Blockchain generates thousands of news every month, most of them referring to the possible applications of this technology, and the vast majority talking about its benefits: the end of intermediaries, perfect traceability, high security.
However, despite everything, it is not as easy for an organization to adopt the blockchain as its header technology. There are a series of barriers to be taken into account, in all sectors, that prevent blockchain from taking off as expected. In some sectors more than others, the adoption of these technologies is slowing down due to these barriers.
The future is blockchain
- It is estimated that, in 2030, between 10% and 20% of the global economic infrastructure will depend on blockchain-based systems. This, which is being said soon, assumes associated business figures of about $ 3 trillion annually.
- A poll by PWC of 600 executives reveals the main obstacles to its effective deployment in companies. The paradox is curious: Blockchain, by creating an immutable record of data transactions, should build trust among its users. But the data shows that there are trust problems in different aspects that hinder this adoption of the most “reliable” technology.
- Reliability, speed, security, and scalability are usually the main doubts before a new technology or set of technologies, and that is no stranger to blockchain. The point is that we must add others such as the lack of standardization and interoperability between different blockchain-based systems.
- In addition, many executives still do not know what blockchain is and how it will change their business, therefore, they do not bet with the right decision and the possible applications or solutions for their business do not see the light.
The Barriers To Blockchain Mass Adoption
- Respondents in the aforementioned survey reply to these questions and 48% of them stated that regulatory uncertainty is the main barrier to the adoption of blockchain-based technologies, followed by a lack of trust between users (45%) and the ability to join the network creating a shared platform (44%).
- But, without a doubt, what has contributed most to the confidence gap in the blockchain is the lack of understanding about how it works and what its applications are. Mastering what blockchain really is and how it is changing the facets of business is the main stumbling block of technology, despite the fact that today we are not only talking about bitcoin as the star application, but we know that there are multiple applications, and even more so because discover.
- Blockchain’s role as a “change agent”, as a new infrastructure and a new way to digitize assets through tokens (including, of course, cryptocurrencies), is not easily explained. For example, the concept of the token is confusing for many people. A token is nothing more than the representation of real or virtual assets on a blockchain or, so to speak, “a unit of assets”. It is not a coin, but it represents the same thing, basically.
- In short, the blockchain is a confusing and complex concept, it is not a technology that we can experience in the first person such as the Internet of Things or Big Data (through its results), but it is abstract, technical, and For most people, it is like a big black box: we know what goes in, we know what goes out, but we don’t know exactly what goes on inside it.