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The cryptospace has been a vibrant one in the past few years, driving far more bigger changes then other revolutionary technologies like the internet. It might sound unbelievable that in such a relatively short time of existence, blockchain technology has found massive use in many sectors including health, education, insurance, Internet-of-things, and many others. These are really exciting times as more blockchain projects are launched daily, attempting to solve all the challenges that we have struggled with for years.

This article will definitely be long. I will try to look at the cryptospace in its present state, and its future prospects. To make it easy, here are some major areas I will discuss on:

• The cryptospace - where are we?
• The cryptospace - where we are going
• Major factors that influence the cryptospace
• Discover new blockchains and innovations
• How blockchain technology improves modern society
• Blockchain technology is disrupting established systems
• Conclusion

Alright, now I can go ahead to discuss each section in detail.

The cryptospace - where are we?

Blockchain technology has come a long way. The growth has been phenomenal and diverse. It all started with Bitcoin more than 10 years ago. Today, we have seem massive growth in all fronts. Consider the following 4 areas:

• Number of cryptocurrencies and market volume: A little more than a decade ago, it was just Bitcoin. Fast-forward the frame to today, there are more than 20,000 cryptocurrencies in existence as reported by Forbes. According to Coingecko, the combined market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies in existence has exceeded $1,000,000,000,000. Considering the time it took (around 13 years) to achieve these mammoth figures, that represents astronomical progress.

• Government involvement: Blockchain technology started from a really humble beginning and it was considered insignificant. Nobody knew what it was and it does not come up in headline news. Today, cryptocurrencies are so popular that the governments of many nations are now interested in it. There has been massive talk of crypto regulations by governments. The SEC (US ) interest in regulating cryptocurrencies, provide a sterling example of how important cryptocurrencies have become today. But there is more.

Many governments have recognized how important digital currencies have become. While some are struggling to come up with crypto regulations, others have launched or are preparing to launce their own digital currency through central banks. You should have heard about Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Almost every government wants to issue a digital version of its local currency in order to get involved in this digital money that crypto has made popular.

• Technology upgrade: Blockchain technology continues to experience growth all round. With so many issues facing it, there has been significant progress made to improve how it operates. One of the major issue that blockchains faced is scalability. Today, there are many blockchain projects that have been developed to tackle scalability. One good example is Plasma for Ethereum. This service creates layer two blockchains that are connected to the mainnet. As such, some transactions are channeled to the layer 2 chain which makes the mainnet less congested. Many other services like Plasma are helping Ethereum and other blockchains to overcome scalability issues.

Still on technology upgrades, most blockchains consume lots of energy because of the type of algorithm they operate. This made blockchain technology harmful to the environment. But today, some blockchains have transitioned into less energy-intensive algorithms like Proof of Work. This makes blockchains more environmental friendly and attractive too.

• Decentralized Finance: In its humble beginning, blockchain technology arrive as a digital payment solution. But over the years, it has evolved and many other sub-sectors emerged from it. One of them is decentralized finance (DEFI). DEFI advances the future of finance and gives users all the tools to handle finance on the blockchain. DEFI has products that enable financial investments on the blockchain such as through staking, farming, lending and liquidity pool mining. With all these financial instruments on the blockchain, mass adoption remains a big possibility.

The above four areas represent the current state of blockchain technology. With these progress made already, the future is promising.

The crypto space - where we are going

The future looks so bright and lots of advancements will materialize in the crypto space with time. The following is where crypto will be in the nearest future:

• Improved scalability: Many crypto projects are already working on scalability. These projects are attempting to solve the biggest challenge to mass adoption that crypto is currently facing. One example of such project is Plasma. The main design principle of majority of these projects is the use of second layer blockchains to channel some transaction traffic away from the main chain. In this way, they are able reduce the traffic on the mainnet and increase the number of transactions or workload that the mainnet is able to handle.

• Better DEFI: DEFI projects are expected to continue improving. Leo Finance is one of such DEFI projects. DEFI projects improve various aspects of their services such as better staking and farming rewards. Additionally, DEFI projects will need to develop tools and instruments to allow interoperability between blockchains and traditional finance products. In this way, it should be very easy to for organizations to transition from centralized finance, to decentralized finance very easily.

• Getting ready to onboard the masses: blockchain technology and crypto products have gained more audience now than before. As this awareness increases, we are facing the possibility of mass adoption in the nearest future. So developers of blockchain products should simplify the process of onboarding the masses.

Blockchain UI designers should come up with interfaces that are not too complex or technical to enable the less tech-savvy users that are coming onboard. Many crypto products should be designed for mobile users since the mobile users population is bigger than any other markets.

Major factors that influence the Cryptospace

A lot of factors affect the cryptospace, let us look at just two of them:

• Market sentiment: How major players in the crypto sector feel about a particular project or crypto affects the crypto space. Major holders of cryptocurrencies and sponsors of projects always affects the entire market. For example, if a popular figure like Elon Musk tweets about a particular crypto or project, it directly has an effect on the progress of that project or lack of it. Again, what the global crypto community thinks about a particular project also affects it.

• Government regulations: Crypto is still relatively watched by various governments. Government money policies can affect the crypto space for good or not. For example, SEC regulations in the US has forced a number of crypto companies to leave that country and move to elsewhere. Some countries like China has completely outlawed crypto, making it forbidden for citizens of that country.

Other governments of the world are trying to come up with regulations to control crypto operations in their country. Overall, government regulations affect the cryptospace a lot. In some countries, crypto does not exist. In some other places, it is full or partially accepted.

Discover new blockchains

The cryptospace is one that is ever-changing as many new projects are born to tackle some known blockchain problems. Many blockchains have been introduced into the crypto space and I would like to discuss about one of them - Shardeum

Learn about Shardeum - announced in 2022

Shardeum is a relatively new blockchain built on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This blockchain project started on 18th October, 2022. The founders are Nischal Shetty and Omar Syed. Shardeum attempts to solve a well known blockchain issue - scalability.

The blockchain increases the number of transactions that could be performed by splitting transactions into smaller sizes and distributing them to the nodes on the network. This method allows the blockchain to perform and complete many transactions at the same time, resulting in linear scaling. Since it is deployed on the EVM, Shardeum would be completely decentralized, and allow DAPP developers to launch projects written in Ethereum on the blockchain.

Shardeum is still currently on Testnet and also already raised more than $18m of seed capital. This blockchain also hopes to have the lowest transation fees of any blockchain. Each transaction on Shardeum should not cost more than $0.01. Designed to scale on the first layer, Shardeum wants to be the blockchain that onboards billions of users. It expects to be able to handle at least 100,000 transactions per second.

Shardeum Tokenomics

Shardeum token has the symbol $SHM. This token has a limited supply amount of 508,000,000. This amount will be distributed to cover various aspects of the blockchain development as follows:

51% will be allocated to node mining, while 18% will be sold in the various crypto markets. The team behind Shardeum will share 15% of the total supply, while 11% will go to the Shardeum foundation to support Web3 projects and fund developers that qualify for funding. The remaining 5% of the token will be used for airdrops.

Shardeum DAPPs

Shardeum already has lots of DApps both live and under development. Check the following three:

• WalletConnect: This is a web3 projects interconnectivity tool. It serves as a bridge between web3 projects and web3 wallets. When you want to link your Web3 wallet to any of the web3 exchanges or other projects, Walletconnect does the job.

• Mises: This is a web browser unlike the ones you know. Mises is fully a web3 browser that runs on mobile devices. This browser is super fast when used to access web pages.

• ShardeumSwap: This is a web3 decentralized exchange platform that will allow users to trade, store and swap their cryptocurrencies. This project is still in development phase.

Learn more about Shardeum

If you wish to learn more about Shardeum, feel free to explore the following official channels:

• Shardeum official website
• Shardeum Twitter
• Shardeum Frequently Asked Questions
• Shardeum Telegram
  
  

Blockchain Innovation

Blockchain technology continues to get better over time as new projects emerge and old ones evolve. The aim is to create the best blockchain systems designed to solve known problems. There have been a lot of innovation in the crypto space recently, but none is more significant than that of Ethereum transition to Proof-of-stake. Lets take a look at that briefly.

Ethereum transitions to POS from POW

The biggest innovation in the cryptospace happened last year when Ethereum changed its consensus algorithm from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. It was popularly called the Merge and it happened last year - precisely on 15th September, 2022.

Each blockchain has a way of determining how miners on the chain reach an agreement on the state of the network. Each blockchain has a particular consensus algorithm that it implements. Before the Merge, Ethereum was formerly running a Proof-of-work consensus. This type of consensus is noted for its high energy consumption. It is the consensus used by the first blockchain which is Bitcoin.

The impact of mining operations has always been a source of controversy since the inception of blockchain technology. Proof-of-work consumes a huge amount of energy, making it a harzardous activity for the environment, especially where most of the energy used is produced from fossil fuel. In order to reduce the environmental impact of blockchain activities, Ethereum transitioned to the Proof-of-Stake consensus Algorithm.

Proof-of-stake algorithm does not consume as much power as the POW. The POS algorithm switch entails that Ethereum power consumption is automatically reduced by more than 90%. This makes Ethereum greener, having less impact on the environment as a result. There are definitely lots of other benefits that came to Ethereum blockchain as a result of the switch. However, reducing the environmental impact of blockchain activities was the high point of the Switch. That has attracted a number of green energy proponents to the Ethereum blockchain.

Today, Ethereum remains one of the most popular blockchain especially for DAPP developers. The Ethereum network powers thousands ofDAPPs and many developers are still working hard to create more DAPPs on the Ethereum network as it gives them the tools and features needed to create DAPPs.

There are many other innovations in the cryptospace. However, the Ethereum merge remains the biggest of all of them in recent times.

How blockchain technology improves modern society

No one can doubt the positive impact that blockchain technology has had since it came into existence more than a decade ago. Below are some specific examples of blockchain positive contribution to society:

• Global payment system: Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies made international payments a click away. Before now, it was not easy and fast to send money across the globe. Our traditional finance system - mainly the banks - are slow in processing international payments. Worse yet, the network fees associated with such money transfers is usually exorbitant. Crypto and blockchain technology changed all of that.

Today, any user can send and receive funds from their crypto wallets no matter where they live. Once you have a good internet, sending and receiving funds from anywhere in the world takes just few seconds to complete.

• Automated Transactions: The banks and other financial instruments create a middleman that acts as a custodian to ensure that all parties in a transaction fulfill their obligations. But blockchain technology has changed all that with the introduction of smart contracts. There is no need for any middleman in blockchain transactions as the existence of smart contracts eliminates the need for a physical custodian.

Smart contracts are codes that execute on their own based on pre-coded conditions. These codes are part of all blockchain transactions. Apart from ensuring that all parties in a transaction fulfill their roles, smart contracts also make transactions happen instantly. This vastly increases the time it takes to complete a transaction. Smart contract does not attract transaction charges unlike the middleman that must be paid from the transactions they oversee. Blockchains brought smart contracts which has ensured international, quick and secured transactions between different users.

• Financial Inclusion: A very large number of the world population is unbanked. This massive number accounts for people that are not literate, those that live in rural areas with no access to financial products, and many others that are incapacitated in one way or the other. Blockchain technology has eliminated the barriers faced by the worlds unbanked. With a mobile device, working internet and a crypto wallet, a user has this global bank on their hands.

Blockchain transitions does not require a government ID card, extensive paperwork or a minimum balance to operate. It take just few seconds to send and receive crypto payments. Blockchain technology has lowered the entry barrier so that even the worlds poor can now access crypto payments from the comfort of their homes. No need for a middle man, high fees and delays. Many individuals and local communities have been empowered to participate in the global payment system and access financial products that were otherwise inaccessible to them.

• Freedom of Speech: Blockchain technology has brought a lot of opportunities for people to be heard. Those avenues include blogging platforms like Hive and micro-blogging platforms like thread. These content sharing platforms are fully decentralized. Hence, everyone's voices are being heard. There is no censorship at all.

Everyone wants their voice to be heard and blockchain technology is making that possible through all these platforms for content sharing. As a result, your voice can truly be heard.

• Income: Blockchain technology has created numerous income opportunities to those that embrace it. Blockchain technology brought about many DEFI products such as staking, yield farming, liquidity pools and many other avenues to earn from investment. Many people are now pursuing their life careers entirely on crypto and they are getting financial rewards.

Content sharing sites like Hive are powered by blockchain technology. participants that create high quality content and engage well with the communities are getting rewarded in crypto for their efforts. All these are possible because of blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology is disrupting established systems

Yes above statement is true. Our traditional systems are already facing the biggest threats to their existence - blockchain technology. The disruption of established industries will only increase with time until traditional systems are replaced with blockchain powered models. Below are some examples of blockchain technology disrupting industries:

• Finance: The very first industry that is currently suffering disruption is the Finance sector. Blockchain technology is threatening to replace many financial services. Most of the banks services now have better alternatives in crypto. For example in saving money, its better in crypto as there are compounding opportunities which the bank does not have. In sending international payments, crypto payments are free, fast and very secure unlike what the banks offer. Other banking services have been re-modeled with better features in blockchain which is why many of us have switched entirely to blockchain alternatives.

• Investment: The investment industry has been disrupted by blockchain technology. Before people invest in stock and bonds as a way to build wealth for the future. Now, those are no longer as popular as they use to. Blockchain technology has served us with better alternatives. Now we invest in yield farms, liquidity pools, and compound savings. Other forms of investment include buying and holding crypto and allowing it to grow over the years. The price of Bitcoin today shows the wisdom in crypto investment.

So the investment industry has been entirely shaken by blockchain alternatives. Those that embraced blockchain are already enjoying the benefits right now.

• Tokenization of real word commodities: Another area we experience disruption is in the tokenization of physical commodities. Land, physical products and many other physical assets now have a token created for them to reflect the real value. This tokenization and the subsequent popularity of NFTs has really affected how assets are viewed and valued in established systems. Music, crafts, and many other physical assets have been tokenized, ensuring that corresponding values of these objects are reflected in the tokens created for them.

Tokenization will continue to increase as more sectors are identified and new blockchain projects are created or improved to take care of these sectors.

Conclusion

The cryptospace is a very dynamic ecosystem that continues to evolve. Blockchain technology is proving an invaluable discovery that continues to prove valuable by the day. While it continues to evolve, we enjoy all the projects that the blockchain powers.

Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha