Pushing Past the Skeptics: Charting Blockchain Adoption in APAC

As mentioned by Julian Gorman, Vice President of GSMA, some countries, like Myanmar, may be more reluctant to try new things (blockchain technology included), and instead only adopt the modern technology when it has been proven and tested multiple times.

This reluctance to adoption could possibly be exacerbated by behavior of the cryptospace at the end of 2017: immense hype had propelled ICOs to global awareness in a short time span, which was immediately followed by a brutal bear market that lasted from the start of 2018 till time of writing. Skeptics at the sidelines who witnessed the downfall of many ICOs could potentially have grown even more wary about using the technology.

Along this same vein of thought, the panel discussed the parties that should facilitate adoption, even in the face of skeptics, and brought up several lingering questions for the audience.

“People are seeing past the hype and thinking about what we can do with cryptocurrencies. What is the technology good for? What can we do with total transparency and trust? How do you implement that?” - Simon Stephen, Co-founder, Mogu.

Diamonds formed under pressure, or diamonds still in the rough?

While the bear market battleground saw some prominent projects rise above others, this one question still remains — are industries finally eager to adopt blockchain technology, or are these projects still waiting to be discovered? Gorman alluded to this question, applauding financial service industries for spearheading adoption, but also citing the growing interest in blockchain technology across the telecom industry, being part of that industry himself.

‘As an industry, there’s a lot of waiting and seeing’.

It seems that the telco industry is still hesitant in roping the technology into mainstream adoption. On the other side, however, the Pundi X team has already set the wheels in motion by marrying blockchain technology and everyday communication in the form of their newest project, Function X, and the XPhone. Check out the unveiling of the XPhone, the blockchain-powered phone, here.