In 2017, it was highly possible that even your local baker or butcher advised you to invest in cryptocurrencies. The hype seems over and the dust seem to have relatively settled. Now that most people do not only see the technology as a medium of exchange, it is time to bring the real potential of blockchain to the mass. The founder of Ethereum describes blockchain as “a decentralized system that contains shared memory” (Buterin, 2017). Therefore, the technology offers a solution to any environment that wishes decentralization and transparency. Due to the peer-to-peer nature of the technology, the middleman is redundant. The first industry that comes to mind to most people is the banking industry, while thinking about Bitcoin in the back of their mind. However, it offers a solution to many more industries and markets.
An interesting affair that blockchain could possibly disrupt is the education system. The way we have been facilitating learning has been around since the 19th century (Rose, 2012). In most countries, there is a four-year university degree model where the education often fails to calibrate the needs of students and employers. Students learn different skills during their curriculum and are therefore not prepared for the job market. Therefore, many employers offer traineeships to acquire additional skills. Additionally, at average there are five intermediaries between the education and the students that all take a percentage of the tuition fee (Raffo, 2018). This is one of the big reasons why the tuition fees in the US are so high.
A platform with professors, students and employers can be created to solve these two problems. With blockchain, educators are no longer chained to these old institutions and can instead offer their curriculum that fits the wishes of employers directly to students. Students can communicate directly with the professors, so that both parties get what they want. This makes education more affordable as it removes expensive intermediaries. Certificates received on the public blockchain after taking the class are accepted by employers within the network. To disrupt an old invariable model that has been around for centuries like the education system, bootstrapping and expanding the community of the platform is pivotal. However, once the community matures, it could potentially overrule the current education system. Could it be just an utopic idea or reality in the next few decades?
Sources:
Buterin, V. (2017, September 18). Decentralizing Everything. Personal Interview with N. Ravikant.
Raffo, E. (2018, February 15). BlockchainTalks – Decentralized Education Marketplace.
Rose, J. (2012). How to Break Free of Our 19th-Century Factory-Model Education System, The Atlantic.
