We have talked about the blockchain in prior articles. Many people associate the "blockchain" with "Bitcoin" but the blockchain is far more than Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a counter financial cyclical innovation that arose directly after and as a result of the 2007/8 financial crash and depression. We refer to it here as counter-cyclical because it has a deflationary monetary supply built into the code. It is not subject to human, governmental or political motivations that can inflate the money supply to unprecedented levels of indebtedness - in a monetary experiment - that devalues the worth of the currency, causes inevitable inflation and arguably impacts those who are the least well off, the most, over the mid to long term. Bitcoin's supply is fixed and known. It is finite. It is often referred to as a "store of value" - the equivalent of digital gold, except more easily stored on a comparative basis, more liquid and transportable, not to mention an increasingly globally accepted currency and asset class in the westernized world.

Bitcoin is however just the tip of the iceberg of changes and innovations spurred by the blockchain that will sweep the world and impact every industry on the planet. The biggest disruption in finance in the last two hundred years is unfolding now. It will be commonplace soon to be able to send monies for free or fractions of a cent 24/7 to anyone in the world. Businesses will be able to accept payments for cents vs paying 2-4% in fees for every sale. Individuals can access fair market interest rates in exchange for depositing monies with crypto banks. You can do that right now. Yes, these do carry more risk but with over $250 billion dollars accessing the decentralized financial markets today these risks will become more manageable. Insurance products are already being created to manage this risk. This industry is still in its early evolutionary phase and as the products and technology mature so will the ease of use, accessibility and safety.

Another industry that is being reinvented on the blockchain is the gaming industry. In one year, Axie Infinity, a blockchain gaming company is generating more revenue than some of the largest gaming companies in the world. More, many more such ventures are coming. The economics or tokenomics of these ventures allows users to also interact financially whether it is to secure the network, purchase games, buy/sell various items within the gaming ecosystems, compete and generate income.

The so called "metaverse" which you may have heard Mark Zuckerberg mention is what Facebook is intending to re-invent itself on and around. This so called "metaverse" however will thrive even more readily in the blockchain ecosystem where you will not be bombarded by ads as you surely will in the Facebook ecosystem. No doubt there will be a place for both in the future. However for the purposes of this blog article we are just pointing out the immense potential that is being unleashed by blockchain technology in the gaming and future metaverse industry.

When you add the impact of blockchain in real estate, insurance, art, collectbles, supply chains of every kind, security, data storage, healthcare, transportation, smart cities, peer to peer exchanges for every kind of market, the potential impact, innovation and disruption is on a massive scale.

The next 5-10 years are going to see changes that will exceed the impact of the internet on global commerce, especially when you add into the mix, the advances in AI, quantum computing and 5G which will all support and accellerate what is possible.