology is not a fixed entity, meaning it can be
re-used, adapted and reapplied to a whole host of different
services.
Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal seconds this motion,
stating that;
“They (blockchains) could bring
much-needed change to some of the world’s most critical, if unsexy,
industries. This means new ways of transferring real estate titles,
managing cargo on shipping vessels, mapping the origins of conflict
materials, guaranteeing the safety of the food we eat and more.
Using blockchain, you could prove that a particular diamond on sale
in a Milan boutique came from a particular mine in Russia.”
What Mims is saying here is that blockchain technology has the
ability to name and track products, from their birth right through
till their final purchase. Opening up a more transparent method for
managing cargo on ships for example could allow for a more
efficient trade system, literally cutting costs for nations and
consumers worldwide – in short, the possibilities are endless.
Cryptocurrency might be
vulnerable, unpredictable, but the technology that sits within its
base is here to stay. The blockchain is still in its infantile
stages, give it a few years and its applications may very well be
endless, its uses outstretch the realms of cryptocurrency, exactly
how far out of these realms can the blockchain reach? I guess, only
time will tell.
By Nathan Bentley on March 12,
2018