There are some inaccuracies here, but they've been addressed already by others. I'm going to address what I think is your main concern, that being...

"The possibilities of it finally breaking the barrier and entering the mainstream of the real world."

Here's the reality; That's already happened. There's an entire pseudo-economy in the crypto sphere worth, at a minimum, 10 billion USD, and probably a lot more given other factors involved.

Maybe you want to know when blockchain technology will have larger mainstream business applications.

Well, it already does. Consider the Russian use of NXT voting technology. Maybe you're interested in large corporate applications, like banks and multinationals.

That's an easy question to answer. Large banks won't use blockchains as we do... but they will license the technology. They'll contract the Nxt team. They'll want it adapted to their specific needs. And there's a whole bunch of reasons why these blockchains are superior compared to traditional databases as financial ledgers. But that's what they'll do. They'll license what they think is the best, most suitable technology and adapt it to their needs, and the R&D process for his selection is already going on  in Banking conglomerates worldwide. You need only ask them, and plenty have been public with their testing of blockchain technologies. If you want to talk about the specific benefits of blockchains versus private databases for financial institutions, that's a different question that should be handled in a different topic.

As for the actual users of the Nxt blockchain, who will they be?

In all likelihood, they'll be entrepreneurs. They'll be small business folk. They'll be people with great ideas and fantastic talent, but without the 100 million USD to spend that these banks and states have. And they'll need a place to build their vision. Some will need cryptocurrencies. Some will need assets. Some will need an easy way to build Smart Contracts.

Ardor will provide the ecosystem for all of them. And when 1, 2, or 3 of this horde of entrepreneurial projects succeed, that's when we'll see a sudden and dramatic collision of the crypto and mainstream business worlds.

And here's the truth: I don't know which entrepreneurial project will do that job. None of us do. We don't know which tools or technologies they'll need, or how they'll use them. That's why Ardor is refining all these different applications. Ardor sets the stage for them, creates the network infrastructure, and builds every tool they could possibly need.

Then it's up to us entrepreneurs to create amazing things and disrupt the behemoths.

I think the big draw is child chains, combined with Smart Transactions. Let's talk about both.

Child chains let anyone build their blockchain on years of top blockchain talent. That removes a huge hurdle to entry and let's people focus on biz development.

That's exactly what the [Suspicious link removed]munity needs. We've got the tech. We don't have the infrastructure.

Ardor makes it easy to build those businesses. The infrastructure will be done. All you'll have to do is launch your project.

Then Smart Transactions. Every Bank worth its salt is looking for template smart contracts to make them feasible for real business use.

Nxt already has them finished, and they're going to Ardor. All they're waiting for is a few case studies, which are in the works. Imagine the success when those case studies go public and coders see there's a better way to use Smart Contracts. And more importantly, when bankers see them!

There's lots of other things, but what matters is how these are useful for business. That's how Ardor will compete.

Ardor solves key business problems and opens the field to an exponentially larger group of savvy entrepreneurs and coders.

And really, that's what it's all about. Finally taking all this amazing R & D done in the [Suspicious link removed]munity, particularly the Nxt community, and taking them to the world. One business at a time.

Maybe it could. If it could, it'd be an amazing application.

I think this is a great idea as well.

So exciting. Definitely investing.

Hey there TravelsAsia, I'm another marketer on the Nxt team.

First of all, everything Marenkar added is 100% right.

Second, expect to see us here at Nxt/Ardor more regularly. We're professionalizing to handle the influx of interested parties. This will mean more content in the months to come and thereafter.

You're also going to see some pretty innovative moves coming out of the Nxt community. All I'll say is stay tuned till we post about it, we'll be sure to keep this top up to date.

Snapshotting starts in July, so the announcement needs to be done early.

If there will, it'll be on the childchain. Should be, I'd say. The work has already been done there.

Marketer with proven successes and case studies.

PM me your project and I'll see if I'm interested. If not me, I have a list of talented marketers I know, it might be up their alley.

One way or another, if you're legit the community will find you the marketer you need!

Also: Any work where you're paid in bitcoin.

That works well.

Also, this topic seems shamelessly promotional and a little shady.

Definitely looking forward to Ardor. I'm biased.

Hello everyone,

futuraprocessa here, I'm the marketeer, along with Marenkar, on the Nxt team. I handle marketing strategy, PR, and copywriting.

If you're excited by the news, that's wonderful to hear. There will be lots more to come in the near future. We're assembling a solid team and you'll see the results over the weeks and months to come.

Be excited.

Also, do join us slack. We have fun... and you should too. With us. We'd be happy to answer questions there anytime!