I’m pretty sure that when the first blockchain appeared in January 2009 alongside Bitcoin, few people thought it would become as huge as it is today. Built on the principles of decentralization, transparency, immutability, and automation, the blockchain industry has created sub-sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the metaverse.
By definition, blockchain is an immutable distributed database that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a network. It was primarily associated with cryptocurrencies as the technology became popular with the advent of Bitcoin. But that has changed. The sectors mentioned above show the diversity of use cases for this technology. Today, it is used in different industries, including changing (mostly in a positive way) the world view on how finance works.
In this article, we will explore the different sectors that show how versatile blockchain technology is.
Blockchain and video games
The video game industry has always been a very rigid industry/business. Personally, I used to find a game I liked, play it for the fun and thrill it gave me, and be done with it. And if there was a financial commitment involved in that dynamic, I would spend my money either on buying the game or on buying in-game assets.
Although the gaming industry is huge, in financial terms, the size of the global video game market was estimated The video game market is expected to reach $217 billion by 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.4% between 2023 and 2030. I didn’t expect to get anything out of it other than the excitement I felt when playing video games. I’m pretty sure that was the norm for everyone, since no video game did anything “extra.”
This was the norm until blockchain invaded the scene and disrupted the structure. The gaming industry has changed a lot after the introduction of the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model. You can now earn in-game rewards by playing your favorite blockchain games. For a gamer, this is the best deal ever.
These rewards, which are mostly in the form of tokens or NFTs, can be exchanged for fiat currency. This has effectively made gaming a viable source of revenue. NFTs in blockchain games have also allowed players to gain true ownership, as the assets you have earned are yours alone. As a ripple effect, true ownership in blockchain games changes the user experience of these games. This is important because it contributes to the mass adoption of these games. These changes and effects are evident in the market capitalization of the blockchain gaming sector — $13.2 billion at the time of writing.
Sidus Heroes, Outlanders, and Utgard are prime examples of blockchain games leading the adoption curve. Sidus Heroes is a P2E gaming platform that creates a holistic, player-driven in-game economy using NFT technology. In this game, players can own in-game content, opening the doors to in-game commerce. Outlanders is an open-world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that uses blockchain technology to integrate the masses while prioritizing user experience with intuitive interfaces and high-quality graphics. Utgard is a play-to-earn PvP game that lets you build an army and fight in real-time 1v1 combat. Players can earn the native UTG tokens as in-game rewards, with full ownership over their in-game assets.
These games feature the qualities mentioned earlier in this article: the use of NFTs and P2E functionality. You see, what was once a favorite pastime that involved the player paying the game publishers has now become a sprawling ecosystem where players earn real value for their time and effort.
Blockchain is revolutionizing retail
The retail industry has long faced a multitude of challenges, from economic fluctuations to technological developments to changing consumer habits. For example, inflation has reduced the purchasing power of some of the world’s major currencies. This poses significant challenges to the retail industry. Prices of goods and services are skyrocketing, leading to a decline in consumer spending. This becomes a difficult situation for retailers, as they are caught between raising their prices and risking losing their customers. Or they can leave their prices as they were and suffer the brunt of inflation.
The rise of e-commerce has also impacted retailers. The convenience of online shopping and reduced overheads allow online platforms to offer prices that physical stores cannot. As a result, retailers are forced to start and maintain an online presence alongside their physical stores. This makes modern retailing even more complex.
There is also the ever-present problem of logistics. Any retail business needs an efficient supply chain to succeed. Disruptions in this chain can lead to stock-outs that can have further consequences (reputational damage and lost sales, among others) if not eliminated early. Efficient supply chains would allow a retail business to avoid a lot of these hassles. This is what Libera solves with blockchain technology. Libera is a platform that is transforming the retail industry in emerging markets through the use of AI and blockchain technology. The platform aims to make invisible commerce visible by digitizing over 10 million stores and analyzing the trends of billions of unnoticed transactions. A functioning retail industry is the lifeblood of any economy, and Libera is using blockchain to implement brilliant solutions in this sector.
Scaling the Ethereum Blockchain
Ethereum is one of the first blockchains and probably the most used to build disruptive products and solutions. The Ethereum network is a pioneer in the development of smart contracts and as its popularity has grown due to increasing demand, the network has suffered. Ethereum was originally designed to process around 12-15 transactions per second (TPS) on average. It currently processes transactions at a rate of 20 to 30 TPS. Compared to traditional financial networks, Visa claims to be able to manage up to 24,000 TPSThis “overload” of requests on the Ethereum network resulted in:
- Network congestion: The volume of transactions becomes too large for the network, leading to regular network outages.
- High transaction fees: Due to network congestion, users are forced to pay extra to have their transactions prioritized. Blockchain quickly becomes too expensive for many users.
- Slow transaction speeds: Due to the overload, the network takes a long time to confirm transactions. This negatively affects the user experience, limiting the network’s usefulness for real-world use.
These challenges have prevented Ethereum from becoming the primary blockchain of choice for most builders today. Instead, it has seen the development of various scaling solutions to address these issues. AppLayer is one such solution. It is a C++-based Ethereum scaling solution where developers can deploy Solidity smart contracts and stateful precompilations programmed in C++ as smart contracts. In AppLayer, Solidity smart contracts are 10x faster than competing Golang-based networks, and stateful precompilations are 65x faster.
Conclusion
The projects cited as examples are a microcosm of the blockchain revolution in the real world. They demonstrate the ability of blockchain to influence and transform entire industries while introducing new concepts and business models. More and more industries will feel the disruptive wave of blockchain. Collaboration and synergy between different industries harnessing the power of blockchain technology will also become a common feature.
In 2023, the global blockchain technology market size was estimated The blockchain industry is expected to reach $17.57 billion and is expected to grow from $27.84 billion in 2024 to $825.93 billion in 2032, representing a growth rate of 52.8% during the forecast period. It is therefore almost certain that the industry will continue to grow, but challenges persist. Issues such as scalability, unclear regulatory frameworks, and poor user education are gaps that need to be addressed. Addressing these issues promises to ensure the long-term success of blockchain.
