The introduction of new technology is often accompanied by fear and panic. When blockchain came along, it was regarded as nothing more than a great way to buy drugs and guns. Now we know differently.
In the US, the latest fear is that 5G networks could cause planes to crash into the ground. AT&T and Verizon turned on their C-band 5G networks in January, despite the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) asking for the launch to be delayed over fears it could impact the safety of aviation. The 5G network operates in a part of the radio spectrum that is also used by altimeters - the devices used to measure how high an airplane is flying. So far, there have been no crashes.
In the near future, both 5G and blockchain technologies will combine to create a new world of smart cities, digital IDs, and automatic health monitoring systems. Which is a dream for some - and a nightmare for others. So what will this new world look like?
In Block We Trust
Before we delve into the bleak or brilliant future of humanity, it is worth quickly explaining the terms. A blockchain is a way of storing information immutably so that it cannot be changed. In crypto, blocks typically contain information about transactions, although Ethereum blocks also contain smart contracts - which are simple programs designed to run automatically when certain conditions are met.
A blockchain serves as a distributed, decentralized ledger that is stored in many places at once, with updates and changes sent to each copy automatically. If a mistake finds its way onto one copy of the blockchain, it can be corrected by being compared with other copies. This model is quite different from a traditional centralized ledger, such as that held by banks or governmental institutions - which tend to keep just one database, guard it zealously, and make sure that no outsiders can change it.
Explaining this technology, the analyst house Gartner wrote: “The core value proposition of blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies, is providing decentralized trust across a network of untrusted participants. The potential ramifications for analytics use cases are significant, especially those leveraging participant relationships and interactions.”
5G is a superfast wireless internet network that is more likely to be at least 10 times faster than current services. Currently, the city with the fastest 5G is Oslo, Norway, which offers a median download speed of 526.74 Mbps, according to an assessment by Speedtest. The second fastest is Seoul, South Korea. The rest of the top five is made up of Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, Doha, Qatar, and Stockholm, Sweden.
The rollout out of 5G will be hugely profitable. An analysis by Qualcomm found that 5G will generate huge global growth, driving $13.1 trillion dollars of global economic output by 2035. It will also be inescapable.
“Besides offering up to 100 times the speed and 1,000 times the capacity of today’s mobile networks, 5G will provide ultra-reliability, low latency, reduced energy use and massive connectivity both inside and outside of buildings,” PwC wrote in 2020.
“The result will be broadband that’s not just superfast but ubiquitous. Moreover, when 5G is used in combination with AI, extended reality (XR), edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), it will enable business and society to realize the full benefits of these other technological advances.”
5G will usher in the age of the Internet of Things, allowing tiny devices to communicate with each other at high speed. It will revolutionize everything from media to healthcare, enabling the creation of a super-speedy and all-pervasive network in which data is sent around the world in the blink of an eye.
“The proliferation of connections enabled by 5G will lead to an explosion in the amount of data created, collected, and stored,” Mastercard wrote. “This will create endless possibilities for innovative solutions using the data — as well as the need for solutions that secure consumer data.”
When Blockchain Meets 5G
The combination of these technologies will be game-changing, allowing data to be stored, verified, and shared at a speed and scale that is almost unimaginable today. The use cases are already becoming clear. IBM has filed a patent for technology that manages the information and interactions generated by self-driving autonomous cars using a blockchain. Its model collects information about drivers’ behavior using IoT sensors, using the data to “optimize risk assessment based on the predicted and the actual maneuvering of nearby vehicles and drivers”.
“In the age of autonomous automobiles, billions of IoT devices must interact with each other without little delay,” IBM wrote. “These interactions must be auditable and shareable. Blockchain provides a decentralized platform that makes it harder to tamper with, thus supporting transactions that are secure, private and efficient.”
A blockchain can be used to store any information for any purpose. They could be used in elections, for instance, to create indisputable records with zero possibility of any hanging chads or other irregularities clogging up the democratic process. A blockchain may store and share medical data. It might also end up being used in real estate to record all manner of transactions, with Deloitte reporting that blockchain will “potentially transform… property transactions like purchase, sale, financing, leasing, and management transactions”.
The development of smart cities will be enabled by both these technologies. 5G will allow millions of connected sensors and devices to communicate, measuring everything from traffic to carbon dioxide emissions. Information can then be stored on blockchains, preventing tampering as well as allowing the data to be shared easily. If, say, pollution data is stored on a blockchain, then the information about previous levels is stored on the same ledger, making it easier to generate useful insights.
Here’s how the tech firm Ericcson imagines this new world: “To illustrate the potential of blockchain, consider that the automation of devices also includes automatic management of money. Here’s a great example: a self-driving car, as part of a taxi service, realizes and registers that it needs to be cleaned. It can automatically drive to a car wash, pay for the service, and be back on the road ready to serve customers without any human having to manage the process.”
The crypto entrepreneur Rob Allen has suggested that 5G and blockchains could even empower “incentivization” of good behaviors. “Citizens could be benignly nudged to encourage them to respond in a particularly beneficial way, for example, to promote road safety or waste recycling,” he wrote.
“In these examples, micropayments could be paid directly and in real-time for compliance with variable speed limits, rewarding children for crossing the street in a safe place, or as a gamified reward for the correct disposal of different types of waste.”
The End of Privacy?
Tech has had a troubled relationship with privacy ever since Mark Zuckerberg was asked why his fellow students were willing to share private data with him and replied: “They ‘trust me. Dumb fucks.”
The combination of 5G and blockchain poses obvious risks in this regard. In China, blockchain is involved in the creation of the Social Credit System, which measures individuals’ credit rating as well as their behavior. This system is designed “to steer the behavior of Chinese individuals, businesses, social organizations, and government agencies” but is also “employed by the Chinese state as ‘surveillance infrastructure’ and for social management”, according to a study by a German academic.
Blockchains now allow data to be gathered and shared across the whole nation. This means that details of citizens’ lives - ranging from their purchases to the spicy memes they share online - are recorded and shared. Good behavior is rewarded, whilst bad scores are punished by restrictions on travel and other penalties.
Describing social credit, the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said: “Authoritarians only have one thing in their minds: control. They are interested in seeing individuals as numbers, rather than as human beings, so as to take away the power of the individual. All those systems, including surveillance and censorship, are about killing creativity and differences. The entire purpose is to make it easier to enact control.”
Life Under 5G
To illustrate the two sides of the 5G and blockchain debate, let’s flash forward a few decades and imagine what the future might look like if you are one of the digital denizens of a smart city. You’re living in an apartment which self-replenishes its refrigerator, ordering from Amazon and making payments that are automatically deducted from your bank account - which uses blockchain technology.
Sensors that are embedded in all your devices and everything from your bed to your shoes measure how much sleep and exercise you have taken, locking the information into a blockchain. On the way to work (assuming offices still exist) sensors recognize you as you get on the bus, once again taking money automatically, with all transactions verified and recorded by a blockchain. You get to work and every task your team has done is immutably locked on another blockchain, allowing you to take up where you left off. You don’t need cards or ID, because financial and personal information is stored on a chip embedded in your body. It is constantly scanned and you are liberated from annoying manual tasks because data is automatically gathered, shared, and verified by networks of blockchains connected by 5G.
This is a future many powerful people would welcome. “Welcome to 2030,” the World Economic Forum famously wrote. “I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.”
Now imagine the flipside. You wake up and the fridge has not been filled up with nice things, because the sensors in your shoes and bed show you’ve gained weight and aren’t exercising enough. The government doesn’t want you to eat more. Your health insurance has just gone up in price for the same reason. The bus to work won’t let you on because you need to get some exercise, so you’re walking in the rain.
Meanwhile, sensors including microphones are embedded everywhere to record what you say, where you go, and how you behave. Certain words automatically trigger a fine or even a police response, so you cannot speak freely. A chip in your body allows passersby to access your immutable social record which is a blockchain and cannot be changed. It records all your minor crimes, transgressions, and social quirks, allowing the people you meet to decide whether you are worth associating with. At work, everything is recorded and follows you forever. There is no respite from the system because network connectivity is ubiquitous.
Utopia or Dystopia?
Both the dream and the nightmare are almost certain to take shape in some way within the coming years. The manacles of a control system built with 5G and blockchain may even end up being introduced by benign governments who genuinely care about the wellbeing of their citizens, but end up choking them in the name of public safety.
Blockchain and 5G are almost polar opposites. The first is decentralized, whilst 5G has to involve elements of centralization due to the cost and difficulty of building a wireless network. One was created by an anonymous innovator called Satoshi Nakamoto. The other is being cooked up in corporate laboratories.
The combination of these two technologies will decide whether the future is free and decentralized, or totally centralized. Will it be heaven or hell? That’s for you to decide. We’ll all find out soon enough.
