When the digital age arrived more than a decade ago, it was thought that with apps like Uber and Airbnb, things would become fairer for workers and for customers both. In reality, large tech companies are now able to make huge profits off of their legions of freelance workers without any kind of transparency. Blockchain technology is set to fix all of this.
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Uber was founded in 2009, and in 2016 grossed 6.5 billion dollars. Airbnb has, since 2006, taken 150 million clients away from big hotel chains. Hundreds of thousands of people are now earning their living and buying the things they need entirely online. It was thought that things were getting fairer for the average consumer and for service employees with digital innovation. However, nothing really changed.
While you might think that you are helping a private entrepreneur to make a buck when you use Uber instead of a taxi, or Airbnb instead of a hotel, you really are not. Actually, a significant amount of your money goes to a large company with big expenses and unaccountable managers. The fruit of your Uber driver or Airbnb host’s labor ends up in the hands of a few people at the top. What these large, centralized, companies do with the money is unknown to the consumer. There is no transparency.
Blockchain technology, it seems, is set to change all of this by as early as 2027. Industry leaders are now forecasting that the blockchain will, over the next 10 years, become the driving force for tech innovation. The blockchain is nothing if not a list of transactions. On the blockchain, all exchanges of cryptocurrency are recorded and are therefore readily visible to everyone. The blockchain is on track, finally, to bring transparency to the digital age.
Four Ways the Blockchain Will Change People’s Lives in the Next 10 Years
Cryptocurrency expert and CEO of the DS Plus project Mikhail Mikhailov shared his four-dimensional vision of how blockchain technology will change average people’s lives over the next 10 years with Bitcoinist:
- Sales records will be digitized and easily trackable: “What will finally be achieved is digitization in terms of the ownership of cars, apartments, and other things.” According to Mikhailov, It will become possible to track all records of purchase or sale of any item, digitally. As such, transactions will proceed openly and transparently, without the need for any kind of government regulation. Any private party will be able to determine the legitimacy of a sale without bringing in a third party.
- Personal identification will become easy to verify: “There will be created a united blockchain wallet and personal identification device which will replace government issued ID and insurance cards.” With this device, it will no longer be necessary to carry around keys to open doors or a credit card to pay for daily purchases. Everything will be part of a single apparatus, likely your mobile phone.
- Digital contracts with no third party: “Business procedures will be carried out and verified via smart-contracts.” What’s more, employee salaries and other overhead expenses will be paid in a transparent way. Government audits will be simplified, if not eliminated. There simply won’t be a need for this governmental, third party, interference, in a world with blockchain verification.
- Businesses will begin to open cryptocurrency accounts: Mikhailov believes that in 10 years, more and more businesses will see the utility in having a “crypto-account” as opposed to a traditional bank account – even outside of the tech space. The traditional bank may soon be obsolete as everything will be viewable on a list online. Uber and Airbnb will have to choose between switching to the blockchain model, thereby becoming transparent, or going out of business.
With the introduction of new, easy-to-use, technologies like the Ethereum platform, the blockchain is spreading quickly and is becoming the preferred funding scheme for tech startups everywhere. The way we live our lives is due to change massively as a result. The change is coming soon.
Do you think that blockchain tech will be a part of everyday life in the future? How do you think it will improve the way we live and do business? Let us know in the comments below.
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