Covid-19 has completely changed the way we live, work and interact with each other. An ever increasing number of daily activities are occurring online, further accelerating the digitalization of all sectors. In this specific situation, fostering and maintaining trust between numerous parties turns out to be more important. Blockchain is a key to strengthening trust in this digital environment. This trend is proven by ever-growing global investment in blockchain solutions, which is expected to reach at US$15.9 billion in 2023, ten times more than the $1.5 billion invested in 2018. In 2021, blockchain will play a more vital role in various important sectors. Let’s have a look at blockchain trends for the year 2021.
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We can see a reorientation of many blockchain projects. Specialists predict that about 90% of blockchain projects will need replacement within a year. This is due to most ignoring features like smart contracts, tokenization and decentralised consensus. Next to that, the pandemic has made more realistic and practical approaches to blockchain initiatives especially focused around the daily business “to continue their growth path”. Blockchain projects with clear advantages are expected to do that next year more rapidly. Also, there has been an uptick in the number of organizations interested in participating in networks that explicitly help to address some of the supply chain issues that the pandemic has put forward.
Cryptocurrencies are the most popular known application of blockchain. Money in the form of Cryptography can have a compensatory just as a production role. 2020 has demonstrated to be a decent year for all crypto markets and assumptions are for 2021 to be an even superior year for Bitcoin and other cryptos. These digital currencies have become the dominant point as researchers search for another place of refuge resources, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With such a great deal of vulnerability watching out, and being generally unaffected by outside components like government strategy because of its decentralized nature, Bitcoin has shown itself to be a “significant type of advanced gold”, qualifying itself as perhaps the strongest players in the digital currency world. As we enter 2021 and accept the new normal, social distancing, cashless transactions may also make a way for cryptographic form of money. But, with contrast fluctuations in the crypto field, anything could be normal.
Unpredictability and volatility started by COVID-19 has led many organizations to pull back from some of their more long-term DLT-related projects for the time being. Those long-term strategies projects, needs changes to market structure or regulatory changes, are mostly working to extended timetables now. Budgets for purely experimental and R&D projects – run separately from the business are becoming harder to obtain and have been cut this year. It will cause a large number of these projects will be put on hold.
In 2021, digital transformation is necessity for businesses. Due to the extended strain that the COVID-19 pandemic put on ordinary business, there is a basic need at corporates to revive their digital transformation process to emerge stronger than before. Innovation in blockchain is probably going to make the most extraordinary and sensational changes in business’s functions in the upcoming years. In this way, many businesses are using blockchain as a support to turn out to be more digital.
Among all the industries influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial sector is one territory that has been hit more. Falling profits and fixing margins have forced banks to adapt and progressively meet their clients’ needs in a digital world. Adoption of blockchain technology and fintech allows them to inline and modernize their operations. This may prompt a firm growth in contactless transactions and redesigned financial services. Financial and banking sector is relied upon to show exponential growth in blockchain adoption in the upcoming years. Thus this area will hold the biggest market size in the worldwide blockchain market during the coming years.
It is anticipated that a large number of blockchain-based projects will switch to the production stage. This doesn’t only reflect the more realistic approach to projects and growing development of technology but also the pandemic-induced acceleration and initiation or projects. According to the statistics, more than 40% of surveyed corporates have at least one blockchain pilot running. As per the prediction, 30% of global projects will make it into production, mostly because of the pandemic effect. Many networks that transition from pilot to production will run on private enterprise blockchain platforms.
The arrival of Zero knowledge proof(ZKP) will be a next important trend in 2021. To meet the challenges with confidentiality that are currently holding blockchain projects back, ZKPs are urgently needed. ZKPs that are blockchain-based allows companies with various record-keeping systems to be verifiably “in sync” on a record-by-record basis without sharing sensitive data. Huge progress has been made recently around ZKPs. To deploy ZKPs, there are various types of solutions in the market. For example, putting mortgage requests on blockchain through ZKPs as a type of notary, automatically allow or reject a request. ZKPs are complex to develop as compared to coding a smart contract without privacy, but for security reasons corporates may shift from developing Dapps to developing ZApps.
As budget reduces and digital turns out to be more packed, the split between organizations who put their resources in social business and influencer advertising, and the people who have quite recently their journey will definitely increase. The brands that didn’t use online media to drive client affiliations and deals before the pandemic will be compelled to digitize their choices. Brands that set up social presence before the pandemic will examine and reveal tools to make business decisions. This will help brands to build bonds with their clients.