The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is novel and exciting. It has produced many innovative technologies. Society is already seeing the growing use of cryptocurrency and blockchain in everyday life. This trend will likely continue. This article explores various use cases facing disruption by these technologies. The main driver behind this disruption is decentralizing control. It also enhances security and removes intermediaries in many traditional systems.

Fiat Currency

The first area facing disruption is fiat money, such as the dollar and euro. These traditional currencies are being replaced by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin and similar digital currencies were created to solve problems with fiat money. For example, unpredictable money printing and power concentrated in the hands of a few. Cryptocurrency aims to decentralize this power. By doing so, it addresses many issues caused by centralized control.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Another area that is facing significant disruption is in the DeFi space. DeFi refers to a growing number of blockchain-based financial protocols that aim to disrupt the traditional financial system. Currently, financial activities such as lending and sending and receiving money are riddled with a number of problems. For example, the simple act of sending money abroad often takes a long time and also come with high transaction fees. DeFi applications such as lending protocols remove the need for a middleman, and instead encourages a decentralized and trustless financial ecosystem.

Law

Law is another area that is facing significant disruption as the development of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continues. Self-executing smart contracts are providing a way for agreements to be enforced, removing the need for a middleman. The integration of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology will likely change the way the law is practiced and also taught, including LSAT course providers in the US and SQE course providers in the UK. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see the technologies and applications that will result from the disruption caused by blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Disintermediation

The core value offering of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is the removal of middlemen. Middlemen come with numerous disadvantages such as: central point of failure, centralization and abuse of monopoly power (i.e. by higher fees). Blockchain technology in particular addresses these problems by decentralizing power amongst many individuals. This core value offering of blockchain technology in disintermediating middlemen will likely materialize in the context of the sharing economy. It is not too difficult to imagine centralized sharing economies such as Uber and Airbnb being replaced by decentralized blockchain based ecosystems.

Conclusion

This article is just scratching the surface in terms of the use cases that will see disruption by blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. We will likely see the number of use cases grow as the industry continues to innovate and mature.