Blockchain – Overhyped or Colossal Potential?
Various applications of blockchain technologies have been hyped and praised, and nearly everywhere you look, there is a company or start-up touting the benefits of the tech.
Auditing and tax-services firm Deloitte conducted a survey called Breaking Blockchain Open wherein several aspects of blockchain were covered. In their analysis, Ambcrypto.com points out that, while 84% of respondents say blockchain technology is broadly scalable and will eventually achieve mainstream adoption, 44% of the respondents in the same survey claim blockchain is “overhyped.” A total of 1,053 respondents was chosen for the survey, which was conducted across 7 countries, namely, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Mexico and France.
In the current state of the blockchain technology, 44% of the American executives tend to perceive it as overhyped while 39% of the global sample [seen below] expressed a similar view on the technology. The report also stated that about 84% of the participants expressed their optimism towards the adoption of the blockchain technology.
Image via Deloitte
Running a statistical analysis on the survey responses is easy, but assessing the qualitative considerations and trying to predict market adoption is where the magic really occurs. To make it even more challenging, a few interesting employee comments noted that the survey ignored data from start-ups or emerging disruptors. The report stated:
“Some of our colleagues at Deloitte argue that our recent blockchain survey results don’t necessarily tell the whole story and might not adequately reflect the level of innovation infiltrating each industry sector. The reason: The survey focused only on enterprise organizations implementing legacy-constrained solutions, and not on start-ups or emerging disruptors.”
When you look at the overwhelming positive feedback to the questions and categories for potential market adoption, one cannot ignore the kind of seldom-seen positive perspective seen here toward new technology …especially for a solution and platform that, frankly, many don’t fully understand. Is this a case study for the definition of “overhype”? Frankly, with the market innovations underway, one cannot ignore that there seems that a multi-billion dollar revolution is underway!
Interesting when you compare and contrast to a more traditional payment mechanism, i.e. the check, where innovations continue to evolve, but with a fraction of the market hype. The check market is moving toward new platforms for modernization as a means to reduce costs and improve efficiencies via new technologies. It’s great to see innovations on both ends of the market spectrum!