A Digital Asset Ecosystem is an umbrella term referencing virtually everything related to modern-day digital assets.
It encompasses the technologies, products, communities, and processes that support digital assets as well as the assets themselves.
An ecosystem is marked by the interaction and intersection between these individual components and the elements within them. NFTs, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), crypto tokens, and many other asset types are not standalone elements but rather parts of entire ecosystems.
Example of a Digital Asset Ecosystem
Let’s look at an example of a digital asset ecosystem:
Bitcoin has an underlying technology powering it — the Bitcoin network. This network consists of millions of participants collaborating to produce ecosystem elements like trustless consensus and the Bitcoin blockchain.
These elements and many others, together with the Bitcoin cryptocurrency and all the tools that make owning and transacting Bitcoin possible, comprise a digital asset ecosystem.
Other digital assets have their own ecosystems; together, all digital assets make up one big, fundamentally interconnected ecosystem.
What Is the Future of Digital Asset Ecosystems?
Digital asset ecosystems face a number of challenges. Interoperability and security concerns are chief among them.
Digital Asset Ecosystem Interoperability
Every ecosystem is different. It is built on a unique stack of technologies and processes and supported by communities with often differing values and goals.
For example, cryptocurrencies and CBDCs are two ecosystems currently on a technological and ideological collision course.
They are based on completely different technologies and serve entirely separate purposes. Cryptocurrency was invented as a decentralized, egalitarian form of money owned by its users. CBDCs are a form of digital currency owned and operated by governments assimilated to government control.
CBDCs, while sometimes based on blockchains, use proprietary, centralized blockchains, while virtually all popular cryptocurrencies today are decentralized.
These two asset types are far apart technologically and culturally, with very little to connect them. And since both show no signs of going away soon, this lack of cohesion could make both more difficult to use.
Security of Digital Asset Ecosystems
Security is another major challenge in the future of digital asset ecosystems.
In an increasingly digital world, privacy has become an essential feature. As the adoption of digital assets grows, so do their ecosystems.
Elements from these ecosystems become increasingly integrated into people’s lives and, thus, their private information. Ensuring the information of ecosystem users is protected is a challenge for future digital asset developers and service operators.
Financial fraud protections, such as modern legislation, digital asset market regulations, and anti-money laundering (AML) safeguards, must also be continuously introduced to keep pace with innovation.
Conclusion
Digital assets and their ecosystems come in various forms and include many different elements that all work together to serve users. These ecosystems’ health, protection, and interoperability are essential for a world where more and more of our lives are being digitized.
Blanke, T. (2014). Digital asset ecosystems: Rethinking crowds and clouds. Chandos Publishing.
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/40442/1/16.pdfYaga, D., Mell, P., Roby, N., & Scarfone, K. (2018). Blockchain technology overview (NISTIR 8202). National Institute of Standards and Technology.
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2018/NIST.IR.8202.pdf
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