Blockchain is booming, why haven’t the giants entered the market yet?

The popularity of blockchain is due to the emergence of digital currency. The high returns have attracted countless investors who want to get rich overnight. Data shows that the ICO rate of return of Ethereum is 689 times. However, there are huge risks behind the high multiple of ICO, because there are no relevant laws and regulations for ICO. Many ICO projects are purely because of investors' novelty and interest in digital currency, and they use the lack of supervision to carry out illegal fundraising. After ICO raises a certain amount of funds, there are risks such as the project cannot be implemented and the team is disbanded. According to a senior industry insider, a group of people in China even went abroad to release fake ICOs to make money.

Blockchain technology has not produced any blockbuster products. Apart from its several major features and digital currency, there are no products that can leave an impression on people. Since there is no corresponding regulatory agency, digital currency seems to have been labeled as "chaotic". Now the regulatory policy is being improved, but it will take some time to be introduced.

Digital currency is essentially a derivative of blockchain. To issue digital currency, one needs to have one’s own blockchain project. In such a situation, “those” ICOs will also publish white papers on blockchain technology, fabricate a usage scenario, and use this to launch ICOs to raise money.

The future of blockchain is "Internet of Everything"

At present, blockchain applications can be used for the registration and transfer of equity, debt and property rights, the trading and execution of securities and financial contracts, and even gambling and anti-counterfeiting. It can even be applied in the field of social governance, including identity authentication, notarization, arbitration, auditing, domain names, logistics, medical care, mail, visas, voting and other fields, and the scope of application can be expanded to the entire society. In the future, blockchain technology may become a bottom-level protocol for the "Internet of Everything".

The current domestic market competition pattern and independent intellectual property rights system of blockchain have been initially formed, and the relevant technologies and application ecosystems are being implemented. Only a small number of enterprises and application projects have begun to make profits, but the overall situation shows a good trend of accelerated development. The current market scale is not large, and most enterprises and projects are still in the initial investment stage. Compared with Europe and the United States, due to the lack of national policy guidance and support, local blockchain enterprises are still in a disadvantageous state, and there is still a large gap in technology, industry and application.

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The current gap between the international and domestic applications of blockchain is not very large, and both are in a relatively early stage.

Many blockchain technologies nowadays, even if the technology is good, still require some time for engineering. It is not very difficult to make a demonstration project, which can be completed in a few months. But it is not so simple to put it online, such as making a payment system. If the calculation is wrong, you may have to pay hundreds of millions or even be criminally liable. Due to legal and various reasons, it is not so easy to truly achieve the core system. Nowadays, many blockchain applications are basically so-called "side systems", which are not so important systems. If they fail, they can be revived manually. This is the current trend, and it may take a long time to mature.

Giants: Waiting and watching becomes the mainstream

In summary, the blockchain industry is still in its early stages, and there are not many products that have been put into use. Many projects have only released a white paper. In addition, the projects that have been put into use do not belong to the core system. There will be changes in the future, but the scope of disruption is relatively small.

The emergence of digital currency has resulted in a mix of good and bad blockchain projects. It is impossible to determine whether a project is real or fake before it is implemented, which has made the overall industry unclear. A major screening is still needed to eliminate those companies that want to use ICO to raise money.

It is reported that some giants have invested a small amount of money to run it. Microsoft has launched a product called blockchain as a service in its Azure cloud, which is essentially a hosting service for blockchain startups and workloads. Most of Alphabet's business activities in the market are carried out through its venture capital institution GV, which has funded startups including Blockchain (company name) and Ripple, a distributed payment network used by banks. Google's artificial intelligence department DeepMind is also using a ledger similar to blockchain to track and protect medical data.

Among the many giants, IBM is the one that has made the most moves in blockchain projects. Last month, it said it was building blockchain technology for seven of Europe's largest banks to promote international trade for small and medium-sized enterprises. Its CEO Ginni Rometty said at a conference in January that IBM is using blockchain internally to track financing and is also working with large retailers and shippers to implement blockchain in global logistics systems.

It is imperative for giants to enter the blockchain market. Currently, most of these giants are waiting for an opportunity. After all, blockchain is a disruptive technology, and giants will not let this piece of fat slip away from their eyes. The current chaotic market is also an opportunity for some blockchain companies that are doing practical things to gain a firm foothold before the giants get involved.