If you say blockchain technology changed the world, I wouldn't consider you a sensationalist and I believe you wouldn't you wouldn't consider me one if the positions were reversed. The whirlwind changes we have seen in different industries —but mostly the financial sector— are enough facts to back both our positions on this. 

Blockchain technology has been revolutionary, to say the least. The status quo of industries has changed in their adaptation to technology. It has mainly affected the financial space but recently industries like health, fashion, cybersecurity, and even entertainment have taken to using blockchains for their operations. The reason for this migration is clear too. 

Some major tenets of blockchain technology are transparency, security, and elimination of intermediaries and these are all driven by the vehicle of decentralization. In essence, the Blockchain is an immutable ledger that makes it easier to execute transactions, record them, and track assets in a corporate network. And to do all these in a trustworthy manner, the network has to be managed by entities that can be trusted. This brings us to decentralization in blockchain technology. 

Unlike traditional finance where a nation's currency is managed by a central bank, the blockchain, seeing as it is changing the landscape of finance, is doing the opposite of that. On the blockchain, no one entity owns or controls the network, instead, the task of managing the network is distributed across nodes (re: computers) that operate a cryptographic protocol known as Proof-of-Work (PoW).

A blockchain is made up of blocks of data with information about transactions. A block of data in the chain is used to prove the validity of the next block, hence the name. By using the PoW mechanism to validate, users can add blocks to the blockchain and since this information is public, it can be viewed by everyone. 

Other blockchain protocols in existence are the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and the Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus. Proof-of-Stake is a mechanism that works by selecting validators according to the size of their holdings in an associated cryptocurrency. The need for validators to own some quantity of the blockchain's tokens makes it so that for an attacker to mount an attack on the blockchain, they have to acquire a large fraction of the tokens on the chain. One thing PoS has over PoW is that it is more energy-efficient as it requires less computational power from the validator network. 

Coined by co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Gavin Wood in 2017, Proof-of-Authority is an algorithm that is used on blockchains to deliver fast transactions through a consensus that is based on trustworthiness. In PoA, nodes have to earn the right to become validators on a network by attaching their identities as validators and passing through a strict vetting process. This way, the Validators are incentivized, to be honest, and uphold the transaction processes on the network, especially as they do not want to have a negative reputation attached to their identities. 

An example of a blockchain that is backed by Proof-of-Authority consensus is the Kaichain. Designed to bring programmability and interoperability to the blockchain, Kaichain runs on a PoA consensus system that supports short block time, and lower transaction fees in addition to its EVM compatibility and eco-friendliness. On Kaichain, the most bonded validator candidates of staking become validators and produce blocks. Security, stability, and chain finality are guaranteed by double-sign detection and other cutting logic. Read more about Kaichain here. 

Blockchain Blurring The Boundaries of DeFi and Gaming 

In line with the idea of decentralization, a sub-industry known as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has been built in the financial sector. In DeFi, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are used to carry out financial transactions. By cutting out the middleman (centralized financial institutions) and substituting them with platforms that support peer-to-peer procedures, this sector aims to democratize financial services. These platforms also provide a wide range of financial services like loans, mortgages, asset trading, and everyday banking to name a few.

Decentralized Finance is powered by Decentralized Apps known as dApps. These dApps handle transactions mostly in Ethereum (ETH) because Ethereum is a much more adaptable network and is open to a wide variety of uses. One way in which DeFi can be used is lending. With DeFi, people can borrow funds from a pool of lenders and pay back with interest which the lenders receive yield from. This service is traditionally one that is predominantly gotten in financial institutions like banks. Still, DeFi has opened this up to people worldwide, regardless of their access to banking. 

A service that has been to be the lifeblood of DeFi protocols and enables DeFi apps to function effectively is Liquidity Pools. Liquidity pools are a collection of digital assets that are accumulated on a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) to enable trading on the exchange. These pools are a very important part of decentralized exchanges because they provide the liquidity that enables the exchanges to function. The Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi as of April 2023 is $48.65 billion.

A DeFi platform that provides these services and more is Finblox. Finblox is a super-app that is built with gamified features to help its users grow their digital assets by earning rewards in simple and fun ways. With Finblox, users can earn in-kind or universal rewards by simply participating in the ecosystem. Finblox also provides market prediction services, yield generators, trading, launchpad, P2P marketplace, etc. 

In recent times, DeFi protocols like Finblox are being integrated into play-to-earn gaming platforms and this has fast-tracked the transition towards a crypto-focused gaming ecosystem. This gaming ecosystem is populated with games that are known as DeFi games. These games provide players with a fun way to interact with the realm of decentralized finance while playing games and making money. 

In these games, in-game assets can be earned, bought, and sold like real-world assets. This opportunity to earn from playing games has been met with so much enthusiasm and this is evident by the fact that in 2022, gaming represented 49% of all daily blockchain activity. Some of these blockchain gaming platforms include Octo Gaming and HyperMove. 

Built on the Solana blockchain, Octo Gaming is the first gaming platform in the world to release a double reward system that is based on a competitive economy. The platform currently has over 3 million users worldwide and rewards them with tokens or real-life prizes. HyperMove is a gaming platform that promotes mental and physical health by allowing users to exercise, improve fitness and play games on the platform while earning crypto as a passive reward. The platform combines the play-to-earn (P2E) and move-to-earn (M2E) mechanics to encourage players to get active and stay fit and earn real-world rewards at the same time. 

Conclusion

The common theme in blockchain technology, decentralized finance, and gaming is decentralization. It guides every action, product, and blockchain being built and so far it has proven to be the way to go. The entire blockchain industry is still in its nascent stage which points towards the thinking that there would be more innovations and sub-technologies built on the foundation of the decentralization that guides the blockchain.