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In a recent cryptocurrency news article posted on Play Slots 4 Real Money as it pertains to the latest ‘cryptocurrency news’ pointed out the slack that still exists when it comes to the advanced technology that is an integral part of the future growth this dynamic industry. One of the biggest issues with the rapid expansion of Bitcoin as a viable virtual form of currency is that many of the companies at the forefront of this revolution are left scrambling to institute the proper technology to keep things running smoothly on a regular basis. This has not discouraged a number of cryptocurrency providers from backing down from some ambitious expansion plans. Rather, they are taking the opposite approach by forging ahead even if there are some issues that have yet to be fully resolved.
One of the biggest concepts explored in this article by Rachel Rose O’Leary and Alyssa Hertig was the importance of off-chain channels. This pertains to blockchain-based financial transactions and the possibility of avoiding the actual blockchain to complete these transactions off chain. For example, an off-blockchain payment channel would allow two interested parties to us a particular cryptocurrency to process small payments back and forth while avoiding some of the high fees and slow transaction times that have been associated with settling these transactions to the blockchain. This would not eliminate the need to settle these transactions, but it would reduce the necessity of using the blockchain for every transaction processed.
This type of technology first surfaced in 2015, but it has gained some serious momentum as of late to make it a real possibility for 2018. Another concept covered in the Coindesk piece has to do with the high consumption of electricity in what has been described as an ‘energy-intensive process as it relates to bitcoin mining. There are growing concerns among certain factions of the cryptocurrency industry as to the long-term environmental effects this added consumption might cause as it expands to a much larger scale of operation.
Privacy is another big issue when it comes to the expansion of cryptocurrency. This issue has been addressed in the past, but there is some optimism that real strides in protecting end user’s privacy to the highest level could be put into place as soon as the later part of this year. There has been some preliminary work in the field of security as it pertains to a form of cryptocurrency that successfully hides information without risking validity. This early work could be expanded in 2018 to any number of startups that are ready and willing to tackle this issue head on.
Decentralized exchanges is another hot topic as it pertains to advances in technology. Throughout 2017 there were any number of projects put into place to address the entire concept of a decentralized exchange that could be used to trade one form of cryptocurrency for another without the use of a central entity. The one thing we know for sure is that cryptocurrencies and all the processes in place to drive the growth of this industry will be ramped up to an even higher in the coming year.
