The Most Significant Challenge To Blockchain Adoption Is Execution (Not Education)

Contrary to what many are saying about blockchain, the biggest challenge to faster blockchain adoption is not the lack of education. Education is definitely important and must be continued for those in both the technical and business community, but, the largest barrier to adoption is deriving measurable business value from applying it.

Consider the history of the internet. Blockchain’s revolutionary potential has been compared to the rise of the internet, and rightly so. Yes, engineers needed to understand all the nuances of protocols, domain structures, bandwidth, etc. But unless there was business value to using the internet, it would have continued to simmer in the halls of academia as a sublime, yet undervalued technology.  The application of the technology drove the internet's growth through communication (email), sales (e-commerce), marketing (company websites), etc. to what now seems to be ubiquitous use. This is what will lead blockchain’s revolution, too.  

Similar comparisons can be made to major ERP adoptions like SAP.  Engineers needed to understand all the nuances and ABAP programming, but did CEO/CFOs? NO! The C-Suite needed to know how these applications would give them a competitive advantage and increase their profitability. Again, without this driving force, the technology would have had little reason to advance.

Blockchain's REAL Value

Cryptocurrencies, notably Bitcoin, were the first application of blockchain technology that drove value.  Volumes have been written about this as well as the potential of the application of blockchain to a myriad of industries like Supply Chain Management, Insurance and Pharmaceuticals.

Bitcoin was a "first-mover" transitioning the theory of distributed ledgers into a practical application. Other industry first-movers who do likewise for areas like data integration will deliver to their customers enormous business value, giving them a radical competitive advantage. Enough talking - time for doing!

Additional Reading

https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2018/02/23/blockchain-and-the-promise-of-an-open-decentralized-internet/
http://blog.irvingwb.com/blog/2017/07/realizing-the-potential-of-blockchain.html