When was the last time we booked a travel ticket or a hotel room through an agent? How many people are waiting for the newspaper to know about the real world happenings? The Web destroyed many of the old intermediaries like travel agents, newspapers, cable operators and many more. The Web created platforms which would directly connect services and goods to the consumer without the need for Intermediaries. The next wave of disruption is going to come from Blockchain. The intermediaries which essentially have a trust component are going to be affected. As the web has created new intermediaries by removing old ones, in a similar way, Blockchain will enable the creation of new platforms.
Blockchain services will follow a similar path of disruption as internet services. Firstly, the services are going to be alternate to the mainstream offerings. These alternative offerings are going to be lapped up by a minority who find value in their services. And slowly, these services become mainstream once the network effect kicks in. Most of these new platforms are formed from unbundling the existing ones.
Remember how the travel agent used to be the go to person for all ticketing purposes. Now in the new world, each internet service has a specialized service, be it air, rail, or road travel. In a similar way, banks and financial services are going to be affected by start-ups who unbundle their features into different products. Be it trade finance, remittances or payments. These services would be unbundled from the entity – the Bank and served independently.
Blockchain-based services are going to attack the trust based institutions. In the near future, we should be able to get “proof of everything” that we do. One of the key benefits of Blockchain is that data can be stored in the public domain and is secure. It can be visible only when you have access to the information. So everyone can push data on to the Blockchain with rights. At present, everything that is important is hidden in databases with few people having access to it. We need to go to these institutions/people who have access to get any proof or verification. With the advent of Blockchain, people will learn to expose data without any security fears.
Some of the possibilities on Blockchain based platforms are as follows:
Proof of Identity: Right now, identity is controlled by a government authority, financial authority, or a corporation holding your social data. In the future, you would be the owner of the identity which can be verified when required on Blockchain platforms.
Smart Contracts: Once the smart contracts come into the mainstream, there would be platforms which would provide smart contract directories online. Many of the intermediaries who are present today in the contracting world would disappear.
Units of Value: The present instrument for transfer of value has been mostly shares, other forms of value get transferred in terms of points or tokens. Although the ownership rests with the users, the rights of these are present with a third party or a corporation. Once Blockchain becomes mainstream, these services will be operated by decentralized autonomous organizations.
The disruption that technology does is always beyond imagination. When the internet was in its initial days, people thought about certain possibilities but the way it evolved and disrupted so many traditional businesses was beyond anyone’s imagination. In a similar way, Blockchain is going to evolve and disrupt many traditional businesses which are still untouched by technology. We can only prepare for and embrace disruption instead of rejecting it.