A Billion Blockchain Users

Vikram Tanna Nov 10, 2022

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that allows for the secure and transparent transfer of digital assets. It's been hailed as a "game-changer" by some, but what does this mean for you?

It is not just about money; it’s also an opportunity for innovators to create new applications that disrupt existing industries by providing customers with more choices and control over their data. It has the potential to revolutionise finance, healthcare, entertainment, supply chains, identity management and more.

While blockchain is still climbing the adoption curve, it is clear that mass adoption is a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. It will first be gradual and then sudden starting with the replacement of existing web 2.0 applications and experiences with web 3.0 architecture and protocols. This could start with consumer apps that we use every day for socialising, commerce, and content. Once users see they have complete control over their data and monetise their engagement, adoption will be supercharged riding on the network effects of existing web 2.0 ecosystems.

User-friendly dApps with real-world utility

Making blockchain dApps (decentralised applications) accessible to a billion users who are connected to the internet should be one of the most obvious ways of achieving mass adoption. While the blockchain itself may be a revolutionary technology, it will only reach its full potential when it is used in user-centric applications.

These are the dApps that make blockchain easy for people to use. They also provide an added layer of security and safety for users, fun, and engaging experiences for them to enjoy. They will need to blend the best of web 2.0 UX with the underlying benefits of blockchain. This is why we partnered with Jio to make our Mzaalo dApp available to over 150 million Jio Phone users in Tier 2, 3 cities and rural India.

In other words, if we have to democratise blockchain, then it's important that blockchain products have non-cryptocurrency-centric features that are given fair weightage during development and marketing.

A visionary regulatory framework

Blockchain is essentially an immutable database that stores information about transactions between parties in a distributed ledger format. This has led governments around the world to experiment with blockchain to help keep a record of vaccinations, land records, and even create their own ledger-based currency.

So far, governments have coordinated their actions while dealing with global corporations. However, blockchain poses an interesting opportunity for them to work with global protocols. The goal is to balance regulation with the need to protect consumers and enable the progress of a rapidly evolving technological paradigm. Governments have started to accelerate the adoption of blockchain by allowing people to participate in its development. For example, India’s central bank has recently started pilots to test the use of Central Bank Digital Currencies - for the wholesale segment and the Dubai government has set up a Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority to provide a regulatory sandbox for blockchain projects to test, validate and safely scale.

Scalable and sustainable technology

With its very public challenges of scalability and high transaction fees, blockchain has taken over a decade to reach over 100 million users since 2008. It still has a long way to go before mainstream adoption, but the community-driven nature of its evolution and the democratisation of data allows it to overcome these challenges.

For example, protocols like Algorand can execute thousands of transactions per second (6,000 TPS) in a sustainable and safe manner.

Another key aspect of blockchain that will help it become more scalable and sustainable in the coming years is the interoperability of different protocols. Innovation, tokens, and standards in one protocol permeate through entire ecosystems creating benefits for web 3.0 as a whole rather than a few with network effects and scale.

All of the factors listed above are opportunities for the next generation of builders, creators, and entrepreneurs. Blockchain presents a unique opportunity for us to bring the best of web 2.0 together with the best of web 3.0 while pushing the boundaries of human connectivity, creativity, and community to new frontiers.