The biggest issue facing the internet today: Trust.

The past year and a half has exposed how easily the most popular online services can be manipulated to distort the truth. And it seems as though things will get a lot worse before they get better.

To fake news and fake followers, we can now add deepfakes, ultra-realistic fake videos made with the power of artificial intelligence. And take a moment to consider automated laser phishing, which pulls information from your online profiles and/or conversations, also with the help of AI, to create fake emails from friends and family to perpetuate scams.

The tech platforms we count on the most have been slow, or ineffective, in their responses to these breaches of trust, giving nascence to a growing idea: If an internet of centralized platforms proves to be a failure, then perhaps it’s time to imagine an internet without them.

Enter the blockchain as a proposed solution. Best known as the technology behind crypto-currencies like bitcoin, blockchain refers to a system of online exchanges conducted through a decentralized, public, digital ledger. Because this ledger is unalterable and shared publicly, it is seen as a more transparent and trustworthy method of conducting business online. It also makes it possible to trace anything back to its origin. That could mean tracking a piece of content back to its original creator, ensuring not only proper credit and compensation, but just as importantly, accountability for those who might try to disseminate false information.

The undefined potential for this technology has led to imaginings of an internet 3.0. “There is this underlying hope that maybe we can find a way to take away the chaos a little bit,” says BuzzFeed senior writer Charlie Warzel. “Keep it free, keep it open, but make people more accountable.”

The difficulty of defining how exactly this system operates has also led to rampant speculation. Take a lagging startup, tack the word blockchain to the end of it, and millions in investment dollars might manifest overnight.

Yet blockchain is no longer just an elusive, potential solution to what plagues the internet. It’s already playing a crucial role for a number of industries. Here’s some of the key contributions blockchain may already be making to your industry, as we noted in ZEITGUIDE 2018.

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