Every day there is more news about what can happen, can happen and should happen in the world of Crypto Currencies (CC) and Blockchain. There has been a lot of investment, research and discussion, but coins and projects are still not mainstream. They still haven’t delivered the explosive changes they planned. Many ideas are being discussed and developed, but none have yielded much results. It is likely that major players in the industry, such as IBM, Microsoft and large financial services corporations, will continue to push forward in developing useful Blockchain applications – which the entire world cannot live without.
Financial services are a good target for Blockchain projects because today’s banking systems are based on archaic ideas that have been honestly and painfully digitized, and because these systems are archaic, they are expensive to maintain and operate. Banks have almost a good reason for charging the high service fees they do; their systems are inefficient. These systems have many layers of redundant data, as everyone involved in a transaction must have a version of the transaction details. And then there’s making sure there’s a trusted third party to clear all those transactions, requiring multiple versions of the same data. Blockchain technology promises to address these issues, as each transaction will only be recorded in ONE block of the chain and as it is a distributed database, security and integrity are built in and guaranteed. It will take some time to build trust in these new systems, given that Blockchain transaction verifiers are not the traditional clearinghouses that banks use and trust today. It will take time for banks to trust a new technology, and it will take even longer for that trust to trickle down to consumers.
Another company that could be poised to give CC and Blockchain a big boost soon is Amazon. It looks like Amazon is preparing to launch its own cryptocurrency. It’s a company with revenues the size of a good-sized country, and it’s in a position to issue a digital token that’s fully convertible to other CCs, as well as fiat currency. Such a move would allow Amazon to:
- issue (AMAZON) coins to reward and promote developers on any of its platforms
- issue coins to consumers to use for in-app purchases
- issue coins to game players to purchase virtual goods in the game
- Issue coins to regular customers as part of a loyalty program
Amazon may have the perfect ecosystem of customers and partners to make all of this happen. They have around 300 million customer accounts worldwide, roughly the population of the US, and 100,000 sellers on their platforms, with millions of items for sale. There’s hardly a bigger company than Amazon, with a massive, vibrant economy tied to everything. Amazon’s immediate entry into the world of CC could signal large-scale adoption of blockchain technology by major organizations. If an Amazin coin comes into play then what could be in the corner are things like a DISNEY coin, a DELTA AIRLINES coin, a CARNIVAL CRUISES coin, a HOME DEPOT coin – you get the picture.
Stay tuned!