The current Covid-19 pandemic is relatively unprecedented, especially in more modern times where globalization has become such an important facet of global lives. However, with measures of social distancing, and the shutting down of travel and borders, the globalised world has quickly been shut down.

It appears that there will be a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done — from the markets to the economy, socially and globally — for the world to get back to where it was before this pandemic. And, to that end, NEO founder Da Hongfei has suggested blockchain will play an important role in re-globalising the planet.

Hongfei has suggested that the world was currently witnessing a pattern of de-globalization and while different nations may have different financial ideas and concepts, blockchain can be the neutral ground which bridges those gaps.

A neutral starting point

The move back towards individual nations and their ways of handling things has severely dented the global efforts, and it will not be easy for countries who have defeated this virus to re-enter global discussions, they will be strongly held in their beliefs, but blockchain can be the middle ground.

“First of all, blockchain is ideology neutral. It’s not backed by capitalism, it’s not backed by socialism. It is jurisdiction agnostic… Sometimes people say code is law, I think that’s a smart way of saying blockchain is jurisdiction agnostic,” Hongfei explained.

This could allow the blockchain space to function as a tool for the new global marketplace. This is another aspect that needs to be considered as the pandemic may cause a new way of thinking to be catalysed in the coming years.

“Blockchain can become a global marketplace. A ledger is a global database. If we can put all of the global assets on the blockchain, we can have a global marketplace where everyone can trade with everyone,” he added.

Need for better blockchain

However, if the blockchain is to become integral to the new world economy, it has to really improve its performance as Hongfei doesn’t necessarily think the current crop of blockchains is equipped to deal with the demands of hosting a global economy.

“Is today’s blockchain technology ready? Unfortunately my answer is no. I don’t think today’s blockchain can fulfil the mission to hold the human economy on top of it. We can improve in three aspects: interoperability, tokenization and adoption,” he concluded.