When will the blockchain lift-off?
According to some of its more evangelical proponents, the blockchain is a rocket that’s ready for launch. It’s been assembled, it’s on the launch pad, there’s a countdown fighting to be heard over the growing roar of the mighty engines as they begin to strain against the shackles of the traditional economy’s gravity. The world’s media is watching on, pens and microphones posed, ready to deliver a verdict. In this analysis, we are currently in the strange moment of calm in mission control: all the work has been done, now it is just a question of waiting for the rocket to rise and hoping that all of the hard work isn’t derailed by a crucial factor being missed in an equation.
It’s not a bad analogy as they go. We have indeed reached a point in the history of the blockchain where it either takes off or turns out to be, to use another firework analogy, a bit of a damp squib.
The point is that at this stage there a lot of very excited people talking about the blockchain’s potential to change the way that a lot of industries work. There are also a lot of really interesting ideas that are looking for support, some of which have the genuine potential to deliver.
“What everyone’s waiting to see is the moment of lift-off”
Waiting for ignition
That catalyst could come from several places. A recent article shows that Canada’s biggest bank is exploring the launch of its cryptocurrency trading platform. The Royal Bank of Cana (RBC) is said to have published at least 27 blockchain-related patents in the past three years, including credit scores, vehicle records, digital rewards and loan offerings.
Project Libra looked set to play a major role, but it’s route to launch is proving to be a little less smooth than initially suggested. The thing is though, there are so many people looking at blockchain from so many perspectives that while there could be a single push that provides the impetus to move it into the stratosphere, it seems more likely that momentum is going to come from a variety of smaller sources.
From our perspective, the project is about far more than just the blockchain for the blockchain’s sake. The PermianChain is connecting the entire energy chain investment model for a tokenization process that will introduce a digital security that represents shares in oil and gas campaigns that host containerized data centres powering blockchain servers and cloud computing. By digitising the energy sector’s investment model, we will:
- help reduce administrative and brokerage costs
- get closer control on wastage
- make it easier for smaller investors to be involved in the sector without precluding the involvement of traditional investors
- make it easier for producers to manage their assets efficiently all the way through the process
Any one of those ambitions would have been significant were it not for the blockchain framework and the efficiency gains it potentially creates.
But this is just how we are looking at the oil and gas sector. Organizations of all types and sizes all over the world are looking at ways of utilizing the blockchain and, without sounding too evangelical, it seems likely that it is only a matter of time before it starts to rise and proliferate value across the global economy.
“We believe the blockchain economy has reached the trough in its cycle and is posed for global growth and expansion.” — Mohamed El-Masri, Co-Founder and CEO
We are a go, tower cleared
It may well be that there is not a single moment that we will be able to put our fingers on and say this is the point where blockchain entered the mainstream. Given some of the challenges that crypto has faced, it is not too surprising that some people are a little reticent about embracing it too closely, too soon.
It also seems unlikely that it will rise in the way that some evangelists believe, like a majestic rocket through the clear blue sky. What does seem probable is that at some point in five years we will look back and realise that it has contributed massively to global economic activity.
PermianChain Technologies is a pioneer member of the Blockchain Research Institute. PermianChain is investigating ways to harness the power of blockchain technology, data science and artificial intelligence to digitize, tokenize and monetize proven but undeveloped natural resources, starting with oil and gas. The PermianChain, which already has secured oil and gas reserves to be listed on its platform, intends to unlock liquidity to revolutionise the way that oil and gas reserves are funded, produced, bought and sold on a permissioned-access blockchain. The firm is currently in the process of applying to for its regulated digital securities trading and investment platform.
