177

Myths, Realities and Future

10.4.29  Myth 15: Blockchains Consume High

Volumes of Energy, Increasing Costs

That Blockchains consume high volumes of energy, driving up costs, can be consid­

ered to be true to some extent. However, it doesn’t apply to all Blockchain transac­

tions and depends on the mining being used.

10.4.30  Reality

Depending upon the way the Blockchains are used, such as permissioned or permis­

sionless, this myth can be suitably evaluated. Mining done through permissionless

Blockchains inflates costs. However, this is false for permissioned Blockchains, as

they do not normally include cryptocurrency mining. The administrator of reliable

members designs the rubrics to authenticate information in the system on the chain.

These Blockchains are more cost effective (Hall, 2019).

10.5  CONCLUSION

Blockchain has emerged as an exciting new technology that is being widely used nowa­

days because it provides better transparency, better traceability, higher security, better

efficiency and speed, and is cost effective. From supply chain to manpower resources,

Blockchain influences all the sectors of industries it touches. Blockchain implements

applications in a decentralized and secure way, ensuring certainty. This has led to

the widespread adoption of Blockchain in a trustless society. However, exciting new

technologies often create disruption in the marketplace; disruption breeds misunder­

standing, and Blockchain technology is no exception. Among several technological

developments in the current era, Blockchain has been an eminent challenger. So, the

lack of transparency for understanding Blockchain has resulted in the generation of

several Blockchain myths over time, which may hinder people from using or adopting

it. Myths about distributed ledger technology and its working mechanism – Blockchain

is the only Bitcoin, is secure, cannot be manipulated, etc. – pose the threat that indus­

tries will avoid exploiting its extensive potential to influence constructive development.

This generates the pressing need to explore the various myths and realities related to

Blockchain and separate the myths from realities. To this end, this chapter has dis­

cussed Blockchain technology and its concepts and has presented the various myths

and reality associated with Blockchain. The chapter has collected and reviewed the

contents of various research papers and online sources to serve this purpose. It has

attempted to sort or separate the myths from the reality, highlighting the fact that using

Blockchain is not restricted to only some domains. The chapter has clearly unravelled

some of the commonly assumed misconceptions and removed misperceptions, thereby

providing users with a better understanding of Blockchain. It is hoped that the chapter

will greatly assist users in understanding the concepts, knowing the myths and reality

associated with Blockchain, and gaining insight into a few of the common mispercep­

tions. It is also hoped that the chapter will provide a strong foundation to researchers

who wish to pursue research in this domain.