Blockchain is one of the important technological innovations of recent times. Every industry, healthcare, education, finance, insurance, logistics, or supply chain, is adopting the blockchain. Blockchain has not only made existing systems more transparent and secure, but it has also made them reliable too. There has been enormous growth in the adoption of blockchain technology. Is blockchain what it seems to be? Well, the appropriate answer would be No. You must be wondering what could go wrong with blockchain technology. A LOT has been wrong with it!!
Problems that blockchain has faced over the years
Numerous implementation issues with blockchain are caused entirely by the fact that the technology is still in the developmental stage. Some of the problems that blockchain is still facing are listed below:
Scalability
The technical scalability of the network, which can limit adoption, especially for public blockchains, is one of the biggest technological challenges that blockchain faces. But in terms of transaction speeds, the two well-known blockchain networks—Bitcoin and Ethereum—are far behind. Ethereum blockchain can handle about 20 transactions per second, compared to the three to seven that the Bitcoin network can process in a second.
Interoperability
There are so many blockchain networks that blockchain is in chaos now. To interact with each other, Blockchains do not have common standards. Due to the lack of consistency, blockchain protocols lose their security, making mass adoption nearly impossible.
Security
Another issue, in this case, is security. Every blockchain technology, as we all know, claims its security features. However, like every other technology, blockchain has a few security flaws. Blockchain is supposed to be shared widely. It implies that everyone has access to the data stored on the blockchain. Even though the confidential information is private using blockchain wallet addresses as identifiers, the other information about a transaction is obvious.
Speed
Blockchains are extensive, distributed, and encrypted, which can be slow and inefficient. The transitions take longer to process as the number of users increases in the network. As a result, transactions are more expensive than usual, which limits the number of users on the networks.
Energy Consumption
As the network evolves, there should be more participants and greater competition for computational power, which uses energy. Only one node will have the privilege of confirming the next block. As a result, the energy use will be incredibly wasteful. The proof-of-stake approach is a solution to the issue of energy usage.
Such a system, though, has difficulties on its own. One reason is that a proof-of-stake system requires far more complicated code than a proof-of-work system. More flaws and vulnerabilities may result from that.
Conclusion
Although blockchain technology has issues, many experts are working on solutions. Developers will uncover dozens more applications for blockchain technology as the market and technology advance. Eventually, blockchain promises to increase the speed and security of data transport and storage procedures. Despite the issues it may currently have, there will inevitably be more reasons to embrace blockchain as a solution as our lives become more digital.
