Exciting New Events That Are Happening in the Blockchain Space 2022

Blockchain technology started off with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies before evolving into additional use cases, from NFTs and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and the Metaverse. This article looks at some exciting new events in the blockchain industry for 2022.

As an alternative to bitcoin addresses, blockchain domains have just come into existence. These domains work as ERC-721 tokens on the Ethereum network. The main purpose of a blockchain domain is to make it easier for users to transfer cryptocurrency. Regular crypto addresses are a long string of alpha-numerical characters, while blockchain domains are simple usernames with an identifier (i.e., ETH) at the end.

Because crypto wallet addresses are almost impossible to remember, we have to copy and paste them when sending or receiving crypto. This process can be tedious since users need to find their address every time and copy it instead of sending it by memory. 

Blockchain domains were developed to simplify the transfer process for users. Blockchain domain names, in contrast to traditional ".com" domain names, are not used in the hosting of websites. Instead, these tokens function as placeholders for wallet addresses, so users can easily transfer tokens.

Consider the following scenario: Jason wants to request $500 worth of cryptocurrency from Jessica. If Jason did not have a blockchain domain name, he would have to access his cryptocurrency wallet, copy his address, and send it to Jessica. For Jessica to successfully execute the transaction, she would then need to copy and paste the address into her cryptocurrency wallet.

On the other hand, blockchain domains simplify this process. Jason can save himself the trouble of locating his address and sending it to Jane by mentioning that he is the owner of the Jason.ETH domain. From that point forward, Jessica would be able to transfer the sum of $500 directly to Jason's NFT domain name, which would then deposit the sum of $100 into Jason's wallet.

Partisia Blockchain Foundation, an independent non-profit supporting the development of the world’s ultimate zero-knowledge blockchain, has completed integrating its Mainnet v3.0 aka “ZEUS” into Polygon, an Ethereum scaling protocol onboarding millions to web3. The integration unlocks Partisia’s privacy-preserving computation infrastructure and a new type of smart contract — allowing Polygon developers to build use cases that require data confidentiality and privacy while using a public blockchain.

Since the launch of the first smart contract in 2009 with the launch of Bitcoin, the siloing of the two different kinds of smart contracts—public and private—has stifled the expansion of blockchain applications. Public, or visible, smart contracts provide weaker privacy posing a problem for use cases that require maintaining discreet health or financial records. Meanwhile, private smart contracts protect against outside interference or malicious activity but cannot be easily audited or verified by third parties.

Zero-knowledge proofs have proven themselves in terms of security, yet they are not without disadvantages, from vulnerability to security breaches and even necessitating a significant amount of computations. Yet, the hurdles are removed when coupled with MPC’s ability to allow multi-user interactions. Furthermore, the combination facilitates the unification of private and public smart contracts to increase efficiency and introduce arbitrary confidentiality.

By leveraging zero-knowledge multi-party computation and the unified public and private smart contracts from the Partisia Blockchain, developers gain the potential to build hundreds of Polygon-powered use-cases, including:

Today, advertising-based search engine models expose users to a bad experience and risk falling victim to clickbait, fake news, scams, and other malware. As an alternative, the “Better Internet Search” initiative has integrated Partisia Blockchain’s unified smart contract to serve a new, ad-free experience and produce search results without collecting users’ private data. Encrypted data never gets decrypted, and any product information provided has been computed with MPC to be as relevant to the user’s experience without personal data ever being decrypted – this is the power of zk computation.

In the short run, the better data protection of zero-knowledge MPC makes use of users’ most valuable but sensitive data in a sound and regulatory-compliant way. In the long run, this has the potential to change the power structures operating in today's internet economy and allow for more competition on the application and service levels. A good example is the “Data for Good” platform designed to allow anyone to donate data without disclosing personal information, using MPC and blockchain to strike the right balance between confidentiality and transparency. 

The first large-scale and commercial use of MPC was a decentralized exchange conducted in 2008 by the team behind Partisia Blockchain, followed by several MPC based auctions within energy, finance, and telecoms. Partisia’s initial focus is bridging different blockchains and allowing users to seamlessly move data and tokens from one blockchain and security paradigm to another. The aim is to increase participation in existing DeFi solutions and to lower the barrier to bringing DeFi to traditional markets. 

With increasingly complicated supply chains and niche products, price setting and auctions are becoming an integrated part of many markets. A unified smart contract can keep track of buyers and sellers and the resulting trades while the bids remain confidential. Furthermore, the privacy aspect of zero-knowledge MPC brings can also assist in eliminating the possibility of shill bidding, artificially boosting an item's price through dishonest bids.

The ability to keep aspects of the contract private while still allowing for public verification is crucial in cases such as medical and health data, financial identity or credit scores, etc.

“We are excited to bring the potential that unified smart contracts offer to fruition,” says Brian Gallagher, Co-Founder of Partisia Blockchain. “We are confident that this technology will drastically transform the way businesses and individuals interact with each other, and we are excited to see how it will be used in the future.” 

“The integration of Partisia Blockchain’s unified smart contracts based on zero-knowledge, multi-party computation opens up countless new and exciting possibilities for all Polygon developers,” says Antoni Martin, Polygon Enterprise Lead. “We are always excited to see what new innovations and use cases can benefit blockchain technology, and our partnership with Partisia opens up the door for new possibilities.”

The metaverse is growing in 2022, with Bloomberg estimating the market to be worth $783.3 billion by 2024. The term "metaverse" describes online worlds where people can interact with each other. The massive popularity of the metaverse came shortly after Facebook announced its decision to rebrand itself as "Meta" and release its own metaverse.

Ownership is one of the benefits of the metaverse, with blockchain technology making it possible for users to own and exchange digital assets. If blockchain technology did not exist, the metaverse, as it is now understood, would be inadequate since everything would be stored in a single centralized place. This would render the metaverse insufficient. Because of this, the metaverse would no longer be functional. In recent years, the introduction of cryptocurrencies has made decentralization a technically viable option. Because the blockchain is capable of functioning as a global digital source, this is now within reach of being realized. 

This metaverse provides a virtual reality experience in 3D with additional functionality added by the Ethereum blockchain. On the other hand, using cryptocurrency would make it possible for people to trade products inside the metaverse. In addition, users would benefit from increased safety and protection provided by decentralization and the capacity to transact with each other via a peer-to-peer network.

The blockchain space has seen some exciting new innovations over the years, and 2022 sees continued growth in the industry.