Blockchain Trends of 2021: The Talk of the Tech-Towns

Bizarre were the times when gossip led to a sharp rise of a lesser-known cryptocurrency. But that’s the blazing truth. Blockchain trends of 2021 now mar the innocence by creating heated hype on social media platforms. Once out of the hype-realm, blockchain technology has its uses all over the land, many of which impact us in our daily lives. Here we discuss the ways.

The pandemic that eclipsed the greater part of the year gone by has seeped into this year, albeit weakly. The last year has had people learn and unlearn things and adopt practices that methods never considered before. In this article, we shall narrow our gaze down to technological advancement, namely blockchain technology. 

Blockchain was invented a while back but has hogged the limelight in recent years with the soaring price and popularity of Bitcoin. As it turned out, Blockchain is the technology behind the working of cryptocurrency. 

The world is warming up to blockchain technology

Following Bitcoin’s recent elevation, touching the $50000 mark, analysts figured that the global recognition and growth of enterprise (permissioned) blockchain was indeed instrumental in causing the steep rise. Investors of the likes of Stanley Druckenmiller, Paul Tudor Jones, and Elon Musk are foreseeing some dynamic implementation of the digital currency rather than stagnating it as a store value. The cryptocurrency should be further mobilized on the blockchain to collateralize, be used as payment and other financial instruments. Here are some of the relatable blockchain trends in 2021 that are becoming noisy.

Also Read: Top 10 Cryptocurrency and Blockchain-Friendly Countries in the World

• Varied acceptance of cryptocurrency

The beginning of 2021 has seen a wave of pro-crypto campaigns whereas a host of people are getting nervous at the mention. Some nations have welcomed the swell of cryptocurrency into their financial machinery others have shunned it and some others have had stringent regulations imposed on them to result in the strangulation of its innovation capabilities. 

In another stance, forty countries have opted to experiment with digitizing their own fiat currency. Tokenizing fiat currency into stable coins will certainly increase the blockchain-distributed ledger financial transactions and boost technology adoption.

• Supply chain adhering to Environment and Social Governance (ESG) goals

Several promising use cases are evolving, those that consciously support the ESG goals. ESG criteria help investors verify whether or not a company is environmentally conscientious, socially binding, and ethically governed. Gathered data reveals, to what extent the criteria are met. Thus the reports on the reliability and trustworthiness of a company can be verified. Here the use of blockchain comes in handy to record and audit the authenticated provenance data.

• Blockchain Middleware Abstraction Layers

Enterprises are excited about blockchain technology but wary of implementing the same. To begin with, it entails a huge expense in terms of doing away with the convenience of an age-old system, installing new hardware, training the personnel, and educating the clients. All this while the technology has still a lot to prove and expertise of handling this technology rests with very few.

Several technology options are emerging and gaining traction on the market. We categorize them as ‘blockchain abstraction middleware’ solutions that shield enterprise users from the backend technical complexity of blockchain.

• Opportunity For Research

Blockchain technology is revolutionary, its utility spans a wide variety of industries. In spite of this, the knowledge and expertise of the technology rest with a mere 1% of the industry. This opens the scope for further research and training of the workforce. 

It has been emphasized that Blockchain technology holds immense potential and that harnessing its capacity can benefit industries by a heavy reduction in cost, frictionless operation, and a secure and transparent transaction network. This certainly calls for bookish research, and publishing papers leading to industry trials.

So the hope is now high.

• Banking and Finance

The pandemic has forced the skeptics into the users of technology in their palms. Online banking, online shopping, and online payment processing is the top trend of 2021 if it isn’t understating facts. 

Many, who would have otherwise stayed away from online banking have now likened it to the comfort of it. This has offered the financial institutions the opportunity to devise the novel banking system which had until now existed only in conception. The implementation of blockchain technology can assure the firms and the customers of secure transactions. Machine Learning and AI technologies may personalize the banking experience and enhance the customer experience while maximizing the gains to both.