Net Neutrality - ramifications for blockchain technology
The current net neutrality debate has some interesting ramifications on blockchain technology.
As blockchains are peer-to-peer and run on decentralized nodes each with their own IP address either by way of users, wallets and miners, it will make it very difficult for an ISP to block.
Where there is a potential limitation and where ISP’s can attack is at the node discovery level. Basically for blockchains to work we need to be able t find nodes on a network and for those nodes to locate each other and interconnect. If ISPs are given the power to do whatever they want, an ISP can cause a huge amount of problems by slowing down speeds to the point whereby ‘waiting’ for transactions will not be viable.
The picture is not entirely bad. Currently node discovery techniques that blockchains use won't make the life of ISPs easy either. In fact the economic incentive of waging an all out war against blockchain tech (unless backed by governments or financial institutions) will not be viable. Further, there are other blockchains that have foreseen this potentiality and have hidden IP’s and or run on the TOR network. Another point is that the main part of the existing crypto community (90% or more) are considered very tech savvy. For individuals to move around restrictions in the short term such as what we are seeing in the ICO space (trying to block US participants) will be no issue. There may be a slowing of mass adoption from the current run rate but this may prove in the long term to further stabilize the current fluctuations in the blockchain space, adding trust to the overall system and add to its core tenants of being an immutable, decentralized, secure ledgers.
Overall from an investing standpoint, the major tokens that are exposed specifically Bitcoin could see damage to the overall market price if the proposed net neutrality bills are put in place. As a hedge it may be smart to diversify a small amount of holdings to tokens that have been built with this in mind. If there is a small exodus out of a major player, lesser known blockchains/ tokens may stand to gain in a surge of usage, popularity and market cap.
For more reading check out this great article on medium.