In the Web 1.0, companies minted millions by adding “Dot-Com” to their name. According to a 2014 article in The Atlantic —

In 2001, when people were still sorting through the pixelated debris of the dotcom bust, three finance professors from Purdue University published a study of the fates of 95 companies that added “.com,” “.net,” or “Internet” to their names during the bubble. They found that on average, the stock prices of these companies increased 74 percent over the period of time from five days before the name-change announcement to five days afterward.

Not only did the dot-com bubble burst, but having a company with “.com” in its name became repetitive. Is the website a separate platform from the main brand (e.g. ESPN vs. ESPN.com)? Why else would you have .com in your company’s name? By 2002, having a .com was no longer a choice, it was a necessity.

We are in a similar moment in the blockchain industry. Take a look at this Sentieo study —

There is increased buzz and talk from large companies about using blockchain, accepting crypto, even adding one of these terms to their name! Yet, in a few years, being a “Blockchain Company” will be obsolete. Like having a .com website that users could interact with in 1999, utilizing a blockchain in 2019 will be assumed.

As we approach 2019, it will be implied that you have already built your tech stack in a more decentralized way. The world is becoming more decentralized, billions are pushing for more ownership of their data (see GDPR in Europe), and there is less trust in institutions than ever before.

If you don’t leverage blockchain in the future, your business will fail, PERIOD.

Hydrogen Changes the Paradigm

While the world obsesses over which blockchain protocol will be “the winner,” we view the industry a bit differently.

Hydrogen is doing for fintech in the Web 3.0 what Paypal did for fintech in the Web 2.0.

We are making it simpler, making it easier to interact with new technology, making it faster, making it more efficient, and most importantly, focusing on the layers above the protocols that add that most value to the end users.

As our Blocktoberfest series highlighted, we are working to finalize partnerships that will make using blockchain as simple as viewing your Facebook feed now. Interoperability, APIs, one-click payments, identity aggregation, privacy protocols, Layer-2 payment rails. These might seem like alien terms to most, but they are integral to making blockchain usable.

Take a look at our end state app prototype —

Can you spot where we are using all of the technology we just described above? 99 out of 100 people will not be able to, and this is exactly what we are striving for. Blockchain is assumed here, it is not explicit. The end consumer experience has been enriched and made much more secure through the blockchain underpinnings.

There is no need to call Hydro a blockchain platform. It is just a better platform, helping to advance financial services for billions globally.