7 Blockchain Trends to Watch in 2022

Blockchain technology is more popular now than ever before. Already, industries ranging from finance to medicine to cybersecurity have leveraged blockchain technologies and principles to reach their goals or improve their products.

However, blockchain won’t just grow in terms of how many crypto tokens are available to invest in. Indeed, it’s likely there’ll be several blockchain trends to watch in 2022 and beyond. Let’s take a look at those trends one by one.

Blockchain as a Service

Perhaps the most interesting future development for blockchain technology is the launch of blockchain as a service product and platform. Blockchain as a service platform should let businesses focus on or take advantage of blockchain technology without having to create their own blockchain infrastructure or servers.

For instance, a company could use a blockchain server with a working blockchain network to secure smart contracts, record transactions, and perform other tasks. They can rent that blockchain’s use from a blockchain provider.

There are many benefits to using blockchain as a service platform, like:

• Reducing complexity and costs for companies
• Letting companies or individuals take advantage of blockchain tech without having to adjust their network solutions or infrastructure
• Improving business process transparency and security
• And more

“Blockchain technology is so applicable to so many industries that successful companies will have no choice but to adopt it,” says Drew Sherman, VP of Marketing at Carvaygo. In the future, odds are many companies will take advantage of blockchain as a service platform to get in on this technology without having to drastically increase their tech overhead or tech costs.

Eco-Friendly Blockchain Mining/Processes

Many reporters have rightfully pointed out that blockchain technology is bad for the environment. Simply put, it takes a lot of electricity to mine Bitcoins and other crypto tokens, which are vital for the blockchain ecosystem and overall decentralized finance market.

However, many crypto tech companies and crypto token providers are looking into green or eco-friendly alternatives. One example is Cardano cryptocurrency or ADA, which is the third most valuable crypto token on the market and which consumes much less electricity than Bitcoin (the most valuable crypto coin on the market today).

For comparison, Bitcoin mining and other processes consume about 77.78 TW of electricity per hour. In contrast, Cardano consumes just 0.006 TW per hour. In the next few years, we may see more crypto and blockchain tech companies adopt eco-friendly mining processes or policies in order to avoid bad press and to draw more users to their chosen tokens or platforms.

Blockchains and NFTs

Naturally, blockchain technology will continue to integrate with NFT or non fungible token platforms. NFTs are digitized tokens that prove ownership over a physical or virtual asset. While NFTs reached their peak popularity over the last few months, they have since declined in popularity now that the hype has died down.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing! Now that NFTs are more understood by the public, they can be used for their best cases, such as securing digital ownership of artwork or other virtual assets that can be easily duplicated or stolen.

Blockchains work perfectly with NFTs since NFT transactions or serial numbers can be encoded in blockchains. In other words, blockchain technology can further increase the inherent security and non-fungibility that NFTs provide. “That security could lead to extra growth to the NFT industry, as well,” says Chris Bridges, CEO of VITAL.

Blockchain-Based Insurance for Crypto Savings

Some companies are leaning into blockchain-based insurance platforms and services. In a nutshell, blockchain-based insurance platforms can be used to guarantee cryptocurrency savings as investors put their coins into dedicated investment companies.

This is a major part of the growing decentralized finance or DeFi ecosystem. Certain cryptocurrencies, like ETH, Solana, Polkadot, and Cardano are already taking advantage of blockchain-based insurance. Not only does this provide peace of mind for crypto investors, but it also helps to ensure high stability for the normally volatile crypto market.

“In time, this may help crypto tokens to become more accepted by the general public and the worldwide market,” says Alex Wang, CEO of Ember Fund.

Ethereum Scaling

Lots of fuss has been made about Ethereum’s eventual scaling and growth. In theory, this token will become even better than Bitcoin in several respects, including its scalability and economic viability.

Throughout 2022, we expect Ethereum to continue to scale up. Eventually, this coin will be bolstered by Layer 2 technologies, such as roll-ups. In another year or two, we could indeed see Ethereum take the top spot of the most popular and used crypto token away from Bitcoin – something many people could never have expected!

Web3 Integration

With Web 3.0 on the rise, it’s likely that blockchain will become an even more crucial or cornerstone part of the future Internet. Blockchain technology will increase decentralization across the board, giving more control back to individual users and away from big companies that control most information, such as Google or Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft.

“Decentralization is the overall dream of all cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology,” says Adam Bém, Co-Founder and COO of Victoria VR. “As time goes on, blockchain will get closer and closer to that ultimate goal.”

Vaccine Tracking (Plus Other Medical Uses)

Lastly, blockchain technology is already being used to track vaccine delivery from manufacturers to critical patients. However, this development will likely continue to evolve and become even more important in the coming years.

Vaccine tracking is crucial so that vaccine doses aren’t stolen or delivered to the wrong people. By using blockchain contracts, medical organizations can guarantee that vaccine doses reach the right individuals. This principle can be extended to other core medical supplies like spare blood, organs for organ donations, and much more.

Blockchain technology can even be used to secure patient medical records and other important information. All in all, the blockchain can benefit the medical and healthcare industries in ways that go beyond profit; it can help them save lives and provide better services to their patients.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the above blockchain trends are just the start. This innovative technology will probably be a cornerstone for all of Web 3.0 and future digital evolutions. Decentralized blockchain technology could be the way many industries will grow – so it’s a good idea to continue learning about blockchain sooner rather than later.

Any financial information or opinions contained in this article are the author’s own and do not represent endorsement or support of any products or services by SmallBizClub.com.