Dear All,
I came across this article earlier today (even though it was published on Jan 2) and thought I had to share it! It is from Andrew Keys who is a co-founder of ConsenSys Capital, which is part of Consensys. For the few of you who do not know, ConsenSys is a global think tank building the infrastructure, applications, and practices that enable a decentralized world. They are mainly focused on building the Ethereum ecosystem. Their founder, Joseph Lubin, was also part of the team who started Ethereum, is a frequent speaker at blockchain conferences and appears on CNBC from time to time.
Generally, they are very bullish on Ethereum (obviously) and much less so on Bitcoin.
Here is the list, you can read about each one by visiting the article's website of course.
- Bitcoin is the generation 0 of blockchain technology… the opening act… the gateway drug … the first inning … MySpace.
- 2018 in blockchain years is the equivalent of 1994 to the 1996 boom of the Internet.
- Ethereum will continue to be the largest blockchain developer ecosystem in 2018 by many multiples.
- Blockchain will be a vessel of good.
- Enterprises will take the training wheels off.
- Proof of Stake changes the blockchain consensus game.
- Token Fever — Not so fast on the SAFT.
- The blockchain ecosystem will ramp up their educational resources tremendously.
- The IRS and their equivalents globally will be demanding their pound of flesh.
- People will take control of their online identities.
- In 2018, governments and regulatory bodies will mandate the use of blockchain to track and trace high value assets.
- The evolution of law will continue to intersect computer science.
- “For the first time, open source, peer-to-peer protocol developers can monetize their project on a protocol level” — Olaf Carlson-Wee
- BUGS begone: smart contract audits will be a necessity in 2018.
- Don’t just regulate blockchain….regulate THROUGH the blockchain.
- Stablecoins are coming.
- Tangoing with Contango.
- The total market cap of blockchain-based digital assets will exceed $2 trillion U.S. dollars by January 1, 2019.
Please let me know which one(s) catch(es) your eyes and why. I am going to start!
For me, and it will not surprise you if you have followed my recent posts, it is number 10. The concept of having each user managing their own identity is a key tenet of the new economy being built on-line. Being able to prove one's identity is extremely important in many under developed countries to access basic resources. For the lucky ones in "developed" countries, we can control our identity and data which can be turned into a asset for us, versus a cash cow for Google and Facebook.
Then, it is number 6 where they support Ethereum going from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake (PoS) for its consensus mechanism. Most Steem readers will be familiar with PoS since Steem it self uses a variant called Delegated PoS or DPoS. Steem witness anyone? Proof of Stake was initially invented by Dan Larimer who launched Bitshares, then Steem and is now the CTO at BlockOne which is in charge of the EOS blockchain.
Let me know you thoughts and picks. As usual, I will upvote and reply to the (better) comments.
Lio
Sources for the article:
https://media.consensys.net/18-predictions-for-2018-7a376ea7bd4b
https://media.consensys.net/
Picture credit:
http://fintechnews.sg/9981/blockchain/blockchain-use-cases-financial-services/