When Bitcoin was created it was done to be a seamless payment method – backed up by the blockchain – for cheaper, faster, and safer worldwide peer-to-peer transactions.
Even Satoshi Nakamoto probably did not foresee blockchain technology spanning into different areas and industries than finance. Yet that has become the reality, and blockchain technology is now playing an integral part in every corner of the New Digital Economy.
Anyone who is considering starting a digital business should consider how the blockchain and Bitcoin can benefit them, which means having a Luno Bitcoin Wallet to hand and reading up on the latest blockchain developments.
Luckily, you can start right here.
What is the New Digital Economy?
The New Digital Economy (NDE) refers to digital technologies that contribute to processes and transactions within the economy. It is not to be confused with the internet economy which also influences economic dealings, but solely focuses on online technologies.
One technology trailblazing the success of the digital economy is blockchains.
Blockchain and the New Digital Economy
From the definition above, it is easy to see why the contemporary digital economy is vast and includes many different cogs. Ultimately, thousands of businesses and services could land between the brackets of the digital economy.
1. Widening global markets
Blockchain at its basics is a founding pillar of cryptocurrency transactions, which have become essential to digital markets. Through their secure and borderless nature, paying with crypto allows businesses to attract customers from other countries, enabling the digital economy to scale quicker and easier.
2. Fostering investments
Digital ideas and technology entrepreneurs often rely on heavy investment to get their businesses off the ground due to the costs of developing such inventions or services. Investments of this kind are often made safer with blockchain technology through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that allow businesses to obtain enough capital from investors effortlessly and even allow them to bypass banks.
3. Data safeguarding
Data handling and protecting user data has become a fierce topic among businesses in all industries, and the digital economy is especially important.
Businesses need to make sure they are protecting data from hackers to comply with the EU’s GDPR laws and protect their reputation. The blockchain comes in useful for this and is one way of securing information and making it pretty much bulletproof to hackers.
4. Business partnerships
Blockchain technology is also the foundation of Ethereum’s smart contracts. These contracts allow businesses to take an almost-hands-off approach to processes between businesses. Smart contracts are used to execute payments once milestones have been reached and allow digital businesses to save costs on human input and administration.
What else to expect?
The integration of blockchains can also be expected to merge with developments in artificial intelligence and data analysis. However, these integrations have not been finalised as of yet.
The future is bright for the new digital economy with blockchain technology to hand.