Introduction

Since the invention of bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, the issue of scalability has been a long-standing battle for blockchains. We admire so many beautiful things going on in the crypto space and we also endure the market ups and downs. However, there have not been a problem of blockchains as challenging as scalability. Many industries that require swift large-scale data processing are always sceptical that blockchains will deliver the kind of speed needed in handling data. Little wonder then that a lot of these industries still rely on traditional systems instead of decentralized models. So much work is needed to overcome scalability as a blockchain challenge. Can this problem be overcome? Time will only tell, but here some industries that will benefit if this scalability issue can be overcome.

1. IoT: Internet of things as an industry deals with how objects are connected to the internet and most times work autonomously. This industry often deal with objects gathering data, storing them on a network and quickly accessing such data to make split-second decisions. Think about a self-driving car that needs to determine if the object few meters ahead is a tree or something else. Using cloud storage and high speed internet connectivity, that self-driving car can achieve this. But think of retrieving such data through a blockchain network. The speed and the amount of data to be processed might make using a blockchain network not practical. This is simply because the amount of transactions or data that needs to be processed in split second might be bigger than what a blockchain network can handle. So solving the scalability issue will see more use of blockchains for IoT projects.

2. Online Gaming: Gaming is another industry that would be happy to see faster transaction times for blockchains. Online gaming is a billion dollar industry that usually requires large data processing, storage and retrieval. Think of an online game with 1 million players connected from all over the world. The amount of data generated by this crowd and stored simultaneously on a network will be too large for most blockchains to handle. Although there are a few blockchain-based games that have been developed, mosts blockchains in general are not able to handle instant large-scale data processing required for online gaming.

3. Retail: Imagine that some of the multinational corporations that sell to the whole world with millions of customers are to use blockchains for checkout. That would be crazy if you are to meet up with processing customer orders quickly. There would be lots of uneasy delays because the blockchain network will become overloaded with queued transactions. That is why the retail industry is yet to think about full-scale implementation of blockchain technology. Customers are not ready to wait hours just to buy bottled water or other items. The retail industry handles data in volumes and usually require lots of speed in handling data, so for now, blockchain networks are not the answer.

Conclusion

Lots of blockchain projects have been conceived to solve scalability completely. However, we are very optimistic that in the nearest future, blockchain networks will become as fast as ever to handle the data processing demands of every industry. If mass adoption is to be realized anytime soon, a big step forward towards that is to solve blockchain scalabilty at scale!