A study conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Global Blockchain Business Council suggest that the decentralized space’s current efforts and practices need more reinforcements for a common standard across the world. The study called the Global Standards Mapping Initiative looked into different gaps, divergence, and overlap in the blockchain industry standards globally, and these at present is the biggest challenge for the decentralized industry.
The study noted that most of the standard-setting bodies in the decentralized space tend to focus on particular areas while completely ignoring others. This practice creating a set of overlap as well as gaps in the standards practices followed across the industry around the world.
The other aspect which the study found problematic towards a common set of standards across the industry is that interest and volume of activity around setting standards in the decentralized space also vary with the hype around the industry. Most of the organizations which set out to make new standards at the peak of the hype often failed to deliver on the promises they began with or, in many cases, shut their operation.
The WEF study also revealed 5 domains where overlap in terms of setting standards occurs often, and they are security, Internet of Things, identity, DLT requirements, and DLT terminology. Another thing noted in the study is that even though there is no lack of enthusiasm, the issue arises because of variations and lack of common definitions and terminology.
The WEF study concludes that for the blockchain industry to find greater adoption and acceptance, it requires a common standard that defines blockchain technology’s suitability for specific processes. A common standard would be the first step towards that goal. The report notes,
“the effectiveness of standards will ultimately come down to how well the technology is understood.”
