While technical benefits of blockchain are widely acknowledged, businesses need to know where the technology will be heading in 2019.

There will be focus not only where blockchain could fit, but where it is the best fit. This is especially important as blockchain does not best fit everywhere. As we move toward 2019, blockchain solutions will become more and more sophisticated, and there is every indication that enterprise adoption of blockchain will continue to grow in 2019.

Addressing the issues of interoperability, salability and speed

The year ahead could see many projects mature and focus on interoperability. Blockchain may see implementation across business and consumer technology stacks. Ethereum blockchain is already widely used and the developers will be working to fix the issues of speed and scalability of the platform.

Constantinople

Ethereum’s forthcoming update, Constantinople, has been delayed until 2019. It’s planned to make blockchain more resistant to ASIC miners. The planned efficiency improvements will allow dAPPs to function faster and make smart contracts cheaper for enterprises.

Casper and Sharding

One more update is planned for Ethereum in late 2019.  Ethereum 2.0 will include Casper upgrade and Sharding will be added to the platform. Casper will move Ethereum from a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain to a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism. With Sharding, blockchain will be able to improve the number and speed of transactions. So, it will be able to cope with hosting multiple dAPPs and tokens.

Cardano Shelley

Cardano’s Shelley blockchiain mainnet is expected in 2019 that will allow it to deliver advance smart contract functionality. Cardano blockchain will be PoS from the onset and aims to protect privacy, all the while meeting regulatory requirements. Cardano aims to solve the issues of scalability, speed and decentralization of the existing blockchains in 2019. Currently, Cardano has testnets running for developers who can begin trial of the technology for specific use cases in various industrial scenarios.

Blockchain benefits for businesses in 2019

Here are some of the key evolutionary benefits of blockchain for businesses in 2019

Decentralization moving into apps

Too many applications using a blockchain ledger that relies on a centralized application make the framework prone to single point of failure. The platform becomes vulnerable for tampering before the data is written on the ledger. So, the application logic will be decentralized with no single point of control so that each trading partner can run their own app.

Blockchain will strongly connect to IoT

The convergence between blockchain technology and internet of things will increase as the devices and sensors gathering data will be involved in business transactions based on that data. Blockchain will permit decentralized operations and transactions while preserving trust between all players in the value chain. Companies will be able to create entirely new business models and will be able to obtain much greater value from their IoT investments.

Blockchain and artificial intelligence

In order for AI to function, machines require access to big data. Processing of big data has not been economically viable for many companies, but the scenario will change with blockchain making inroads into this domain. It will provide data authentication on which AI models depend. Data on blockchain platform remains immutable and publicly available. So, it will be more relevant than the data delivered on unproven platforms. Blockchain can provide secure environment to big data owners and complex machine learning algorithms will be developed to help smart devices take advantage of the available data.

Working on blockchain industry image

While it is true that blockchain was created to support cryptocurrencies that cannot function without blockchain, the opposite is not true. The technology has numerous other use cases that are not related to cryptocurrencies in any way. Since cryptos have historically been used for illegitimate purposes by cyber criminals, their bad reputation reflects on blockchain as well. Blockchain development companies and industry will work on improving its image in 2019 by separating blockchain from cryptocurrencies. Many businesses are not willing to adopt blockchain due to its connection with cryptocurrencies. Once they understand the separation between blockchain and crypto, the technology will be able to have much wider adoption across various industry verticals.

High demand for blockchain experts

With wider adoption of blockchain, many businesses will get out of their fears and start applying the technology. As the technology is new and blockchain engineers are few in number, there will be more demand for experts from a reputed Blockchain development company offering industry specific solutions. Blockchain will become attractive to government authorities as it can hold large quantities of data which is available from anywhere in the world. This will make a big difference to what the government is used to.

Blockchain has huge potentials for use in different industry verticals, and we will be able to reap its multitude of benefits in the year 2019 and beyond with the integration of AI, IoT, augmented reality, big data and a lot more.