One of the technologies that will potentially have the biggest impact in the coming years has arrived. It's not social media, it's not robotics, nor artificial intelligence, but rather the technology behind the cryptocurrency called blockchain. I believe this is the future of the Internet and it holds great promise for business, society and all of you! Over the past few decades we have been surrounded by information about technology. Analogy: Now, when we send emails, photos, pdf files, we are actually not sending the original but a copy of it. But when it comes to assets like cash, votes, contracts, and loyalty, sending you a copy is a really bad idea... When I send you a hundred dollars, it's important that I don't have the money yet, and I'm not sending it to anyone else. This problem has long been called “Double-Spending” by cryptographers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To avoid this, we rely on large intermediaries such as banks to establish trust within our society. These intermediaries perform all our business transactions from record keeping, identification and authentication. But the biggest problem is that it is centralized, which means it can be hacked. Which big companies like Equifax, Target, and Home Depot have learned the hard way. They exclude people from the global economy who don't have enough money to open a bank account. They slow things down when it comes to transferring money from the city, as well as taking a whopping 10-20% cut to transfer money to another country. But what if there was a technology available to everyone where all kinds of butts could be moved, transferred and transacted without involving large intermediaries? Well, in early 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto developed the first and still most important cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. Definition: It is a peer-to-peer system in which transactions take place directly between users without intermediaries. There is no central authority controlling the bitcoin network or your funds, you have complete ownership of your wallet and can transact wherever and whenever you want, without any interference. In other words, it is decentralized. How does this change the future? Bitcoin, like any other cryptocurrency on the market, is used to facilitate payments of any value, in real time, with little to no transfer fees. It runs on a technology called blockchain which is a decentralized digital ledger, operated by miners whose computers main purpose is to crack codes to "receive" more Bitcoin. Its popularity is based solely on the concept that it is completely free from interference from the government or authorities and because it can facilitate anonymous transactions. Cause and effect: This means that cryptocurrency transactions cannot be faked or reversed. Furthermore, due to the low cost of use, it makes it more reliable and efficient than global currencies. The fact that it is decentralized means they are available to everyone, while banks can impose limits on who can open an account, how many can be sent or received and from where. Eliminate the Remittance Scam We are all aware of the ridiculous fees for transferring money between banks, especially if the transactions take place across borders. These transfers can usually take up to a week and sometimes even longer. It also involves clearinghouses and correspondent banks, making the process much more complicated and time-consuming. The use of cryptocurrency, on the other hand, eliminates all these obstacles and both domestic and cross-border transfers can be madeinstantly with minimal costs. Furthermore, the technology used to perform the regular transfer of cryptocurrencies, called "The Ledger" can be used to transfer fiat currencies such as the US dollar, in the same way, meaning that the need for the involvement of banks becomes obsolete. This also helps migrants from third world and developing countries who have moved to Western countries to send remittances to their families. Example: With international transfer fees exceeding 10%, this places a huge burden on those who are less privileged people. Cryptocurrency and ledger technology can solve this problem and save them a fortune by allowing instant transactions with a flat fee of 0.0007 US DOLLAR. 2. Eliminate Security Risks Equifax is a multibillion-dollar company that specializes in credit monitoring and fraud prevention services, yet it was still involved in a cybersecurity breach, revealing Social Security numbers, credit card information, and other data from more than 19,000 Canadian customers and approximately 150 million customers in the United States. This shows how vulnerable and dubious the security of companies is outside of blockchain technology. Because of these concerns about credit card fraud, many online merchants are forced to abandon good deals. The problem related to fraud is so common in global transactions that many companies do not accept international payments. With digital payments like bitcoin, the transfer cannot be canceled once made, eliminating the risk of fraud and thus allowing you to sell worldwide. This also protects your personal identity as it is not linked to any financial identity and uses pseudonymous information when making transactions. 3. It empowers people by allowing ordinary men to invest. Ultimately, the power of blockchain can bring a large percentage of the world's poor into the 21st century by allowing them to participate in the global economy through cryptocurrency. Allowing ordinary men to invest in cryptocurrency can solve one of the biggest problems facing people in the world. third world countries are facing. People in some countries are poor because their money is worthless, and it's usually due to the corrupt government printing money en masse. This is the current situation in Venezuela, which suffers from inflation and hyperinflation exceeding 1600%. Their money is worth so little that it takes almost half a month's salary to buy a big mac at McDonald's. This causes some citizens of these countries to lose confidence in their currency and often resort to converting their cash into a more stable currency, such as the US dollar. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin offer those living in unstable economic conditions another option to protect themselves from these problems. So, while these currencies continue to devalue due to unstable economies, cryptocurrency offers much better stability, which increases in price. Conclusion All in all, cryptocurrency as a whole has proven itself worthy of a new paradigm that can change the future of our economy for the better. Whether it's enabling real-time remittances around the world with low-cost flat rates of fractions of a cent compared to today's traditional fees of 10% - 20% on the entire amount, eliminating security risks by allowing people to separate their financial identity from their personal one and not have their sensitive information stored in vulnerable centralized servers, or something as profound as giving the common man the rights he deserves.