Business
Blockchain and the World Economic Forum—Here’s What Really Matters
Aug 20, 2019
The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos has ended but its echoes are still circulating around the media. A day like any other after a big, global event.
What’s interesting, however, is the fact that blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) are still a growing trend — especially during events such as Davos.
One could say that it’s where the establishment meets — government leaders, CEOs of the largest firms in the world, top journalists, and the intellectual elite in general.
And yet, year after year, more people are willing to take part in discussions surrounding blockchain — the technology that, in theory, could disrupt the current world order in spheres ranging from the social to the political to the economic.
Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Mark Their Presence in Davos
During the Forum, Global Blockchain Business Council held a poll. They asked 71 institutional investors about blockchain. Over 40% of respondents admitted that it’s one of the most transformative breakthroughs since the public launch of the Internet. A third believe that boardrooms will soon adopt the technology. 31% believes that it will happen in 3 to 5 years and companies will need to recruit for positions such as a Head of Blockchain.
Even before the actual event in Davos, Adena Friedman, the CEO and president of NASDAQ, wrote on LinkedIn:
The invention itself is a tremendous demonstration of genius and creativity, and it deserves an opportunity to find a sustainable future in our economy.
Global leaders are way past “discovering” blockchain and DLT. It’s all about finding an appropriate place for it in the mainstream, as well as developing actual use cases that can be implemented on a global scale. Mind you — at this point in time — we’re way past only using this technology for peer-to-peer payments.
Of course, in the WEF environment, you wouldn’t believe that everyone has a positive outlook on the blockchain. Some argue that the entire industry is a bubble, and keep up the bearish attitude towards real-world applications.
But still — global leaders cannot help but take notice. This leads to discussing its potential and how best to implement this innovative technology.
Here’s What Will Shake Things Up—the Protocols
Everything started with “magic Internet money” — however, when talking about corporate adoption of DLT, none of the leaders mention digital assets or cryptocurrencies. They are interested in the underlying technology itself. The question on everyone’s lips is how can DLT “upgrade” the Internet globally while ensuring trust and transparency.
Glenn Hutchins, a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, chairman of North Island, and a director of AT&T, said during Davos:
I am much less interested in investing around bitcoin as a currency unit or a currency equivalent, or even the blockchain as an accounting ledger. I am thinking much more about the protocols. In other words, what is the underlying protocol going to do […] and which tokens are valuable as a consequence.
That’s exactly why we, at Aleph Zero, are forging a scientific trial. We set out to develop an ultimate DAG-based protocol that solves speed, scalability, and accessibility — all challenges that the market is currently facing. Moreover, we’re making the entire technology open-sourced.
And that’s just a start.
