Blockchain Tech Holds Promise, Despite DailyCoin’s Crypto Crash

This year’s annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland saw a further favorable change in attitudes towards blockchain technology. While crypto firms did not appear in as large numbers as they did in previous years, several attendees highlighted the potential of blockchain technology.

PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman, who joined a panel discussing the FTX crash, wanted to distinguish between crypto and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT).

“It’s important not to confuse cryptocurrencies and CBDCs, stablecoins and DLT… they’re very different,” says Schulman.
Despite the crypto crash, “the underlying technology has performed perfectly,” Schulman added. “The promise of a distributed ledger is that it can be faster and cheaper to settle transactions simultaneously without intermediaries. That’s an important thing.”

Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange, echoed those statements. She believes blockchain can make issuing stocks and shares more efficient. Also, blockchain can allow near-instant settlement of trades.

“There’s a way now that some of the technologies have been adopted and used to really make the processes much more efficient,” Martin said.
The panelists agreed that blockchain technology is here to stay, despite the volatility of crypto and slow mainstream adoption.

However, another upcoming technology seems to have taken some of the steam out of the excitement for blockchain. Panelists Schulman, Martin and State Street’s Ronald O’Hanley said the technology they were most excited about was artificial intelligence (AI).

Fewer crypto firms in Davos this year

Many firms involved in cryptocurrency were notably absent from Davos, indicating that the market crash was taking its toll. There were fewer crypto firms at Davos than in recent years as markets recovered from the FTX crash.

The crypto presence has been impossible to ignore in recent years. Crypto companies took over stores, shops and cafes. Their marketing was all over the small town where the World Economic Forum hosts its annual meeting. This year, the crypto presence at Davos was much more muted.

After a $1.4 trillion loss in the crypto market crash, crypto firms seem more conservative in how they spend money.

On the other side

• A smaller crypto presence at Davos could indicate that the recent crash helped regulate some of the industry’s excesses. Less money spent on marketing can mean more money for developers actually building new technology.

Why you should care

Despite a smaller crypto presence at WEF2023, the attitude towards blockchain technology remains positive. This strongly indicates its long-term potential to transform technology and finance.

See the original on DailyCoin