Just how significant will blockchain be on the digital economy, and what are its practical applications?

“Blockchain is the new internet,” says Toon King Wong, managing partner at FarSight Capital, speaking at WiT Singapore last week.

The technology, he believes, will be as influential as HTML before it. “In 10, 20 years, everything is going to be driven by some blockchain system and some ecosystem of crypto-economics.”

Wong says blockchain is one of three basic technologies comprising Internet 3.0 – the other two being artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things – which he expects will be bigger than the internet was in 1994.

Zan Wu, founder and CEO of travel blockchain platform Atlas, compares blockchain not just to the internet, but also to mobile browsing. “I think what’s happening with what blockchain enables and can do is similar to what we witnessed in mobile internet,” he says.

The year 2023 is when “blockchain is going to go primetime,” Wong says. “The use case is going to be found.”

A unique travel use case

For all the talk of blockchain-based booking tools or tokenized marketplaces in travel, there’s another, less obvious way the industry can benefit from the technology.

Gautam Ramnath, managing director of partnerships at Everest, says blockchain solutions can advance the economies of emerging markets, in turn inspiring those populations to explore.

Everest, which has no direct ties to travel, is a blockchain platform with cloud wallet and biometric ID services that promotes the seamless exchange of value between individuals and institutions (such as banks, governments and hospitals).

It’s currently piloting a project in Indonesia to help eradicate poverty, and Ramnath says its efforts in Asia could bring about “the next billion” consumers.

“By banking the unbanked [through blockchain], we’re creating economies where they don’t exist,” he says. “We’re doing it in a decentralized way, allowing for other industries [such as travel] to enter the market.”

The concept of ecotourism, for example, can be rethought, he says. “Why do we have to go see [these places] and call it ecotourism? Why can’t they be a sector of your market as well?

“I believe blockchain can enable that. I’m excited about expanding beyond traditional payments to see how we can start providing travel services to these C- and D-level markets.”