Blockchain Technology Is Giving Centralization The Coup De Grâce

Photo via Facebook.com/Cryptovixens

The world took Bitcoin as a gimmick at first. It was just something that whizkids dabbled but it was thought of as something that had no real-world value. Even in the eyes of some seasoned economists, it was always going to remain fictional and not have any effect on the economies around the globe. “How can it be trusted by the average Joe in the street?” they asked. A very valid question but just because the masses hadn’t heard of it or knew how it worked didn’t make it any less credible in the eyes of innovators in business. The thing about Bitcoin that made it so attractive was that it was and is against the status quo. It's like a middle finger up at the banks and even governments. It's the world’s first self-regulated currency. The blockchain is something that refers to individuals involved in a project such as Bitcoin, keeping records of transactions happening worldwide. There’s no need to have a bank or government regulating the currency because everyone knows who bought what, how much for without personal details being needed. With a token which is essentially a random set of numbers and letters means your personal details are kept behind an online barrier. So with all this in mind, how have businesses adapted to blockchain technology?

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Spreading The Word

The question that businesses and consumers must ask themselves is, why do you need someone to be the referee in how you do business and buy things you like? It's almost as if another layer of auditing and giving the green light to businesses is a form of hindrance. There are some great companies that are specialists in their own field. These companies are the attachment services that businesses use to grow. For example, if you’re a small business and you have an ace product, you want to reach as many people as possible. But you don’t have a marketing team, it's just you and a couple of other passionate workers trying to get the business off the ground. So, you turn to a company that is brilliant at marketing and can give you their service to reach as many people as possible and effectively targets your key audience. Sounds great right?

This is the ‘traditional’ way of doing things. Blockchain technology as used by KickCity is simple. You give out a link to your event or product to the entire world. The link could be to the product page on your website. Whoever likes what you do, will be able to access the link as they are followers of your social media which is where you have posted it. They then share a link they get for buying the product, with their own personal network, i.e. family and friends. They are incentivized to do this because if anyone in their network clicks on their and also makes a purchase, they get a cut of the profit made from the sale. The blockchain keeps track of who shared the link and who bought the product. It's out in the open for everyone to witness. The key thing is that everyone is linked and the best part is that you got people to share your product for you. From one person to hundreds of other people to thousands to millions. This is why blockchain promotion could potentially be the death knell for marketing companies.

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Unneeded Authority

In Keeping with the rebel attitude toward centralization, an industry that has long since been controlled by financial authorities is real estate. On the face of it you would think that financial institutions like banks should be keeping track of properties that are being bought and sold.

The official financial transactions of equities and securities should have their exchanges ratified by financial authorities or else how could a contract or record of sale be respected? This system seems quite archaic when you look at how blockchain real estate companies are changing the game. The IHT 2.0 called Baas is blockchain as a service. It performs as an asset segmentation and management service.

Firstly you tokenize the segments of the property. Those who buy the tokens care freely sell their tokens and exchange tokens on the platform. Each token is only relevant to the specific blockchain of the company itself. They each bear the same authority and credibility as each other. So in effect transactions are kept on the records of all those involved in the blockchain. Everyone is on the same page yet reading from their own book. Each record around the world validates the other. Middlemen i.e. banks and their arduous paperwork are no longer required. Encryption keeps the information of buyers and sellers safe and secure and only allows access to those who are involved in the transactions.

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What Could All of This Mean?

Should financial institutions be afraid of their relevance? In the public domain perhaps not because normal everyday people will keep using their services to keep their money safe. They’re also seen as the more secure option for yields such as public bonds. However, when it comes to their need to be the mediator between a buyer and a seller, it looks like banks could have their days numbered. For the customers and investors, this actually frees them up to be more independent. Industries will not only become more open to all kinds of investors large, small, domestic and foreign to name a few but business becomes much faster. The loosening grip of financial institutions thanks to blockchain technologies is bringing us to the future much faster than previously anticipated. Rather than rely on financial institutions to keep the integrity of the markets at a high level, blockchains are for the people by the people.

Specialist companies will need to diversify and create new departments in order to stop themselves from being made obsolete by blockchains. Of course, their skills will still be relevant for those who want creative and artistic content that’s used as advertising material. Videos and interviews will possibly never replaced by anything else but the platforms and techniques might.

Women in Blockchain Brunch 2018 Photo via Michael Avon

But marketing companies won’t be able to say that only they can give businesses the wide reach they’re looking for. Blockchain technologies are evolving right before our eyes and yet scarily the overwhelming majority of people don’t know what they are or how they work. It's best to jump on board early!