The great pide

A significant pided exists between the cryptocurrency and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) world, and the world of regulated business. The latter consists of banks and financial institutions working collectively to assess market potential and operational efficiencies.

Both sides of this pision have taken advantage of the momentum around blockchain to further their interests. The blockchain ecosystem has challenged the status quo and defied all odds to make a point—often behaving like an adolescent. It is driven by new business models, promises of disintermediation, and interesting technological innovations. As blockchain gains momentum, the value of bitcoin and other cryptoassets is seeing a meteoric rise, and now that ICO has emerged, it has defied the traditional regulatory framework around fundraising.

On the enterprise side, there are a growing number of industry initiatives around clearing and settlement to enable faster settlement and interbank transfers, transparency through digitization, symmetric dissemination of information in supply chains, and creating adhoc trust between Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

There's a common theme here—that blockchain is here to stay. As it continues to evolve and generate innovative solutions for industry use cases, it will keep inching towards maturity and deliver on its promises of efficiency and significant cost savings built on the foundation of trust.