As blockchain technology becomes more popular with a growing number of applications, it may have a major impact on the freelancing industry.

The freelancing industry is widely popular in many countries. In the United States, approximately 53 million citizens are working as freelancers, making up more than 34 percent of the U.S. workforce according to a study commissioned by freelancersunion.org. Freelancing has many benefits, such as a flexible schedule and work environment. Most work is done from a home office, and can act as an additional income source next to a day job. Furthermore, freelancers in developing countries can find this sort of work better paid compared to the average wages in their countries.

Freelancing has many positive attributes, however, there are some downsides too. These downsides mostly involve the websites designed specifically for freelancers. On freelancer sites, such as UpWork and Freelancer.com, the contractors often find themselves with high competition, large fees, and low-paying jobs.

Some think blockchain technology can disrupt this industry as blockchain tech provides transparency, security along with fast and low-cost transactions. More and more freelancers prefer to take payments in cryptocurrencies due to the fast transactions provided by the digital currencies and because of the possible high-return investment opportunity. According to serial entrepreneur John Rampton, there is an ongoing “investment mentality” among freelancers. This could create more jobs for investment advisors and professionals to help freelancers with their finances.

Datum also presents an ample opportunity for freelancers. Datum is a marketplace built on the Ethereum blockchain, which uses trust graphs enabling users to store data in a decentralized database and later monetize that information. The trust graphs are based on the blockchain, which allows the creation of a secure, trusted network for data storage. As freelancers collect a large amount of personal and professional data, they can take advantage of this to generate additional income. While Datum allows users to take control of their data, it also has an impact on the freelancing industry. First, according to Rampton, the secure database of Datum allows employers to make more informed decisions about who to hire for a job. Furthermore, all data in the database will be verified by third-party APIs so freelancers can forget about fake reviews both on their and their potential clients’ profiles.

Freelancers often face problems with fake reviews on freelancing websites. With the Ethereum blockchain’s smart contracts, however, this can be solved since Smart Contracts are directly stored in a trust network, thus, they can’t be changed, tampered or hacked.

As blockchain technology gains popularity, an increasing number of startup companies launch different projects in the crypto space. The more projects, the demand for blockchain experts and specialists is growing. As crypto startups mostly utilize freelancers, blockchain tech’s popularity can create more jobs in the freelance industry.