In the last decade, blockchain — the technology layer of Web3 — has shown potential to transform industries beyond finance.
The key traits of blockchain solutions, such as automated smart contract execution, tamper-proof ledgers and advanced privacy protection, allow us to minimise human error and fraud. It makes these attractive for any sector, from healthcare to entertainment. For example, blockchain can help confirm the legitimacy of medical drugs, help tokenise real-world assets for automated, cost-free ownership, or guarantee equitable pay to artists.
Still, despite some developments in the corporate sector, the technology lacks applications that meet the daily needs of the general public. So, how can blockchain move beyond its technical roots to become more accessible to the consumer and trigger wide adoption?
Blockchain: Going Beyond Tech-Savvy
Blockchain's focus on complex technical uses comes from its original design, developed with a tech-savvy audience in mind. As a result, learning about how it works could be compared to learning a new language or navigating a new city without a map.
Unlike delivery, taxi or banking apps on our smartphones, blockchain doesn't click with our daily routines, nor does it simplify them. This creates a critical gap – as the technology is often associated with high-value cryptocurrency trading, most people naturally assume they cannot afford to participate.
As a result, even with the ongoing digital transformation, a significant portion of the global population lacks regular interaction with blockchains. To bridge this divide, we need to shift the industry's focus to consumer-centric solutions.
Becoming consumer-centric presents a few challenges for existing applications. First, blockchains have to become more accessible to the average consumer with no prior knowledge of the tech. We can get there by focusing on user experience (UX) design that places ease of use first – by building intuitive interfaces and offering easy onboarding. Second, scalability potential is key to making sure blockchain platforms can handle a high volume of transactions and retain a low fee schedule to remain practical for everyday use.
As blockchain consumer-centric solutions become invisible to the user, and the complexity that powers the experience is confined to the back end, these will then incentivise more adoption by a broader audience.
Benefits of Consumer-Centric Solutions
When consumer-centricity is applied to traditional industries, the impact is significant. In healthcare, it could lead to more patient-centric care models where patients have control over their medical data. For example, Patientory has made progress in patient data management.
In real estate, blockchain platforms like Propy can streamline property transactions, making them more efficient and less cumbersome for buyers and sellers. In retail, blockchain can enable greater transparency in product sourcing and authenticity, building higher consumer trust.
Beyond that, consumer-centric blockchain solutions are set to impact gaming, social media and the arts – in other words, sectors where most of our social interactions and creative expression happen. With its enhanced security, transparent dealings and greater efficiency, blockchain can create new user experiences and change the way we interact within social spaces.
For entertainment, it could lead to more interactive and user-controlled digital content experiences. Users of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube can already mint each piece of content as a verifiable digital asset owned by the creator, but this process is complicated and lacks demand from the target audience.
With a consumer-centric blockchain layer, however, this would be possible without any prior tech knowledge, driving both the availability and demand for digital content. In this context, content turns into a portfolio of digital assets, each with the potential to generate value.
The Catalyst for Mass Adoption
Blockchain holds the power to reshare ownership and creative rights in the digital age — and it's just one example of how consumer-centric blockchain solutions can transform familiar services. When intuitive, user-friendly solutions get more presence on the market, they will catalyse mass adoption — then the world may gradually see dApps as revolutionary as the internet once was.
From its early days as a novel platform for computer-based communication, collaboration and research, the World Wide Web has become an indispensable tool. What I would like to highlight is that an average user does not have to interact with parts of this tool — i.e. complex protocols like IP and HTTP that power the internet — each time they navigate the web.
I see a similar path for blockchain – a route from a technical novelty to an everyday essential. Still, for that to become a self-fulfilling prophecy and trigger widespread adoption, blockchain technology has to become invisible to the end user, enhancing their experience not through added complexity but through empowerment and opportunity.
That's the layer of value that blockchain brings to traditional services – revolutionary simplicity, at the heart of the consumer-centric approach.
A seasoned entrepreneur with over a decade of experience, Cecilia has led multiple ventures. In 2014, she founded and helmed J.C.Moritz Investment Consulting, a market research firm, and transitioned into the Web3 space as an investor in 2018. From 2019 to 2022, Cecilia served as the CEO of Phemex trading platform. She boasts 10+ years as a serial entrepreneur, with 4 of those years dedicated to Web3 projects.
