Blockchain is entering the era of “derivatives”

In the past, when we talked about blockchain, we usually took it for granted to associate it with digital currency. It seems that digital currency must be the only destination of blockchain. It is treasonous to talk about blockchain without digital currency. However, now, such a treasonous scene is becoming mainstream. The phenomenon of blockchain being blockchain and digital currency being digital currency is happening more and more around us.

Whether it is the metaverse or NFT, we can actually classify them into the category of blockchain. Blockchain has entered the era of derivatives dominated by diversified development from the era of digital currency as the ultimate destination. It must be said that this is the main sign of the maturity of blockchain development. Because it is the continuous emergence of blockchain "derivatives" that allows us to understand more about what blockchain is and what blockchain can do.

Therefore, it is a good thing that blockchain has entered the era of "derivatives". However, we need to note that we should look at the blockchain entering the era of "derivatives" from a completely new perspective, rather than just seeing the blockchain's "derivatives" era as something similar to the "Internet +" era.

Blockchain "derivatives" are not equivalent to "Internet + "

In the current blockchain market, we see two factions. The first faction sees blockchain as a technology and continues to develop blockchain technology, trying to find more new ways to apply blockchain through technological breakthroughs; the second faction sees blockchain as an application. They do not do blockchain technology research and development, but only blindly look for the implementation and application of blockchain. It is worth noting that the huge investment required for blockchain technology research and development has eventually led more and more blockchain players to turn to the second faction.

At first glance, this is not a problem. However, if we analyze it carefully, we will find that the so-called blockchain application-oriented players are actually trapped in a vicious circle similar to "Internet +". With such a mindset as the leading factor, not only can the blockchain not be brought into a new stage of development, but it will even lead the development of the blockchain into a dead end. The reason is that blockchain "derivatives" are not equivalent to "Internet +".

The maturity of blockchain is far from reaching the level of the Internet. Although people have gradually become more aware of blockchain after several baptisms, we still cannot deny that blockchain is still a relatively immature and primitive form of technology. This is not only because the technology of blockchain itself is still primitive, but also because the environment in which blockchain exists is not yet fully developed, which is a major reason.

If blockchain is to achieve true maturity, it needs the advent of the digital age. In such a digital age, both the Internet economy and the real economy can be presented in the form of numbers and data. At this time, the function and role of blockchain in data transmission can be maximized. However, what kind of development state are we experiencing now? It can be said that even the most basic digital economy era has not been completed and realized.

At such a time when blockchain is still in its infancy, it is too early to talk about the maturity of blockchain. When blockchain is still so primitive and immature, we do not study blockchain technology in depth and seek development opportunities through technological breakthroughs, but only regard blockchain as a gimmick and concept, and blindly carry out "blockchain +". On the surface, we are engaged in blockchain, but in fact, we are doing the Internet. In the long run, not only will blockchain lose good development opportunities, but it will even lead the development of blockchain into a dead end.

The status of blockchain is not as high as that of the Internet. One of the important reasons why the Internet can have such a profound impact and change people's production and imbalance is that the Internet has established its dominant position, especially the Internet has been accepted by most people as a basic existence. Unlike the Internet, which is widely recognized, blockchain is still a niche existence, and even at some times, blockchain has not yet been truly recognized by everyone.

When the status of blockchain has not yet been recognized, we see that many people, even many blockchain players, still regard blockchain as a new technology similar to other types. In many cases, blockchain appears at the same time as new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. The emergence of blockchain together with these technologies shows us that people do not have a clear understanding of blockchain; on the other hand, it shows us that the status of blockchain has not yet been truly established.

The author believes that when the status of blockchain is not recognized and respected like the Internet, we blindly use blockchain to deeply integrate with other external industries. Not only can we not maximize the functions and effects of blockchain, but even the functions and effects of new technologies that appear with blockchain cannot be maximized. From this perspective, it is also inappropriate to simply regard blockchain as an existence similar to "Internet +".

The completeness of blockchain is not as good as that of the Internet. The advent of any era, or in other words, any era, must be the achievement and realization of a complete and widely recognized ecosystem. This is the case with the Internet era. One of the important reasons why we call the Internet era the Internet era is that the Internet has formed a relatively complete and diverse ecosystem, and under such an ecosystem, every aspect of people's production and life can be included.

As mentioned above, blockchain is still a relatively niche existence. To put it more exaggeratedly, it is not even as good as the Internet 20 years ago. When blockchain cannot form a complete and diversified ecosystem, if we still simply compare blockchain with the Internet, or even use the thinking and logic of "Internet +" to develop blockchain, it will not only fail to promote the normal development of blockchain, but will even lead blockchain into a dead end of concepts and marketing gimmicks.

Earlier, I had a view that only when blockchain builds a huge ecosystem, in which we can see traces of blockchain anytime and anywhere, can we use "blockchain +" to do the "Internet +" work we did in the past. If blockchain is still just sporadic and isolated applications, and has not formed a huge, complete and coordinated system, then we are only implementing blockchain with the "Internet +" thinking, which will only lead blockchain into a dead end.

When blockchain cannot compete with the Internet in so many aspects, then at this time, the so-called blockchain we see is entering the era of derivatives, which will only lead the development of blockchain into a dead end. In the long run, blockchain will not only fail to achieve long-term development, but will even be completely reduced to concepts and gimmicks. Therefore, we need to use new ways and methods to prevent blockchain from entering the era of derivatives.

In the era of blockchain derivatives, technology is still the driving force

The author believes that the "Internet +" era is actually an era driven by concepts and gimmicks. In such an era, as long as you can come up with sufficiently novel ideas, you can get capital and attention, and you can get traffic. In essence, "Internet +" is an era driven by marketing. It is worth noting that this is in the context of the maturity of the Internet industry. Judging from the development status of blockchain, we still need to use technology as the internal driving force and use it to find "derivatives" of blockchain in order to achieve long-term development.

The "soil" of blockchain is not really mature. The author believes that blockchain technology still has huge room for development. One of the important reasons is that its soil is not really mature and perfect. When the "soil" of blockchain is not really mature, there is a possibility of evolution in the development of blockchain. As mentioned above, the maturity of blockchain requires the advent of the digital economy era. However, the current digital economy has not reached a mature level.

When the digital economy is still immature, the blockchain technology it breeds is also immature and primitive. In the future, as the digital economy continues to develop and improve, we will also see the continuous progress and improvement of blockchain technology, and as blockchain technology improves and evolves, we will also see the emergence of more new species derived from blockchain.

Simply put, the continuous evolution of blockchain technology has led to the emergence of different blockchain applications. As long as blockchain technology continues to evolve, blockchain derivatives will continue to evolve. From this perspective, we still need to regard the iteration and update of technology as the core of the blockchain "derivatives" era.

The "status" of blockchain has not really been established. As mentioned above, when we mention blockchain now, we usually regard it as equal to other new technologies. In fact, is blockchain like this? Obviously, no. A truly mature blockchain should be superior to other new technologies, and can connect other new technologies in series, or even integrate other new technologies together.

When people look at blockchain, they hold the same mindset as they do other new technologies, which only means that blockchain technology still has room for development. It still does not allow people to see the difference between it and other new technologies, and it does not take on the function and role of integrating and connecting other new technologies. On the other hand, blockchain technology still has a lot of room for development.

It is for this reason that we say that when blockchain enters the era of "derivatives", it is still an era that needs to be driven by technology. Only by continuously improving blockchain technology and continuously establishing its "leadership" position can the development of blockchain be brought into a new stage of development. Of course, in such a process, we still need to use the development and evolution of technology as the basic driving force.

The "ecosystem" of blockchain is not connected to form a network. A mature ecosystem is very important for any technology. This is not only true for blockchain, but also for the Internet. Imagine if the Internet ecosystem is not formed, can we see the current Internet players building large platforms one after another? Can they gather all kinds of traffic on their own platforms? Obviously, they can't.

Therefore, the maturity and perfection of the ecology have led to the maturity of Internet technology and truly achieved the advent of the Internet era. The same is true for blockchain. Although we have seen that blockchain has been implemented and applied in many scenarios, and in many scenarios, blockchain has brought us different experiences. However, most of these blockchain applications are isolated and scattered, and are not connected in series. How to solve it? The author believes that we still have to start with technology, and through the continuous improvement and development of blockchain technology, we can achieve the achievement of ecology and truly connect the applications of blockchain in different scenarios.

From this perspective, the advent of the blockchain "derivatives" era still needs to be realized from the perspective of technology. Without the drive of blockchain technology, there will be no ecological achievement, and the lack of ecology will seriously affect and change the future development and direction of blockchain to a certain extent.

Conclusion

On the surface, what we see is the difference between blockchain and digital currency. Against such a backdrop, the implementation and application of blockchain has begun to unfold vigorously. Obviously, an era of "blockchain +" similar to "Internet +" is coming. In my opinion, this is not a good thing for blockchain. On the contrary, it will bring the development of blockchain into a dead end. Based on technology and driven by technology, a new era of blockchain "derivatives" may be opened.