Maryam Mahjoub, Verasity’s chief marketing officer, is immersed in the cutting edge of digital advertising due to her role at the esports firm.
As blockchain becomes more mainstream across so many industries, it is critical that we as advertisers and marketers have a base understanding of the technology and what it has to offer.
And like regular fiat currency, you can buy stuff with your Bitcoin – from gift cards to real estate.
So what the hell is blockchain? It’s a decentralized ledger – meaning data is stored on ‘nodes’ across the protocol, rather than a centralized server.
Bitcoin, the first blockchain solution, was created in 2009 – and the technology has evolved significantly since then.
As blockchain technology begins to cross the chasm into mainstream adoption, confusion about the complex technology, its capabilities and its risks remain very real.
These DApps are built in a similar way to any other application we use on our laptops or mobile devices, but their data is managed on a decentralized ledger, so there is no single server or single point of failure.
We are now reaching the third generation of blockchain protocols with projects such as Cardano, Polkadot and Solana.
For one, most major crypto exchanges have stringent ‘know your customer’ requirements – meaning if you want to buy, sell or trade your crypto you have to provide government ID, proof of residency and so on.
Many governments are also leveraging blockchain technology to build their own central bank digital currencies .
Why? Because blockchain is inherently immutable and transparent – meaning every stakeholder sees the same information at the same time, and nobody can change it without that change also being captured.
This shift has the potential to completely change how business is done in each of these industries, transforming the way stakeholders collaborate with one another – but that’s a longer topic, to be addressed in the future.