Top Blockchain Trends to Watch in the Industry in 2024
Like most new technologies, blockchain had a relatively slow adoption rate in its early years. From a niche trend only known to nerds on the secluded edge of the internet to a mainstream technological innovation that makes the daily news, blockchain technology has grown significantly in recent years.
Today, there’s so much talk about the blockchain future, with experts and industry analysts trying hard to predict the potential impact of this innovative technology on various industries. So what’s on the horizon for blockchain technology in 2024 and beyond? This post discusses the top blockchain trends to watch out for as blockchain continues to grow and evolve.
- Blockchain technology has evolved from a niche concept to a globally popular digital trend with applicability across various industries.
- The blockchain market has been gaining momentum in recent years both in terms of adoption and market valuation.
- Blockchain is one of the most revolutionary technologies of the 21st century, gaining traction across different industries, from financial services to supply chain management.
- Some of the main blockchain technology trends in recent years include Web3, Decentralized Finance, Blockchain-as-a-Service, and interoperability.
Overview of Blockchain Market Growth
The blockchain technology market has been on an upward trajectory in recent years, with most reports predicting an even more positive outlook for the future. The rising demand justifies growing investment in blockchain development by many organizations. Currently, there are more than 300 million people (about 3.9% of the global population) using blockchain for digital currency transactions, representing a small section of the total blockchain industry. As of July 2023, there were over 85 million blockchain wallets registered worldwide
According to a Fortune Business Insight report, the global blockchain market is expected to grow to about $825.93 billion by 2032 from its current valuation of $27.84 billion in 2024. Another report suggests an even more generous outlook, with an estimated projection of $3.1 trillion for the global blockchain technology market by 2030, compared to $10.02 billion for 2022.
This growth is expected to cut across various sectors and industries, with the infrastructure and protocols sector leading the charge, taking up over 61% of the total revenue. The banking and financial services sector is another potentially significant area of growth.
ReportLinker reports that blockchain banking and financial services grew to $3.07 billion in 2023 from $1.89 billion in 2022. This report accounts for the total revenues earned by public and private blockchain services in the banking and financial industry.
Best Blockchain Development Trends
Blockchain technology offers a platform for building decentralized systems that are transparent, secure and offer enhanced scalability. This has given rise to various blockchain technology trends over the years with numerous applications in both private and public sectors. All businesses have to do is find the most suitable blockchain protocol for their unique use cases. The following are some of the biggest blockchain development trends in recent years.
Web3
Web3 has become the biggest buzzword in the digital world in the past few years. The term refers to the next generation of the internet often advertised as an open and decentralized system that runs on public blockchains.
The Internet in its current form (Web 2.0) consists of websites and applications that run on centralized servers controlled by big tech corporations. Web3 advocates for an internet where users get full control over their data, and are even rewarded with tokens, representing a small stake in the Web3 websites and apps that they use.
Although experts are not certain Web3 will completely replace the Internet in its current form in the future, we might very well end up with a World Wide Web that incorporates both versions of the Internet, democratizing access and data exchange more than we currently have.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a financial system that seeks to bypass the traditional banking industry for a public, peer-to-peer system built on the blockchain. DeFi emerged as a blockchain development trend in 2020 and remains one of the biggest applications of the technology today.
The main goal of Decentralized Finance is to eliminate intermediaries such as banks, brokers, and other traditional financial institutions from transactions, giving individuals direct control over their assets. To achieve this, DeFi blockchain platforms and applications are built with self-executing contracts written directly into the platform code. These consensus mechanisms, known as smart contracts, power transparent transactions without the need for intermediaries.
Many organizations, including established players in the traditional finance industry, have been making bold moves to adopt DeFi in a bid to keep up with growing consumer demands for decentralized control.
Some countries have even made bold advancements by adopting cryptocurrencies as their national currency. With benefits such as cross-border transactions, financial inclusion, better security, and higher remittances, experts predict that DeFi will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years.
Enterprise Blockchain and Blockchain-as-a-Service
Thanks to a rising interest in blockchain for enterprise use cases, Blockchain-as-a-Service is expected to be a big trend in the global blockchain industry in the coming years. The term refers to the provision of pre-configured blockchain networks, development tools, and infrastructure, which will allow developers and businesses to build and deploy their own blockchain applications without necessarily setting up their own blockchain network from scratch.
The rise of Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) as a growing trend in the blockchain app development industry will simplify the process of creating blockchain applications. It will eliminate the need to build complex blockchain infrastructure, making it easier to build and scale blockchain-based solutions without the high upfront cost currently associated with it.
Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence has emerged as one of the biggest trends in software development in recent years, with developers building AI-enabled systems that can perform complex and intelligent tasks.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say Artificial Intelligence and blockchain are the two biggest trends of the modern technological era, and it’s only a matter of time before these two massive technologies shake hands.
One of the ways this blockchain adoption will happen is by training AI algorithms with big data in a blockchain environment. Blockchain will facilitate the seamless transfer of big data for AI training and make the process more economical than it currently is.
Blockchain technology will also provide robust security for AI development, simplifying the entire process of developing complex machine learning algorithms.
Asset Tokenization
Blockchain technology provides a way to represent real-world assets in digital forms. This process, known as asset tokenization, has given rise to what is known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are created using a standardized protocol such as ERC-20 or ERC-721 on the Ethereum blockchain.
Unlike other digital assets or cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens are digital versions of real-world assets such as artwork, real estate, music, and other forms of media. They are completely unique and their value is tied to the asset which they represent.
The tokens provide real proof of ownership or a share of an asset stored immutably on the blockchain. It also makes it easy to transfer ownership of these digital assets on the blockchain. While digital art has been the most popular form of non-fungible tokens traded online, the technology has several other applications across various business industries including real estate, gaming, IP rights protection, event ticketing, and so on.
Metaverse
The Metaverse is an immersive virtual world where users can communicate with each other, work, play, and interact with different forms of digital content. Rather than a single piece of technology, the metaverse is created by a combination of advanced technologies including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and even blockchain technologies.
Blockchain’s tendency to promote decentralization and secure transactions has made it particularly famous for various applications within these virtual worlds. Blockchain technology can be used as the underlying system to power many aspects of the Metaverse such as asset-backed tokens, crypto earnings, payment, virtual real estate, identity authentication, and so on.
Stablecoins
This is one of the latest trends in blockchain investment. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that seek to solve one of the biggest problems with crypto investments which is volatility. As blockchain technology continues to grow popular, most people are wary of buying digital coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum, due to the price fluctuations that have caused many to lose their investments in the past.
Stablecoins are special cryptocurrencies whose value has been pegged to fiat money or specific physical assets. Consequently, their value will remain virtually the same, rather than fluctuating violently like regular crypto tokens, which makes them perfect for people looking to invest in blockchain technology while avoiding some of the associated risks.
Interoperability/Multichain Scaling
In the past, individual blockchain ecosystems operated as independent protocols designed for specific use cases. This trend is charging as more players within the industry seek to build projects that promote interoperability and multi-chain scaling, allowing users to seamlessly transition between different blockchain systems.
In blockchain, interoperability allows different blockchain networks and their associated cloud infrastructure to seamlessly interact and exchange information with each other.
Blockchain projects like Polygon and Polkadot are among several others focused on building cross-functional blockchain systems, towards a fully integrated blockchain ecosystem that delivers a better-optimized user experience.
Blockchain Technology Trends in Different Industries
Blockchain technology remains one of the most revolutionary inventions of the 21st century. Although it’s only just starting to gain traction, this technology has become quite trendy in certain industries where its unique attributes such as decentralization, disruption, and security make it particularly attractive. The following are some of the new trends in blockchain technology across various sectors.
Financial Services
The banking and financial services industry was one of the early adopters of blockchain technology. Today, up to 37% of the global blockchain solutions are concentrated in this market. DeFi is one of the biggest trends in the global financial services industry.
This emerging financial system seeks to recreate (and improve) traditional financial systems by bypassing intermediaries and giving individuals direct control over their assets.
This intrinsic nature of DeFi puts it at direct loggerheads with the traditional banking sector, many banks and other financial services industries are starting to explore the possibilities of adopting DeFi technologies for their operations while some are partnering with DeFi startups or investing in them to gain exposure in the space.
One of the recent developments in the financial sector is the adoption of stablecoins. While popular digital coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin are known for their lack of stability, Stablecoins are special tokens that maintain a stable value because they’re pegged to a fiat currency.
As a result, they are fast becoming popular as an alternative method to process payments and store of value. The central banks for many countries have even created Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), analogous to the fiat currency of their country, potentially moving forward towards a cashless future.
Healthcare
Blockchain technology has found numerous applications in the healthcare industry. One of the latest trends in this industry is in securing healthcare data and medical records. The digitization of healthcare data was the biggest game changer for both patients and medical practitioners. Blockchain technology adds a layer of confidentiality and data reliability to digital health data, thanks to its secure nature.
Estonia was one of the earliest adopters of blockchain technology in the healthcare industry. The country adopted blockchain technology to secure patient records in 2012. Now, over a decade down the line, more than 95% of healthcare records in Estonia are stored on secure ledgers.
With blockchain, data is stored on multiple nodes, which makes it difficult for malicious actors to gain unauthorized access or compromise the entire system.
In addition to securing patient data, blockchain technology can be used to create integrated payment systems and drug supply chains, with transparent records, promoting accountability and trust.
Media and Entertainment
Blockchain technology became cool and trendy a few years ago when enthusiasts discovered the possibility of converting real-world media into crypto tokens. This concept known as tokenization gave rise to a cool fad known as non-fungible tokens.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a unique form of digital assets stored on the blockchain. Each NFT has a unique identity and represents a specific item which can be anything from art, to music, video clips, game items, and so on.
Apart from being tradable on an NFT marketplace, non-fungible tokens opened up a world of possibilities in the media and entertainment industry, by providing irrefutable proof of ownership for these assets.
This new trend can help artists and creators in the media and entertainment industry solve problems associated with digital piracy and copyright infringement. Blockchain helps solve revenue problems by cutting out intermediaries such as content aggregators or digital platforms, allowing creators to truly own the content they produce and make money directly from it.
Government
Governments all over the world were initially skeptical of blockchain technology. Cryptocurrency was particularly seen as a threat and many countries quickly introduced legislation that outlawed it. However, the many potential applications and benefits of blockchain technology have become apparent over the years and governments are changing their stance towards it.
Recognizing the secure nature of blockchain technology, many governments are now building blockchain-based solutions to store and manage their sensitive information. In addition to providing safe data storage for the government sector and agencies, blockchain offers several other benefits such as reducing resource consumption, promoting transparency, and combating corruption in sensitive government systems such as grant disbursements, electronic voting, etc.
Gaming
The world of gaming is another area where blockchain technology has gained significant traction in recent years with new blockchain gaming projects like Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and Iluvium gaming mainstream popularity. According to a survey by BGA Games, the number of blockchain-based games has increased by over 2,000% within the past year, taking up a whopping 52% of blockchain activity.
NFT-powered play-to-earn games have grown even more popular, allowing players to earn non-fungible tokens within the game. These tokens are tradeable and can be converted to real money on cryptocurrency exchanges.
In-game assets such as game skins, weapons, avatars, vehicles, and virtual real estate have also taken on a new life thanks to the rise of NFTs. More than just assets owned by players within a game, players can now own them for real and store them in their crypto wallets as NFTs. These items can be transferred from one blockchain-based game to the other, kept as collectibles, or resold for cash.
eCommerce
As a heavily digital-forward industry, it didn’t take long for the eCommerce industry to adopt blockchain technology for some core aspects of operations. The most significant use case of blockchain in eCommerce is in supply chain management.
This sector of the industry requires both confidentiality and transparency, two unique qualities that characterize blockchain-based systems. By building supply chains on Blockchain technology, eCommerce businesses can track the entire journey of a product, from raw materials to the final consumer.
Blockchain technology provides transparent oversight in the eCommerce industry while ensuring product authenticity and quality. Blockchain can also help secure eCommerce transactions and create tamper-proof records that are difficult to manipulate.
Check Out Blockchain Solutions from CrustLab
As these blockchain technology trends show, this technology introduces several exciting opportunities to the digital world. These benefits cut across various industries and sectors. As the world continues to head towards a blockchain-powered future, every forward-thinking business should consider the different ways they can adopt blockchain technology for their benefit.
At CrustLab, we have fully embraced a blockchain-powered digital future, combining our experience in software development with blockchain to help businesses bring their ideas to life and help them stay in tune with future trends.
We collaborate with blockchain startups and enterprises across different sectors to create successful and profitable blockchain solutions. Contact us to learn more about our blockchain development services and discover how they can benefit your business.
