With the price of Bitcoin briefly surpassing $100K, all eyes are focused upon cryptocurrency. This really is nothing new since that is the use case that gets all the attention.
As stated in the past, believing that blockchain is crypto is akin to thinking email is the Internet. Nobody in their right mind would consider this. Instead, email is a component of the Internet.
Cryptocurrency (or digital assets) is the same.
Blockchain offers are great deal more than simply the ability to transfer value without a centralized entity. When it comes to utility, finance is not the largest market. We can see many others that surpass this in size and scope.
There is a reason why the market cap of Big Tech firms far outpace those of financial institutions.
For example, JPMorgan is the largest U.S. financial institution with a market cap of almost $700 billion. To contrast, there are 9 technology companies that exceed that, with the likes of Apple and NVIDIA each being 5 times the size of JPMorgan.
This ought to tell everywhere where the value resides.
The Future of Blockchain
The future of blockchain comes from its characteristics.
Cryptocurrency excelled because blockchain offers the ability to transact without a 3rd party intermediary. This means decentralized consensus.
That said, there are some features which are even more important to the future path of humanity. One is the permissionless and immutable nature of blockchain. Here is where we see a massive needs arising.
We discuss data a great deal. This is one of the most important concepts in the digital age. It appears few realize how much of human history can be zapped be a centralized entity. Large sections of information can disappear instantly.
With the path that many governments are presently on, we know deleting or censoring of information is becoming commonplace. Here is where blockchain provides the solution.
Using blockchains for immutable data is crucial. Wikileaks is a prime example of some of the information that those in power want to disappear.
Julian Assange’s monumental 2010 release of the Afghan war Logs marked a turning point in transparency, revealing classified details of US military operations during the Afghanistan War.
According to a recent report by The Block, a new initiative now aims to ensure these records remain permanently accessible by inscribing them onto the Bitcoin blockchain via Project Spartacus.
Permanent archival is crucial. Not only is it vital to expose corruption, our history is contained in the daily events that are posted online. When a corporation can wipe out decades worth of information, something that Paramount did when it shut down MTVNews, there is a problem.
Some might feel music is not critical information. There could be some validity to that view. However, is it wise to underestimate culture on the shaping of society? Music, like many arts, is am important component to human history.
If this information was stored on a blockchain, it would be permanent. People could access it decades into the future.
The situation is obviously compounded when we are focusing upon government corruption and the slaughter of large segments of a population.
Naturally, this is nothing to do with money or market activity. Just consider the amount of information that is crucial for human history that is out there. All of this can be saved using blockchain.
Instances of censorship are growing to the point of normalization. Despite ongoing litigation and more public attention, mainstream social media has been more ferocious in recent months than ever before. Podcasters know for sure what will be instantly deleted and debate among themselves over content in gray areas. Some like Brownstone have given up on YouTube in favor of Rumble, sacrificing vast audiences if only to see their content survive to see the light of day.
This is why blockchain is crucial in the digital age.
Agentic Internet
We have dove into this topic a great deal so we will only briefly touch upon it.
The future of the Internet is autonomous. We already see more than half the traffic online generated by computers. This will only accelerate.
Coinbase is already working on AI agents that are tied to crypto wallets. This is another move of computers talking to other computers.
Generative AI is a new form of computing. Like the personal computer, the real value was when computers could interact with each other. AI agents hold great promise. However, the real value will be unleashed when they can autonomously interact.
This is what many are working upon.
The danger is having these on centralized platforms. Obviously, Coinbase is no different from Google or Meta in this instance. It is a centralized platform that seeks to control all that is done.
Decentralized blockchains provide the ability to run AI agents outside a corporation. Just like crypto transactions, a company platform is not required. This can be done on blockchain, eliminating the 3rd party.
At the moment, this seems insignificant. AI agents are new. The progress is limited. Like most things with AI, it is moving rapidly.
We are looking at the end of 2025 as the turning point. By then, these will be prevalent. Once again, who is in control?
Blockchain provide the perfect answer: nobody.
Just like Wikileaks putting data on Bitcoin, we see the same with AI agents. The entities are not controlled by xAI, Coinbase, Amazon, or Tencent. Instead, they will operate independent of 3rd parties, something that is crucial.
People understand the concept that "data is the new oil". Unfortunately, their actions move in a another direction since they seem to direct the potential wealth from this "commodity" to the Big Tech.
Blockchain is the answer if people will embrace it.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Highly clarifying and insightful points, once again.
Personally, I have appreciated the following features of the blockchain so far, with many more that I haven't even got to know yet, and many more still coming and in store in the future, I think:
Really cool!!!
A lot of changes going on overall with technology and the digital realm. Blockchain is something that will see a lot of innovation.
I must confess this is one use that never crossed my mind probably because I never saw music as something that needs any form of encryption. This could perhaps be an area that could be tapped into in the future when the need arises.
That was a really good milestone, too bad Hive didn't break $5 again :(
This really is nothing new since that is the use case that gets all the attention. Hahaha, I guess it all about how it was introduced. It is a difficult one now to change the mentality of the people.
Nevertheless, crypto is not blockchain, there were times I also mistaken this, data goes beyond finance. Big tech are grabbing asmuch of this new oil as they can. Individuals too ought to learn from this.
I like this part in the poetical version of your article: