The blockchain, primarily known for its role in cryptocurrencies and the financial markets, has become a transformative force, with its applications now extending beyond many other industries. This technology is now being used to streamline other traditional industries after initially being earmarked to revolutionize the finance world by bringing with it the advent of a decentralized infrastructure.
Since its inception, the blockchain industry has grown rapidly, and looks like it’ll keep going in this trajectory for some time to come.
A forecast from December 2023 predicted the blockchain to reach a value of $943 billion in 2032 at a CAGR of 56.1%. This is down from an earlier prediction from June 2022, where blockchain technology was predicted to reach $1,235 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 82.8%.
This articles aims to highlight the areas where blockchain is being used like Supply Chain Management, eSports, Real-World Assets (RWAs), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), etc, including emerging projects that are creating more accessible, efficient, and innovative solutions through the help of this disruptive technology.
Evolution of Blockchain Technology
When Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block of Bitcoin, known as the genesis block, in January 2009, the blockchain was solely associated with cryptocurrency. You wouldn’t be looked at as weird if you thought that was the only use case. Over the last 15 years since then, the world has seen how the ability of this decentralized technology extends past digital currencies.
However, the ride to this point hasn’t been as smooth—understandable for a new technology. There are key challenges that have impeded the rate of adoption of blockchain technology. Issues like scalability, data privacy, security, interoperability, financial regulations, etc have over time needed solutions for them. The user-friendliness and regulatory compliance of the solutions proffered are also vital for the continuous improvement and sustainability of the technology.
In subsequent paragraphs, I’m going to highlight some of the industries experiencing top-shelf blockchain innovation and how they’re transforming user experiences in these industries.
Real-World Assets Bridging Web2 and Web3
Blockchain gives investors access to (institutional and retail) traditional tangible assets like real estate, stocks, and other commodities in the form of digital tokens. This is a quality of the blockchain that I appreciate so much as it has done great for adoption. This technology has enabled accessibility, encouraged retail investors to get a piece of an asset via fractional ownership, increased liquidity in the industry, and improved transparency in asset trading.
RWA tokenization was one of the top crypto narratives in 2024. According to a report by Tokenized Asset Coalition, the total value locked in tokenized assets for that year was over $176 billion. This marked a 32% year-to-date increase, with non-stablecoin assets growing by 53%. There looks to be a clear driving force behind the trend because, according to industry projections, the RWA industry can reach $30 trillion by 2030.
Some examples of RWAs that can be tokenized include Real Estate, Art and Collectibles, Commodities like gold and other raw materials, and Securities and Bonds. A project playing a key role in this sector is Joinn Finance. This is a platform that leverages advanced blockchain technology to ensure a seamless and secure user experience for users. The platform is making the complexities of Web3 approachable, just like how familiar Web2 applications are. Operating under a regulatory-compliant framework, Joinn offers innovative features like access to on-chain RWAs and USDC Mastercard for both retail and institutional users.
Blockchain Scaling and Infrastructure
Blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin are the foundation on which a majority of the disruptive solutions on the blockchains today were built. For instance, the Ethereum network is a leader in the development of smart contracts. This popularity as the go-to for smart contracts has resulted in increased demand, which results in network cloggings.
Originally designed to process 12-15 transactions per second (TPS) and even though it processes around 20-30 TPS now, compared to traditional finance networks, this is quite slow. For instance, Visa can handle up to 24,000 TPS. This overload on blockchains like Ethereum results in network congestion, high transaction fees, and slow transaction speeds.
AppLayer is a blockchain solution tackling this malaise. It is a C++ based Ethereum scaling solution that allows developers to deploy Solidity smart contracts and C++ programmed stateful pre-compiles as smart contracts. Smart contracts deployed with AppLayer are 10 times faster than others in competing networks like Golang for example. Stateful pre-compiles on the platform are also 65 times faster.
Transforming Supply Chains
Supply chains are the literal wheels that help industries all over the world move forward. So when an industry’s supply chain fails or isn’t working as well as it should, that quickly becomes a problem. And like with every sector, there are challenges in the management of these chains. Some examples of these challenges include shortages of both material and labor, global political instability, regulatory challenges, and rising costs of energy and fuel. A platform providing world-class blockchain solutions to challenges like these in supply chains is Libera.
By leveraging blockchain technology and advanced AI tools, Libera is bridging the gap between traditional trade and modern commerce. The platform provides businesses with visibility into supply chains, customer behavior, and market trends that were previously difficult to access.
Reimagining Decentralized Finance
DeFi has come a long way in the last couple of years. We’ve seen use cases and solutions we didn’t know we needed in this sector to drive the adoption of blockchain technology. Many users now have access to financial instruments and services that they would have found difficult to access in traditional finance institutions. The DeFi sector currently holds $108.8 billion in Total Value Locked. While it is beyond impressive how well DeFi has worked so far, there are still a couple of challenges that the sector needs to overcome. One of them is the problem of Fragmentation.
Fragmentation is the spread of liquidity and user activity across multiple isolated blockchain networks and DeFi protocols. This is a problem because it makes it difficult for users to access the best rates and opportunities in the market due to the absence of a unified and interconnected system. This leads to poor user experience and ultimately inefficiency.
Instadapp, a company that has played a leading role in the DeFi landscape right since 2018 has come up with a solution for this problem: Fluid. A culmination of extensive development on top DeFi protocols, Fluid is an innovative base layer for new DeFi protocols to be built on. It allows users better utilities like improved rates, high loan-to-value (LTV), productive debt, and other improvements to come in the future.
Fan Engagement and Entertainment
According to a study by Mordor Intelligence, blockchain use in the sports industry will experience a 9% annual growth for the next five years, highlighting the rising popularity of the application of blockchain technology in sports. This application helps with the improvement of transparency, enhances fan interaction, and improves security measures. The fan token market cap at the time of writing is $214,330,179, with over 80 major sports organizations adopting blockchain solutions.
OG ESports is a brilliant example of blockchain adoption in sports. This is one of the world’s most successful eSports teams, with multiple championship titles and millions of dollars in prize money won. They have an impressive list of achievements and recently introduced the OG ESports Fan Tokens on fan tokens platform Socios.com. Some of the perks of holding these tokens include benefits and rewards like VIP experiences, voting rights in team decisions, and discounts on merchandise.
Conclusion
All of these projects mentioned in this article demonstrate the potential of decentralized solutions to transform different industries. Addressing critical challenges like scalability, accessibility, supply chain management, and fan engagement, ensures that these projects are reshaping how we interact with digital ecosystems. The future of the blockchain is interconnected, user-centric solutions that will bridge the gaps between traditional systems and decentralized technologies.
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