Bo Zou, Toronto CXer, Sees Untethered Wearables as Next for Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

TORONTO, April 27, 2018 /CNW/ - The next advance in blockchain and cryptocurrencies? Bo Zou, Toronto customer experience strategist and designer, is looking at next generation wearables – think  "smart" watches, blockchain-enabled and with hardware wallets that don't need a phone to work.

"This could be the next  'new new' thing," says Bo Zou, "and its development could be sooner than people might think. The technology is there. It's only a matter of time before smartphones will be blockchain enabled.

"But a phone is just a phone. Wearables will untether the user experience, whether for financial transactions using digital currencies or fitness tracking," he adds.

As cryptocurrencies and blockchain continue to grab growing interest and become more mainstream, that's just one area to keep an eye on, according to Zou, who has particular expertise in the financial services sector.

Another development to watch is the increasing centralization of cryptocurrencies. It's ironic, Zou says, given that blockchain and digital currencies were actually intended as a new order built on the principle of decentralization.

But not only are more financial services players getting into the cryptocurrency game, but quite a few of the existing currencies are controlled by a single entity. "That has good and bad aspects," Zou says, "It's important to watch for its impact on, for example, the underlying blockchain's maintenance and development and future direction."

Bo Zou adds that a third development is the expanding market for insurance within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. A few insurers, for example, have offered protection against cryptocurrency theft. But the major focus will be on businesses, rather than the consumer.

He notes that cryptocurrency exchange services keep hundreds of millions of digital tokens in cloud-based wallets. And they can be hacked – in fact, in January, hackers made off with some $500 million in digital coins from Japanese exchange service, Coincheck. It's not the first such hack, Zou notes, and even as it prompts discussion about blockchain security, it also suggests another area for insurers to explore.

"The environment for digital currency and blockchain is changing so fast that you almost need a scorecard to keep up with developments," Bo Zou explains. "The winners, though, will be those who understand the trends and their impact and can get out ahead of them."

SOURCE Bo Zou

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