A Tourist's Guide to the Future

@peterborah

peter.borah@gmail.com

Blockchains are

the future

Blockchains are

terrible

Blockchains are

terrible

(slow, expensive, low capacity, hard to use, lacking privacy...)

You are here:

You are here:

You are here:

#1

Sharding

#1: Sharding

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#1: Sharding

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

1-3 years

#1: Sharding

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

1-3 years

Somewhat better capacity

#1: Sharding

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

1-3 years

Somewhat better capacity

Moving past "somewhat better"

#2

Payment Channels

(Lightning Network, Raiden, etc.)

#2: Payment Channels

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#2: Payment Channels

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

< 1 year

#2: Payment Channels

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

< 1 year

Micropayments; metering

#2: Payment Channels

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

< 1 year

Micropayments; metering

Expanding functionality

#3

TrueBit

(Jason Teutsch and Christian Reitwiessner)

#3: TrueBit

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#3: TrueBit

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

???

#3: TrueBit

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

???

Very cheap computation

#3: TrueBit

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

???

Anything non-deterministic;

speed

Very cheap computation

#4

Distributed Storage

(IPFS, Swarm, Storj, etc.)

#4: Distributed Storage

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#4: Distributed Storage

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-3 years

#4: Distributed Storage

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-3 years

Cheap storage

#4: Distributed Storage

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-3 years

Cheap storage

Guaranteeing availability

#5

ZKSnarks

#5: ZKSnarks

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#5: ZKSnarks

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

~Now

#5: ZKSnarks

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

~Now

Private transactions

#5: ZKSnarks

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

~Now

Private transactions

Efficiency; trusted setup

#6

Cross-Chain Communication

(Interledger, Cosmos, PolkaDot, etc.)

#6: Cross-Chain Communication

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

#6: Cross-Chain Communication

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-5 years

#6: Cross-Chain Communication

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-5 years

Network effects

#6: Cross-Chain Communication

• Timeframe:      
   
• Impact:              
   
• Challenges:      

Now-5 years

Network effects

Settling on standards

...and a lot more

• Proof of Stake
• EWasm
• Consortium Chains
  • Hyperledger
  • Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
  • BigchainDB
• Formal Verification
• Identity and Security
  • uPort
  • ENS

A final note

Contact me:

@peterborah

peter.borah@gmail.com

Slides available at:

https://slides.com/peterbb/tourists-guide