{"id":457897,"date":"2021-03-02T16:46:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T16:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wncen.com\/?p=457897"},"modified":"2021-03-02T16:46:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T16:46:53","slug":"blockchain-is-finally-becoming-what-was-promised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wncen.com\/news\/company\/blockchain-is-finally-becoming-what-was-promised\/","title":{"rendered":"Blockchain is Finally Becoming What Was Promised"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, Bitcoin emerged as the first cryptocurrency. It brought with it the promise to resolve some of the major challenges that come with regular fiat currencies like the US dollar (USD) and Chinese yuan (CNY) \u2014 including rampant inflation, counterfeiting, and centralization.<\/p>\n

But despite this, it isn\u2019t Bitcoin that is poised to reshape finance as we know it, but its underlying technology known as \u2018blockchain\u2019. This decentralized ledger technology has gone through several iterations in the past decade, and one of the most recent forms looks set to radically shake up the way we interact with our money.<\/p>\n

The Era of Decentralized Finance<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Parity Labs\u2019 Substrate is currently the most advanced blockchain platform. (Image: Parity Labs)<\/em><\/p>\n

The first generation of blockchains brought incredible security, transparency, and efficiency that has yet to be matched by legacy financial technologies.<\/p>\n

These first-generation blockchains are used to power platforms like Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) \u2014 which are capable of transferring value across borders in minutes, at a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional remittance firms and are practically unhackable.<\/p>\n

Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) introduced the second generation of blockchain-based platforms. For the first time, these were able to host self-executing scripts known as smart contracts<\/a>, which run on the blockchain and automatically execute based on defined parameters. These were used to be a dazzling array of blockchain-based applications, some of which offer features that replicate traditional financial infrastructure \u2014 like investment platforms, trading apps, and open lending platforms.<\/p>\n

Many of these decentralized applications (dApps) fit into the category of \u2018decentralized finance (DeFi)\u2019 \u2014 since they provide features that allow users to retake control of their finances and better make use of their cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

But now, with the advent of Substrate \u2014 a third-generation blockchain platform \u2014 DeFi is set to go mainstream; since projects will be able to build interoperable applications that leverage the unique properties of individual blockchains to provide solutions that were simply not possible before.<\/p>\n

\n

NEW: @clover_finance<\/a> has closed a $3 million seed round with @polychaincap<\/a> to build an EVM bridge on @substrate_io<\/a>.@wsfoxley<\/a> reportshttps:\/\/t.co\/ATlanGLY6I<\/a><\/p>\n

— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) February 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n