World Economic Forum, in its survey report titled, “Deep Shift: Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact”, focuses on the future digital and hyper connected world by explaining the societal impacts generated by major technology trends and the new business models.
It began with discussing Six Megatrends, the software and services trends, which are shaping society along with their associated risks and opportunities: People and the internet; Computing, communications and storage everywhere; The Internet of Things; Artificial intelligence (AI) and big data; The sharing economy and distributed trust and The digitization of matter.
“The blockchain, an emerging technology, replaces the need for third-party institutions to provide trust for financial, contract and voting activities”, it said.
The survey results pointed out that the “tipping point” for Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology is expected to occur in 2027. 58% of respondents expected this tipping point, 10 percent of global GDP, stored on blockchain, to have occurred by 2025.
Also, 73% of respondents expected tax collected for the first time by a government via blockchain to have occurred by 2025.
In the digital age, Government needs to evolve from being the top-down “authority” to the network-based “authentic data hub”. Governments all around the world should quickly adapt new tools and platforms, such as adopting the blockchain to create new taxation mechanisms, or leveraging big data and data analytics to optimize public resource planning and allocation. This will be possible when they understand that ultimate control of a digital planet is impossible.
“Economic and monetary management will be overhauled by new systems anchored in digital currencies and the blockchain, making traditional pricing mechanisms and exchange rate systems less relevant”, it said.
