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How much progress can be accomplished with blockchain technology? Software development professionals, like IQ Direct, overall, are optimistic about blockchain technologies. A majority of them around 55%, say there are potential applications for blockchain beyond its cryptocurrency roots.

55% is not taken from nowhere, but it is the number from the latest Stack Overflow survey, covering 88,883 developers internationally-- one of the largest, if not the largest developer community in the world. When asked what they primarily believe about blockchain technology, 29% agreed that blockchain technology could be "useful across many domains and could change many aspects of our lives."  Another 26% stated it as "useful for immutable record keeping outside of currency." Only 17% saw it as a passing fad, and 16% say it is "an irresponsible use of resources." 

WebAssembly was first released in 2017. Technically speaking it is a binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine. WebAssembly software provides a portable C++ compile target (called Wasm, for short) that has several advantages over it’s predecessor, asm.js:

• High-level bytecode format, which eliminates the need to parse script text and precompile it for optimization. The bytecode can be run via directly translating to native instructions. Startup times of Wasm apps to load and begin execution of the code are orders of magnitude faster compared to asm.js.
• The bytecode format is a more compact way to deliver code, hence less network download.
• Wasm implements its own instruction set and is not constrained by the JavaScript language.

Blockchain technologies, which store blocks of information that are distributed across a network, are seen as a major breakthrough as they bring about high levels of traceability and security in economic transactions online.

While most commonly associated to date with cryptocurrencies, they are expected to affect digital services and transform business models in a wide range of areas, including healthcare, insurance, finance, energy, logistics, intellectual property rights management and government services.

The Irish banking industry has been working together with software vendors on a new education platform based on blockchain technology that’s goal is to reduce operational and regulatory risk in the sector.

The new software will be used for supporting verification, tracking, and management of regulatory and other professional qualifications. It is planned to reduce operational and regulatory risks and related costs with compliance with the Central Bank of Ireland’s Minimum Competency Code (MCC) and Fitness and Probity regimes for financial institutions.