Is There Still Hope for the Future of Blockchain

In as much as blockchain technology is the key principle of the future of crypto finance and non-financial application, it is, however, faced with some technical issues in adoption to our daily activities. Now unanswered questions about the authenticity of blockchain may linger as to the trade-offs and costs between the centralized and decentralized systems.

The two types of blockchain adoption include the “permissionless” and “permissioned” blockchain where the permissionless system is used in the world of cryptocurrency and the permissioned system is used by companies or enterprises or governments.

The difference is in the restriction of node networks for the permissioned blockchain unlike the public or permissionless system where anyone can mine a new block without a known network.

The economics of these systems is attached to the value impact on the ecosystem. Blockchain irrespective of the adoption challenges is still the fastest growing tech in the world. With the largest mining farm in the world located in specific regions the mining rate and its energy consumption, which is capital intensive and can not be handled by a single node.

Although these challenges are not far-fetched, there are possible solutions to overcome them with time. Therefore, a list of challenging technical issues of blockchain adoption is briefly discussed below:

Scalability, Performance & Efficiency

The transaction speed for implementing blockchain technology is low compared to thousands of transactions being made per sec in a  network. For instance, Visa payment systems record transaction time by 24,000 per second while bitcoin 7-10 per second  The inability to serve users at the same period causes hindrance to the system’s adoption around all networks.

The Scalability Trilemma coined by Vitalik Buterin explains the impossibility of having both three features in a network which are scalability, security, and decentralization. Either scalability is traded off with security and decentralization or get decentralization and forgo scalability and security. Efficiency and performance are also the measures of work done or energy consumed in building a block. The process however helps to validate native currencies in the node.

Possible solutions are innovated through the use of Lightning Network and plasma for a faster transaction for Ethereum technology, which lowers the cost. In general for scalability to be adopted the use of Layer 1 & 2 chain method is applied effectively. It involves side-chains, segwit, sharding, and payment channels. All of which are auditable databases, also other consensus protocols in blockchain can help solve the scalability issue by reducing the time of the transaction for the network.

Privacy and Security

For some people who prefer their pseudonymous addresses to remain hidden, it triggers some malicious act which could be a challenge in the system, or in situations where a private key is lost or hacked, replacement of keys seem to cause financial issues, systemic risk and difficulty replacing it might be capital intensive.

Contradictory to this the government or law enforcement wants full transparency in transaction processes but in crypto finance where there is an agitation for less public transparency, there is a bridge to adoption.

In crypto finance or blockchain technology, a coin by right can be made private (native currency) to reduce illicit activities making it scarce and unavailable. A trusted body helps secure the private information of a client in a healthcare system, which data is kept in a public ledger and can not be completely private. However, self-private identities in the blockchain health network can help manage information.

A possible solution to this is the Zero-knowledge proof, i.e. to prove that a statement is true without revealing if the information is all true or not. The Pederson commitment which is also a cryptographic primitive can commit to hash with other functions.

Interoperability

It is simply a way of connecting blockchain technology or native currency to fiat currency. Some micro-payments done in enterprises find it hard to adopt the blockchain ledger system for payment. This is a long-lingered challenge in the ecosystem, also some coins cannot be fungible or exchanged for a lower coin in the crypto exchange.

Interoperability is a general problem in the world of finance. The banking sector also experiences this challenging exchange rate from one local currency to a consensual currency. The Central bank, however, stands as an intermediary to convert these currencies to another and the cost of exchange or rent is high.

Possible solutions to this challenge of blockchain might be to adopt the decentralized mechanism of sidechain or layer O to transfer these data amongst different networks. This is the most challenging of all in the ecosystem of blockchain.

Governance and Collective Action

In blockchain technology where there is the difficulty of consensus to an open source software update that is not compatible with the older version or a process where an older block cannot validate a new block, it causes a problem leading to a Hard fork. For example the Ethereum fork into the Ethereum classic with the hard fork becoming consistent in adding blocks.

Also, collective action is difficult to carry along a group of persons to agree to a particular technology, This adaptation requires collective validation before being used or implemented. The financial sector favors more of the permissioned blockchain over the permissionless system.

A possible solution to this challenge requires time in the future with an optimistic adaptation of the inherent technology in 10-20 years or more with time.

Crypto Public Policy Challenges

Guarding against illicit activities

Illicit activities which may involve terrorism, fraudulent activities, and drug dealing all are malicious acts in which the public policy involves itself through a regulatory body to control and limit its impact in crypto finance.

For some pseudonymous addresses, crypto-to-crypto exchanges, states acting upon competition through the rigging of elections, and decentralized exchanges like the bitcoin dark market operations all of which can be guarded by the policy.

Tax compliance is a major way to guard these activities because in an exchange setting payment is to be made as tax in any medium of transaction for record purposes, also, the Bank Secrecy Act which is a regulatory network that adopts the KYC medium of identifying an investor or consumer to reduce the risk of money laundering when a huge amount of money is used for transactions. The specific range of amounts is set by default and it triggers the law to act upon when there is no compliance.

Financial Instability

The use of a stability board in regulating the capital market. With countries like the US and Japan as a capital control to moderate the inflow and outflow of money within the system.  Mining activities are a major way to avoid this regulation and capital control measure, and so money is converted from Renminbi -Electricity-Bitcoin-Dollar to reduce cost.

For many countries the adaptation of crypto leverage, and blockchain technology with the use of the Central Bank Digital Currency in the state. This helps to control the capital inflation rate within the region.

Protecting Investors

This centers on the issuance of information about the person raising money that the purchaser does not seem to be aware of. Exchanges validate transparency thereby, promoting economic growth and development.

The investor protection gets clearer and authenticated disclosure fraud and deception activities are prohibited and pricing transparency is encouraged. Lowering the risk of issuers and cost of capital.

Public policy development can be achieved using clear information, given out for public agreement or collision before proper analysis can be implemented.

Is There Hope for the Future of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology is a predominant factor in the world with the origination of cryptocurrency (bitcoin). Networks adapt their cryptographic structures around this framework and have advanced with the inherent technology in solidifying its existence.

There are many native cryptocurrencies in the market with thousands emerging in the future with the interoperability of commercial and business enterprises adopting this network to increase profit.

Although blockchain technology is faced with its own flaws in real-life settings. Its application as a decentralized transaction system reduces low cost  and improve

Security of the database.

There is a wide optimism that blockchain technology is gradually progressing into the phase that balances the tradeoff between scalability, decentralization, and privacy setting. This will enhance the world's communication, healthcare, electoral voting system, military, and payment system for commercial use safe for the world.

With the geometrical progression of technology is it safe to say that in future the blockchain technology will power operational activities worldwide.