In an article by Richard Waters, the West Coast editor-in-chief of the Financial Times and a team of writers focused on Silicon Valley technology, in the world of cryptocurrencies, will something similar be formed in different types of infrastructure? When the cryptocurrency craze passes, many of the currencies that sprung up in the shadow of Bitcoin will be worthless. But their soaring transaction volumes have created demand for real infrastructure, and big investments are being made.
If blockchain represents a new architecture that will shape the future of online activity beyond cryptocurrency speculation, the need for infrastructure will continue. Picking the ultimate winner in this game requires making assumptions about how the world will play out. Will it lead to complementary but interconnected blockchains with room for many players? Or will this be a winner-take-all industry, with a few networks dominating certain types of transactions? Will the software and services needed to make the technology accessible to non-specialists will create dominant companies in different parts of the new technology “stack”.