Blockchain after COVID19

While COVID19 has affected our everyday lives in many aspects, it has also introduced new daily needs. We use masks and disinfectants are indispensable parts of our daily routine right now. Also, our consumption habits have changed the impact of the new consumption conditions on the global economy is enormous.

In the pandemic, almost every country has difficulties in economic terms. Economic experts suggest that COVID19 hit the economy in a way that the world wars hit. With the impact the world order has been changing and will continue to change. To give an example, before the pandemic the companies were implementing working from home trials. But when the pandemic hit, the world discovered Zoom. The schools are doing online education. We adopted online practices so suddenly, if there was no epidemic, the process would perhaps spread over decades. As a result of online transformation in such a short time, a new normal has emerged. 

During the pandemic period, one of the most used online services was shopping, people have not been going to supermarkets for daily needs anymore. They just order online. The new habits increased the needs of e-commerce sites for payment systems. In this context, the banking and finance sector has also begun to make significant strides to answer the need for digital consumption. According to the data announced, during the Pandemic period, the use of cash has decreased, people started to make their payments contactless in the offline shops. The use of digital wallets has also increased and people are getting used to other currencies such as Crypto Money. 

In the light of these developments, an interest in the blockchain markets and fin-tech has developed. Therefore, major changes are expected especially in the banking sector. Blockchain is expected to be the fresh breath to the economy after the pandemic. There is an economic recession and the number of bankrupt companies will increase. There is a decrease in profit margins of many companies. Many companies are looking for ways to make investments in the right field. Blockchain seems to be one of the right investment fields for the companies.

To encourage digitalization, the Central Bank of Russia started to limit the number of banknotes and lower the commissions for online and card payments. The use of many biometric data and digital IDs has become widespread in the world.  Banks and regulatory institutions increased the customer limits for contactless and online payments.

The rise of blockchain that started before the pandemic will gain momentum with the acceleration in digitalization due to Pandemic. Cryptocurrencies are faster, safer and less costly. The digitalization will make the countries encourage cryptocurrencies that previously tried to regulate the blockchain sector with laws. Central banks’ release of digital currencies, as in the case of China, are one of the positive developments. In my opinion, a pandemic effect on the blockchain is a positive development.

Together with artificial intelligence and machine learning,  blockchain technology will be the future of fin-tech. Services including money transfers, document exchanges, smart contracts, digital identity, credit and insurance services, creation of alternative credit platforms, document/certificate verification, fast and secure payment systems for startups, election and voting processes, applications for digital health history, online education and sustainability will be in the scope of blockchain technologies.

The question is how quickly the world will adapt to these developments.