Getting around town evokes many emotions in people: fun, frustrating, happy, stressful, tedious, relaxing. Much of those positive feelings come from the vehicle itself, while the negative vibes come from other drivers – or passengers! With mounting frustration and stress, many are looking for alternatives to the rising costs of owning and operating any vehicle. And new technologies are coming forward to provide options that can cause many to forego ownership of a car or truck.
Without a car, how DO we get around? Many people are on the Uber and LYFT craze, the “passenger delivery services” that are doing quite well. Their apps make the ride-hailing services accessible, and the business model seems to be working well for them (if we exclude the pandemic). With leveraging someone else’s vehicle, people no longer have car payments, registration fees, toll charges, high-cost auto insurance, or maintenance costs for vehicle upkeep.
Commuters can benefit from these services, and with technologies evolving, new business models are presenting even more opportunities for creating unique digital economies. Consider the following point that David Walsh, Founding Partner at Extranet Venture Partners and an investor who is keenly interested in cryptocurrency technologies, recently offered:
“This [the use of virtual fleets] is a whole another opportunity for blockchain to be that digital engine for all of these transactions, not just me getting a Lyft/Uber ride, but for them to manage their fleet of assets. Asset tracking takes on a whole new level, as all of these transactions need to be validated.”
Let’s see how 5G and blockchain can fuel new business models to foster and create a broader digital economy.
5G and blockchain offer the promise of a potent combination to power a ubiquitous and scalable self-service transactional platform. Platforms today, like Square and Venmo, provide device-independent credit exchanges that use credit cards or “accounts” linked to the service. While usable, these approaches are less secure and more cumbersome than a solution that ties directly into a digital economy. Using blockchain-based transactions provides secure “banking-level” affirmed transactions on a per-transaction basis, and 5G delivers underlying network connectivity to support the security overhead and affirmation inherent in blockchain-based transactions.
In addition to B2C business transactions, the blending of the 5G infrastructure with the power of blockchain’s distributed ledger can do much more than eWallets. 5G-based private networks and network slicing provides the wireless extendability that allows businesses to transact directly with the digital assets of other companies (and even individuals) using blockchain as the gateway. While it’s not in place today, wireless providers know how to “share” infrastructure and users across the infrastructure.
For businesses with significant logistics operations, 5G has the device density and range of coverage to manage/monitor/track the status of components used in manufacturing the goods being shipped. Blockchain has intrinsic abilities to identify each item during production and delivery. The power of 5G, coupled with blockchain, provides instant, accurate tracking of any item that comprises a product – from a finished product to the smallest component in the product’s design. Blockchain can link and confirm product distribution and use by any mix of SKU, serial number, component number, or cluster number for inventory management and quality control.
While blockchain technology, today, provides solutions for new electronic-based currencies, blockchain with 5G can build modern economies for countries that do not have the foundation to participate in the global economy. It remains a question about who will create this blockchain-based 5G-powered infrastructure.
