It’s quite magical to see how different sectors are benefiting from blockchain, especially after digital currencies started to draw the attention of millions of audiences. Well, if you have been following up with the trends since the first digital currency launched in 2009, you can actually agree that things have not been that easy for this industry. But anyway, here we are with so many software developers like Apple welcoming this decentralized technology.
And any investor can agree that such trends are very crucial as they can affect crypto prices. For instance, if more people invest, they can trigger the Bitcoin price to start increasing and vice versa. So, it is not a small matter that many software developers continue to turn to this technology.
And it is actually one of the reasons why, according to CompTIA Community, the global blockchain market is expected to generate more than $94 billion in the next few years. Read on to learn more.
What is the relevance of blockchain in this sector?
Just recently, Gartner conducted a study and found that about 30% of software development companies were planning to adopt blockchain in their procedures. Why do you think this was so? Well, blockchain offers numerous benefits that are very needful in our contemporary world—talk of security, traceability, transparency, and so much more.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain Service, which allows developers to build dApps to help them with things like tracking food safety, handling invoices, etc. And since we intend to take a look at dApps later in the article, let us first consider how this technology is transforming the software development industry.
The positive side of blockchain
Data safety has been one of the main challenges of software development. Actually, just last year (2023), Cobalt Labs Inc. projected that the global cybercrime damage cost might grow by about 15% in the next few years. Blockchain can come in handy in two ways.
Firstly, its infrastructure disperses transactions among decentralized machines, thus minimizing the chances of data loss. Secondly, it follows an append-only model and ensures that once data is stored, it can’t be altered by malicious parties.
Other benefits include:
- Blockchain allows everyone to access transactions
- Chains like Solana are extremely fast
- There is better traceability, especially in supply chains
- You won’t have to spend a lot on intermediaries
The popularity of DeFi apps
The DeFi market has been making significant strides in the past few years. According to SkyQuest, the global market is expected to hit $48.02 billion by 2031, up from $22 billion two years ago. As if that were not enough, Dune Analytics has expressed that there are about four million individuals using DeFi applications.
But what is DeFi? You may ask. Just as the name suggests, DeFi is a category of financial applications that take advantage of blockchain’s decentralized nature. They are very different from traditional institutions as they do not need middlemen to provide services. DeFi depends on smart contracts to give users access to a variety of services, including insurance, lending, etc.
AAVE – A case study
This name might not be new for those interested in the DeFi lending sector. Just the other day, it had more than $4.9 billion locked in crypto. Since 2020, different lenders have been taking advantage of AAVE’s money-market approach.
After choosing the token you want to trade in, you will receive AAVE’s native token, AToken, which amounts to your original deposit plus interest. This token can also offer security when you want to borrow from a different AAVE money market.
You can access flash loans, which do not need upfront collateral and are available for limited, short periods.
Recent developments
As users seek better experiences, industry players also adjust to stay relevant. Recently, Tron, a major player in the crypto world, switched to Chainlink to enhance the operation of DeFi apps on its network.
In the move, the company confirmed that JustLend and JustStable would use data feeds from ChainLink to improve pricing. This came after the company confirmed they would be stopping their collaboration with WinkLink – a change they thought could accelerate the adoption of their DeFi ecosystem.
The idea is to have Tron cover most of the operational costs at the beginning and then shift them to user fees for DApps later. That way, the company can ensure it isn’t expensive for customers as it grows. Thodoris Karakostas, ChainLink’s head of blockchain partnerships, has welcomed the move with joy, claiming that it was a great opportunity for Tron developers to build more innovative DeFi apps.
In the same breadth, Sam Elfarra, Tron’s spokesperson, said that this would help them speed up their DeFi economy.
Wrapping up
It should not come as a surprise that blockchain technology is taking the software development world by storm. Of course, the technology boasts benefits like fast speeds and security, which are highly sought after in our modern world. For example, developers can at least be guaranteed that data will remain immutable as blockchain does not allow alteration of transactions.
We now have major tech giants like Microsoft that make it even easier to access these benefits through their blockchain-based infrastructures. Looking ahead into the future, we could actually see more developers, including Apple, turn to this technology to enhance their competitiveness.
