Blockchain is much more than just cryptocurrency, and renewed interest in this technology can help prove its value beyond the cryptocurrency bubble. With real-world examples difficult to find, governments, organizations and those who exert the most influence must collaborate to bring blockchain out of the cryptocurrency crisis. But can technology proponents find the perfect balance and give blockchain a new life?
According to a recent article by Forbes magazine,bringing the best of blockchain may not be as easy as AI or 3D printing, which can be easily understood by most people as a powerful tool for change.
Towards a public digital infrastructure?
Many people, however, see blockchain as the next ‘completely neutral public digital infrastructure, such as the internet or email’. Rutger van Zuidam, founder of hackathon Odyssey, is one of those people. “Collaboration is the only way to overcome many of these challenges – social, organizational or environmental – and that’s where blockchain comes in,” van Zuidam says.
The use of blockchain as a stimulant of collaborative innovation and neutral infrastructure to meet global challenges shows technology in a brighter light. As Van Zuidam states, “the biggest challenges for blockchain are adoption and governance, it’s not technology.”
An IT or organizational solution?
While adoption so far has been fixed on the (supposedly) unlimited growth potential of cryptocurrencies, the growing interest in blockchain versatility suggests a bright future. “Governments and organizations understand that they don’t have this infrastructure but want to be part of it, so they can help it evolve and grow,” van Zuidam says, pointing out that “ultimately blockchain is not an IT solution, it’s an organizational solution.”
