MIT Professor Believes Blockchain Can Make Economies Borderless

A Professor of Engineering at the Boston Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Silvio Micali, has claimed that development of Blockchain on a global scale could lead to the creation of a truly borderless economy.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s Daybreak Asia on January 21, the MIT profesor explianed how the Blockchain system needs to have three simultaneously functioning systems in orders to achieve the goal of a more inclusive economy. Instead of paying most of one’s attention to the technological aspect of Blockchain technology and its applications in industries like fintech and banking, professor Micali believes that the “true innovation” of the technology is in the level of security it offers, which was previously not possible to achieve with centralized technology.

The three functions that serve as prelude to an inclusive economy involve security, decentralization and scalability. However, the professor believes that even though cryptocurrency and Blockchain have the capability to implement all the three functions simultaneously, only two are being implemented at any time as of now. Scalability, in particular, was singled out as a feature that needed improvement before the technology can be more viable to challenge current established practices.

Professor Micali praised the progress that Blockchain technology and decentralized cryptocurrencies have made in terms of security when compared to security that centralized currency offers, but he also criticized the same cryptocurrencies for falling victim to so many attacks and security breaches over the course of just a few years. According to him, if implemented correctly, a proper decentralized system is nearly impossible to hack.

“Only a true decentralized system, where the power is really so spread that is going to be essentially practically impossible to attack them all and when you don’t need to trust this or that particular node, is going to bring actually the security we really need and deserve.”

However, he did not offer a timeframe within which the improvements that he has suggested could be put in place in the system to move forward and be in a position where it will have the potential to bring about a truly global economy and a movement towards a more secure, decentralized system.

Instead, with the increased trust offered through blockchain in addition to the absence of centralized power, Blockchain based economies will be more inclusive to parties across the globe, rather than creating hotbeds of finance and banking that have characterized the current landscape.