Real or hype? Blockchain vs cryptocurrency

The crypto winter makes me wonder where we are in the blockchain hype cycle.
Cryptocurrency may be in the trough of disillusionment of Gartner’s hype cycle, but blockchain seems to have crossed it, indicating that it is in the ‘Slope of Enlightenment’. 

Let’s look at real world examples of blockchain in action. SITA consists of about 400 members and claims to touch 90% of the world’s airline business. Thus, their adoption of blockchain should qualify as beyond hype. In their Maintenance Repair & Overhead (MRO) white paper SITA lays out how Blockchain has transformed their business process for MRO:

_Blockchain removes the friction that inevitably arises when establishing trust between parties. It provides an environment in which businesses can quickly contract, exchange services, record transactions, manage payment and disengage. So blockchain can record each time a part is installed or removed from an aircraft – as well as the identity, location and credentials of the technician handling the work. It can capture how long the part being replaced was in service, purchased/sold. Put simply, it will revolutionize what have always been paper-based processes by moving to sophisticated state-of-the-art digital processes while ensuring security and confidentiality as required._The point is since real-world businesses have started to adopt blockchain, it is out of the trough of disillusionment. Especially when they use it to improve business processes and not chase the up-and-coming virtual currencies that are predominantly energy guzzlers (I Cannot Eat Bitcoin!.)

According to Gartner, about 35% of enterprise blockchain applications will integrate with decentralized applications and services by 2023. Volatility in the cryptomarket is to be expected as the market corrects itself, but blockchain innovation is moving ahead steadily. Explosive growth of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) tokens, significant progress in blockchain interoperability, and the adoption of distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) for money movement by payment, banking and social networks are some of the key influencers. However, regulation and legal framework continues to be a challenge.

Suggested read: Impact of Blockchain on FinTech