On a global scale, the defense industry has a major impact on economies world-wide. Besides waging war (something we all dislike), national defense aids in pushing the envelope on research and development of new technology (e.g. Internet and GPS). A recent research report published by Accenture stated that 86% of aerospace/defense companies plan to integrate blockchain within three years. (Rhodes, 2018) Yes, my point is obvious; Even blockchain tech has a footing in this industry. But, do you know why this is the case? Let's take a closer look!

One popular area is encrypted messaging. This is probably the greatest counter-argument to the government wanting to ban privacy coins, like Zcash, Monero, Zencash, and many others. While our "wonderful" government would like to know everything we're doing by collecting our data, our armed forces ironically want the opposite. Encryption is important on many levels, primarily providing a secure method of communication amongst our armed forces that can't be read. Maybe the defense industry can help give privacy coins the push they need to thrive in the public domain as well.

Another is budget spending. Regardless of which president you like or dislike, they have all done a terrible job balancing our national debt. This has led to over-spending on the military and massive deficits. With the ability to create smart-contracts, it's feasible that a treasury could be created for the military on the blockchain, that allows for balanced budget spending when necessary.

The defense industry may not have been your first pick if I asked you, "What industry will be affected by blockchain tech first?". However, I can assure you, defense on a global scale contributes massively to the world economy. Wherever an economy exists, there seems to be a blockchain solution waiting!

I would like to thank CoinCentral.com for allowing us to reference one of their original articles in the creation of this article.
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Link: ​Original CoinCentral.com Article

Reference: Rhodes, Delton. Improving Defense Industry Technology with Blockchain. 15 June 2018.

Brandon Zemp
Owner/Founder

At this point, it's already well known that cryptocurrency has changed the way we pay for goods and services, thanks to the Blockchain. What isn't so well known is how Blockchain will become superior to fiat, credit cards, and even the whole SWIFT system. Let's take a look at a few examples:

1. Security

Cybercrime has become a plague to the internet over the last decade and analysts are predicting over $6 trillion in losses to be incurred by 2021. (Hamilton, 2018) Payment processors hold a lot of responsibility when it comes to protecting your personal data. Blockchain tech can help keep your information safer by recording amounts, account profiles, agreements, and more. Essentially, the information can remain confidential to you, while serving as proof to verify a transaction.

2. Cross-border Payments

Today, it sometimes feels as if the global economy is regressing. Cross-border payments can be highly cost prohibitive due to exchange rates and third-party verification fees. While these fees can be troubling for corporations, they can be debilitating for an individual attempting to send funds internationally to friends or family. (Hamilton, 2018) With blockchain, a peer-to-peer system is created that eliminates the need for a third-party. Regardless of the transaction amount or where it's going in the world, blockchain tech dramatically decreases these fees and makes global commerce more affordable.

3. Point-of-Sale (PoS)

While blockchain tech can solve global issues, it can also resolve local ones. Most PoS systems for merchants suck a hefty percentage out of profits that a business never gets back. On top of that, it doesn't prevent credit cards from declining on a regular basis or even come with decent customer service. Blockchain-based solutions can allow you to accept payments for less than 1%, putting more money back in your pocket. You also don't have to worry about payment outages (such as the recent one Visa had that created a continental payment-blackout in Europe).

4. Transaction times

Lastly, blockchain tech overall boasts the fastest transaction times in the world. For example, Ripple (XRP) can send value anywhere in the world in 2 seconds; Stellar Lumens (XLM) in 4 seconds. While these speeds are already record-setting, they are only the beginning of what this technology will bring us in the next decade. Using the wonderful SWIFT system (yeah, that was sarcasm), it will take you a couple days to send money from one bank to another. In this category, blockchain is clearly superior.

These examples serve as a good reminder that investing into Blockchain projects that are focused on the payment industry are a good bet for the future. Some are more centralized (i.e. Ripple); Others are decentralized and rely on open source development (i.e. Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Stellar Lumens). What matters in the end is the technology, and I would bet that all these projects excel in the future as they reshape the payment industry.

I would like to thank CoinCentral.com for allowing us to reference one of their original articles in the creation of this article.

Link: Original CoinCentral.com Article

Link: Visa Outage in Europe

Reference: Hamilton, David. The Payment Industry is a Business Model Blockchain Will Upgrade. 11 June 2018.

Brandon Zemp
Owner/Founder

I've mentioned it a few times before, but I mind as well reiterate the importance of what I said. Competition is going to change crypto, especially in the mining industry. Bitmain has monopolized the ASIC market, Samsung plans to enter, and Nvidia will surely have it's own product in the future. However, the biggest impact in the short-term may come from a new company that is ready to go big right off the bat.

A company called CoinMint has announced that they will invest $700 million in upstate New York to build the world's largest Bitcoin operation. The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs and will be replacing an old Aluminum smelting company called Alcoa. A 10-year lease has been signed by CoinMint, so we know for a fact that this will be underway soon.

The CTO of CoinMint stated that, "As long as the Bitcoin network exists we anticipate mining to be profitable". That's a very optimistic view of the PoW (Proof-of-Work) validation method that is being slowly replaced by PoS (Proof-of-Stake). One has to wonder if these larger mining operations will go bust, or if they will push crypto mining to a whole new level. Part of that will rely on new, more efficient energy sources, which is probably why CoinMint choose this location. There is plenty of hydroelectric and wind energy in the area.

So what does this mean for Bitmain who has dominated the crypto mining market? Maybe competition will breed more success for both companies going forward, even if Bitmain begins losing its grip on the market. Regardless, Bitmain still remains the largest supplier of ASICs (for now at least).

Even though crypto has gone through a bloody bear market this Spring, the growth of large mining operations should be help create some optimism moving forward. The more hash power introduced into the market, the more transactions a blockchain can complete. This will be important for smart contracts, consumer level use cases, and for businesses to adopt blockchain technology. I guess we'll have to watch and find out.

Link: CoinMint Bitcoin Operation

​Link: Additional Information

Brandon Zemp
Owner/Founder