Jeff Mahony is chief architect at RYT. He is a seasoned technologist and systems architect with over three decades of leadership experience.
For too long, the debate around blockchain has been dominated by speculation, vaporware, scams, volatile cryptocurrencies, and the often confusing world of digital assets. But for me, that was never the real story.
I have always been focused on how this truly revolutionary technology can solve real-world, concrete problems and improve communities.
Help the many, not the few
My philosophy is simple: let’s try to uplift everyone, especially those who need it most.
Imagine someone working two jobs and barely making ends meet. Then someone helps them get a scholarship for evening classes. This simple connection opens a door and suddenly they find themselves on the path to a better job, a stable income and a different future.
This is the kind of impact I think blockchain can have, not as a buzzword, but as a tool for inclusion. Whether it’s helping a family join a savings circle or enabling a child to build a digital identity that opens future doors, blockchain can level the playing field. It’s about using technology for good, with access, agency and opportunity.
Think about financial services. The World Bank’s Global Findex database reveals a significant global financial gap: 1.3 billion adults worldwide are unbanked. These people do not benefit from the sophisticated financial products available to others. Blockchain can bridge this gap by enabling peer-to-peer transactions and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that operate without traditional banks, providing access to savings, yield and credit to those currently excluded.
Business leaders should explore how blockchain-based financial tools can expand their market reach by serving unbanked or underbanked populations. Consider blockchain solutions for microfinance or remittance services, leveraging integrations with DeFi platforms.
Talent is distributed equally across the world. But opportunity is not. I’m looking for ways to equalize these opportunities, taking something often reserved for a small segment of our community and making it accessible to everyone.
Blockchain as a tool to fight corruption
One of the most effective ways that blockchain can achieve this is by eliminating corruption.
Imagine a system of socialized medicine in which you are told an appointment is a year away, but for $50 you can suddenly have it tomorrow. Blockchain can eliminate this corrupt middleman by providing transparent and immutable records of transactions and appointments. Smart contracts can automate processes, ensuring that services are awarded based on predefined rules and not bribes.
Audit your supply chain for intermediary inefficiencies that blockchain could solve. For example, a supply chain could use blockchain to track goods from their origin to the consumer, ensuring their authenticity and preventing their diversion.
This extends to fundamental systems. Digital identification systems are crucial.
Worldwide, 850 million people do not have a legal ID, especially in low-income countries where more than a third of adults do not have an ID, according to the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the countries least protected against digital fraud.
These flawed identity systems fuel corruption and misallocation of resources. Transparency International found that 27% of respondents globally have experienced corruption in public services, often facilitated by manipulated identities. “Phantom identities” – where there are more IDs than people – result in public funds being siphoned off to non-existent or ineligible beneficiaries. Blockchain can provide a secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof digital identity solution, where individuals control their own data and selectively share verified credentials.
Investigate blockchain-based self-sovereign identity (SSI) solutions. These can streamline customer onboarding, improve data privacy and reduce fraud by giving individuals control of their digital identity.
Why Most Blockchains Are Not Enough (Yet)
Blockchain is not a magic wand. It depends on speed, security, cost and much more. Can it work with a small footprint? Are transactions fast? Does the network require significant fees to operate?
Many blockchains fail. The capital and computational requirements to operate a node lead to centralization, not decentralization. When you have a handful of validators controlling the network, this is not distributed. Network fees are unpredictable and opaque, and transaction speeds vary widely depending on network congestion.
While aiming for decentralization, blockchains can become centralized due to high staking requirements or concentrated mining power, which can undermine the very benefits of decentralization.
While Visa can handle up to 65,000 transactions per second, real-world blockchain adoption requires millisecond speeds, making current major blockchains too slow for everyday use, like swiping a card in a store. Solutions such as sharding, Layer 2 networks (e.g., Lightning Network, Base), and alternative consensus mechanisms (e.g., proof of majority) are being developed to address these issues.
Imagine a banking system in which your transaction will not go through due to lack of funds. This is the number of blockchains operating today. This “gas fee” model makes microtransactions impractical and creates uncertainty for users and businesses. New blockchain architectures are exploring fixed or near-zero transaction fees to overcome this obstacle.
Disrupt intermediaries, empower individuals
Consider ride-sharing apps. Blockchain could directly connect two endpoints, with offers and acceptance occurring directly on-chain via smart contracts. This eliminates middlemen, puts more money directly in drivers’ pockets and potentially reduces costs for riders by removing platform fees.
Identify areas within your business where intermediaries add significant cost or complexity. Blockchain could enable disintermediation through direct peer-to-peer interactions, which could lead to cost savings and greater efficiency.
The impact on remittances is more dramatic. When someone sends $1,000 overseas and a service charges 15%, that’s $150. For people earning $4 a day, that $150 could be a month’s salary. These fees can be reduced to near zero with on-chain spending, saving, and sending tools. Blockchain often enables faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments by cutting out traditional banking intermediaries and leveraging stablecoins or cryptocurrencies for direct transfers.
Collective commitment: an opportunity for all
The collective vision of blockchain is clear: it is a powerful equalizer. It’s about creating technology that eliminates corruption, provides access to essential services and dismantles exploitative middlemen.
How can we all leverage blockchain to present an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise exist? Empowering the majority is the true potential of blockchain and the future we should be building.
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