Blockchain technology has brought a lot of predictions in the last few years. However, the beginning was with the sudden surge of Bitcoin price in 2017, which took the world by a storm. Since then, both blockchain recent developments, public and private platforms, and Blockchain capabilities are rapidly evolving. And Bitcoin, which is a digital currency, and Blockchain, a public ledger, have the most talked subjects until then, which open up some unrevealed sides of them. As a result, researchers and enterprises develop many Blockchain-related and cryptocurrency predictions that may take shape by 2030. Though primarily relates to the finance industry, some others, like artificial intelligence (AI), are also exploring exciting ways to leverage Blockchain technology. In this blog, we will discuss seven predictions on blockchain technology that may change the view of future uses of blockchain.

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Prediction #1: Blockchain and IoT will collaborate

As per a statistical report, by 2020, more than 20 billion IoT devices will be there in the market. Whether they are smart devices, appliances, or smart chips, the use of IoT will be pervasive. This vast number of IoT devices will continually connect to the internet, which means a massive transport of data. Not only that, we need to collect and store those data. Blockchain will provide a reliable, secure, and efficient mechanism for these devices to make transactions among one another. Blockchain will maintain an immutable record of all interactions and will enable instantaneous payment settlements.

According to the report published by IDC, "By the year of 2019, 20% of all IoT deployments will have basic levels of Blockchain services enabled”. This is due to Blockchain continually looks upon the Internet of Things (IoT). Thus the report further says - “IoT data and Blockchain can lead to intelligent automated insurance policy applications." Here, IoT integrates with Blockchain technology to render a scalable and secure framework for communication between IoT devices. The key benefits that we can achieve by using Blockchain in IoT are as follow:

- It can build trusts between parties and devices

- Reduce the risk of tampering

- Reduce the cost by removing the third party involvement

- Accelerate transactions

Prediction 2# The Utilization of 'zero-knowledge' proofs will be important

Not to mention, Blockchain is a powerful platform for a transaction between two or more groups or parties. 'Zero-knowledge’ is a cryptographic tool that utilizes mathematical operation which allows one group/party to prove to another. As we know, there are two keys: Public Key and Private or Secret Key. The benefit here is that the verification needs no additional information like a private key in public-key encryption. Thus, in the concept 'zero-knowledge proof', other parties only know that a valid transaction has occurred. However, they do not know the parties' details, i.e., who is the sender or recipient.  So, without abandoning immutability and redundancy, here Blockchains can maintain security and privacy.

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Prediction 3# Proof-of-Stake (PoS) will Continually Dominate the Blockchain Consensus Game

Since Ethereum switched to proof of stake consensus algorithm from proof of work, many found significant advantages of using it. In the distributed consensus like proof of work, miners require a lot of energy, whereas Proof-of-Stake (PoS) can reduce the large electricity consumption significantly. Besides, it reduces hardware costs. So, to get greener and a cheaper distributed form of consensus in upcoming years, the Blockchain community will continually exploit the proof of stake consensus mechanism.

Prediction 4# Blockchain will be new experiment arena for the gaming industry

Blockchain-based cryptocurrency is a non-standard digital currency which the gaming industry is very comfortable with. With the leading popularity of cryptocurrency and Blockchain, the gaming industry too will implement and adopt it. So, the gaming industry will become a perfect testing ground for new Blockchain functionalities.

Prediction 5# Government will adopt the regulatory environment

We can expect more governments and businesses to implement Blockchain technology by 2030. To date, there are no laws or regulations to govern it. However, distributed ledgers and smart contracts raise significant legal questions. So, it is evident with passing time there will be changes in the legal and regulatory implications for Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies deployments. Moreover, it comes under corporate social responsibility (CSR), compliance, and ethical behavior.

Prediction 6# Blockchain as a Service will gain momentum

The emergence of a distributed ledger as a native cloud platform will significantly impact as it removes many underlying technical complexities. Additionally, it enables Blockchain's consumption as a service, which will facilitate from sandbox development to a fully managed solution.

Prediction # 7: Blockchain Identity for All

By 2030, Blockchain will work as an identity solution for physical as well as good assets. As per the market survey, the identity system is highly dysfunctional, works silos, and insecurely. According to various data sources, in developing countries, approx. 1.5 billion people lack proof of identity. It is expected that the Blockchain-based identity system will solve this issue. Furthermore, the system will work as a single source of verification and identity system.

In a Blockchain-based identity system, it decentralizes the data collection. Moreover, using a consensus mechanism cross-verifies the collected data and stores this information on a decentralized, immutable ledger. So, it reduces the risk of security breaches, significantly higher reliability, efficiencies, and most importantly, self-sovereignty.

Besides, Blockchain-based tools will obtain and maintain legal documentation efficiently. Also, as it works as a distributed ledger system, it will be more secure and reliable than owning a central authority. Additionally, such an identity system will maintain individual privacy. In this context, individuals will have control to disclose identity information.

Some use cases of Blockchain-based identity platform include:

- Government records

- Certificates and attestations

- Reputation and trust scores

- Healthcare and medical records

- Employment records

- Tax identification records

While it is unlikely that, by 2030, a clear end-to-end solution will emerge as a winner, a high degree of interoperability among identity platforms will enable ease of use and global cross-verification. Furthermore, this platform will collect, store, and share data for both physical and virtual assets.

Final words

Some of the predictions mentioned above will come true by 2019, while others will take time to realize. Blockchain’s revolution has just started, and as more and more companies are adopting Blockchain, it will revolutionize the business process. However, the complete adoption of Blockchain is a time consuming and effort making process. Finally, the positive sign is that the Blockchain and crypto industry is moving at a fast pace.