The increasing popularity of blockchain and cryptocurrency is bringing a lot of opportunities to the business world. Not everyone can create a top five cryptocurrency project or exchange platform. However, there are still all sorts of other business benefits of blockchain and the industry surrounding it. Social media, smart contracts, and decentralized applications all present possibilities for entirely new business models. In this article, we’ll take a look at how these innovations will change the future economy and look at some companies that are already emerging in these areas.
Social Media Platforms
While many people in cryptocurrency might see ad bans on sites like Facebook, Google, and Twitter as a setback for the cryptocurrency market, this can also be viewed as a long-term market opportunity. As anyone who is familiar with ICOs and cryptocurrency projects knows, there are already all sorts of emerging social media platforms that have benefited from crypto’s rising popularity. Here are a few examples.
Telegram, which only launched on August 14, 2013, has already accumulated 200+ million monthly active users and has become a staple platform for successful crypto projects. While Telegram, of course, is not solely focused on cryptocurrency, many of its users utilize this app as a form of communication between themselves and crypto project teams.
Steemit is an example of a platform that revolves around cryptocurrency. By tokenizing content creators and curators, Steemit continues to attract more content creators and consumers to use its platform. More details about this project can be found in this detailed guide.
It is very likely that more social media companies will build entirely new platforms around blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Some of these new businesses could very well compete and even surpass the popularity of today’s top social media platforms.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are quite possibly the most far-reaching business benefits of blockchain and crypto projects. They are game-changing both for the project teams that create them and the businesses that use them. Essentially, smart contracts eliminate the need for 3rd party intermediaries in the approval/disapproval process of important public documents.
For example, a traditional contract must go through the approval process of a legal expert and is typically sent back-and-forth between the two signing parties until a consensus is reached. However, smart contracts use code to quickly verify the legitimacy of contracts.There are tons of crypto projects that are working to use smart contracts as a way to create official documents in a wide range of industries (legal, healthcare, real estate, finance, global trade).
The teams that can best develop and market this technology can sell this as a B2B service. The value upside is enormous because companies can use smart contracts to save money on legal fees and eliminate the need for constant, back-and-forth contract negotiation. Projects like Propy for real estate or IBM/Maersk for global trade are good examples of how smart contract technology can be implemented to solve specific, real-world business problems.
Decentralized Applications (DApps)
The rise of mobile apps have changed the way that people around the world interact on a daily basis. However, there is one large problem with the current app market: centralization of power. Essentially, Apple and Google determine which apps are available for the world to use. Many apps are even be censored by national governments around the world. Decentralized applications, however, have no single authority controlling which users can or can’t access them. This decentralization is one of the huge business benefits of blockchain for the wider economy.
Weifund is one example of a dapp that utilizes smart contracts to create a robust crowdfunding campaign platform. This project is likened to a next-generation Kickstarter that gives both investors and companies more freedom. KYC-Chain is an example of a dapp which prevents fraud and completes identity verification checks through the use of distributed ledger technology.
Dapps have the potential to replace and improve many of today’s existing mobile apps. The companies that are successful in developing them can have a significant impact on the future of the P2P sharing economy.
Entrepreneurship in the Crypto Era
Yes, there are lots of projects working on similar ideas and not every venture can succeed, but the good thing about the business benefits of blockchain and impact of cryptocurrency is that it is an ever-evolving space without one clear-cut winner.
Since this technology is still being perfected, there are new market opportunities every day. These opportunities exist for everyone, from dapp development companies to industrial-level ASIC chip manufacturers. Moreover, businesses that take the time to understand how blockchain/cryptocurrency technologies can benefit potential customers could very well become some of the biggest tech giants of the near future.
This article by Delton Rhodes was originally published at CoinCentral.com
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