Hi everyone, I’m J.D. Houvener, and welcome to the Bold Today Show. For you, the inventor and entrepreneur, get your daily dose of inspiration to make the world a better place. Today, we’re still talking about blockchain and cryptocurrency, especially. I want to discuss some trends in the market. Before we do that, I want to give you your challenge of the day. As we’ve talked over the past three days about cryptocurrency, it has to come to mind how this is going to impact your industry. Your homework for the day is to figure out how you can implement blockchain and cryptocurrency into your business plan.
Today, I wanted to share with you some charts I found from Quandl.com. As you can see, over the past 3-4 years, there’s been a huge increase in the number of patent applications. There’s a slight dip in 2017, but projections for 2018 show that it’s already ahead of what 2016 was. This surge in applications is about to have a major impact on your industry. It’s not a matter of whether it’s going to impact your industry, but how. You need to think about how these early players and this early technology are shaping the way things will be. It’s a good comparison to think about blockchain technology as revolutionary as the Internet. Experts project that blockchain technology will be just like the Internet, and the early players in the Internet, like Amazon, eBay, and Microsoft, are still surviving today. These companies got in early and made it through the surge of technology.
As you can see from this next chart, early investors are banks and financial institutions. While they may not know exactly what they’re doing, they’re acquiring these assets to be the first movers. Bank of America, by far, has invested the most assets and resources to keep their nearly 50 patents alive today. Undoubtedly, they’re trying to make a move much like Amazon did in the early 2000s and survive this new technology surge.
If you’re getting into cryptocurrency and want to ensure your industry stays on the latest and greatest, you need to do research and incorporate it into your business plan. I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson at the Bold Today Show. Have a wonderful day. I’m your host, J.D. Houvener. Go big, go bold!