The Use of Big Data in Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technologies could be worth one-fifth of the big data market within the next two decades. So, how do the two go together?

Blockchain investment is growing within governments, private businesses and banks. It is predicted that smart contracts could be worth around 10% of the world’s GDP within the next decade. Blockchain technologies are even suggested to be worth as much as 20% of the big data industry within 20 years. That equates to around $100 billion and would, therefore, be bigger business than Mastercard, PayPal and visa - combined.

These signs tell us that blockchain technology is not just benefitting crypto investors, Luno Bitcoin wallet holders or fintech startups. The technology is for everyone and any collaboration between it and big data could be one of the most successful.

The use of cryptocurrencies is on the rise in all corners of the globe. One report, despite discovering that many people are still cautious or worried about cryptocurrency, actually found that 19% of the those surveyed had purchased some form of crypto before 2019.

Both findings are key and tell us that people are interested in it, but also fail to understand it fully. Not understanding crypto is nothing to be ashamed about. Even the market’s experts do not fully understand crypto and knowing what causes its change in market value is still debated.

Enter big data. The big data industry could be supplied to the crypto market and help them pick up on trends and predict where bitcoin is heading. Using big data as a service is estimated to be worth up to $1 trillion and it may be that blockchains, and understanding crypto trends, becomes one of its biggest customers.

Big data technicians have already delved into this idea and are using their skills to unmask trends within cryptocurrency blockchains. But what trends are being identified?

The most obvious benefit of applying big data techniques to crypto blockchains is to find out transactional information. This information will help understand the number of people using a specific cryptocurrency and how often the crypto is being sent and received, as well as amounts. This can inform decisions on activity and help discover more trends on crypto’ usage.

Data analysts can also mine for social data on social media platforms and use this to compare with blockchain trends - such as the one above. The two go hand in hand because it is largely accepted that social media users and crypto users fall in the same bracket. Moreover, real events in society and politics have been known to influence the market value of crypto. Comparing social data and blockchain data will enable us to pick up on missed trends or dive deeper into them.

One recent study published in The Royal Society has already uncovered such trends.