Adoption Curve

Adoption curve indicates the pace of adoption of a new technology by people. It may also involve segregation of the target audience to understand the market’s willingness.

What Is an Adoption Curve?

Adoption curves are an illustration of the stages in which the adoption of a technological innovation grows in a market.

When something new comes into the market, whether it is a new model of car or an entirely new technological tool/concept, it is not adopted all at once. At first, only a few people give it a try before it gets to the masses.

Take cell phones as an example: as use cases for cell phones grew, the support network for them also grew. As they began to be adopted by more people, each generation of adopters paved the way for the next one to make the technology better.

This process of adoption can be observed across a range of markets where different sectors of a market come on board with a new product or technology at different stages and for different reasons.

Blockchain technology is an excellent example of the adoption curve. Cryptographically secured chains of blocks were introduced in the early 1990s, but it was 2008 when Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper establishing the model for a blockchain. In 2009, the first genesis chain was mined.

It is slowly being adopted since then, and today, more than 80% of total Bitcoins have been mined and more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies have been launched on blockchains following the launch of the inaugural BTC.

Author: First Digital Trust

Gunnar Jaerv is the chief operating officer of First Digital Trust — Hong Kong’s technology-driven financial institution powering the digital asset industry and servicing financial technology innovators. Prior to joining First Digital Trust, Gunnar founded several tech startups, including Hong Kong-based Peak Digital and Elements Global Enterprises in Singapore.