The Cryptocurrency Vision
If you took us back to November 2017 you would hear many claiming by the end of 2018 blockchain technology would be beginning to come into our every day way of life. Fast forward to today; August 2018, and we have a very different picture. The visions of decentralised networks for sending money, buying houses, and creating smart contracts have gone to the way side and have been left replaced with the reality of building our vision. And that is exactly what the run up to $20,000 Bitcoin was in November; a vision.
Having the vision to see the future is what makes entrepreneurs great. Even in the face of adversity and challenges and nay-sayers they keep going because they can see the bigger picture. Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as a whole will shape our future but only when the visionaries have built it.
The dramatic difference between the emerging blockchain technology and previous emerging technologies is in the ability for the technology to function without widespread adoption. Until widespread adoption is reached blockchain technology will not reach its full potential.
Gone are the days of a MVP showing how I can send money via a website to someone else’s email (Paypal.) Instead the MVP for a blockchain technology (Request Network) is showing how a network of computers hosted by independent users can send money and verify that transaction of money quickly and easily. Request Network is already banking on the massive assumption the user is already comfortable with Bitcoin been considered “money”.
The difference in vision needed to see the potential of the two is clear. The price action of the cryptocurrency markets has reflected this the past 6 months. As we have seen more interest from the outside world and more sophisticated investors enter the space there is an understanding a lot of these networks and projects will not hold value without the widespread adoption and actual use of the network that may one day occur.
So how do we get create usage without usefulness ? That’s a debate for another article but I believe the movement will be lead from those projects creating intermediary uses of their networks with existing FIAT currencies and companies focusing on onboarding to digital currency; ATMs, exchanges, merchants.
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