10 Blockchain Applications That Will Change the World
This paper shall aim to establish that blockchain is much more than merely a fashionable trend closely associated with crypto currencies. It is an innovative technology which is currently causing shifts and transformations across industries and in our approach to handling digital systems and interfaces. Therefore, to the extent that Bitcoin demonstrates widespread utility, blockchain applications reach beyond Bitcoin’s core functionality. To make this article engaging, I will give my opinions on ten promising blockchain applications that will revolutionize the world together with opinions from various experts in the blockchain industry.
Learn About Blockchain Applications
Discover how blockchain technology is transforming various industries through practical applications.
- Supply Chain Management: Blockchain enhances transparency and traceability, reducing fraud and improving efficiency in supply chains.
- Healthcare: It secures patient data and enables better interoperability between healthcare providers, improving patient care.
- Voting: Utilizing blockchain in voting systems increases security and trust, ensuring accurate and tamper-proof election results.
1. Supply Chain Management
Think about a situation where each stage of a product life cycle – from the raw material acquisition to delivery of the final product into the consumers’ hands – is witnessed and documented by a blockchain. This is not just an idea in the head; this is becoming a reality. In its turn, applying blockchain lets companies track products in real-time, also guaranteeing the origin of the goods and excluding the possibility of counterfeiting. For example, IBM and Maersk developed a blockchain platform for the supply chain, TradeLens, which has been claimed to decrease transit times by 40% and the costs by 20% up to.
Insider Tip: Taking risks into consideration, blockchain expert Dr. Lisa Martin recommends that businesses discretely experiment to introduce blockchain in small areas of a supply chain.
Quite surprisingly, it is not only efficiency that is given a boost by blockchain technology, but also ethical sourcing. Today consumers have become very sensitive the source of the products they consume. In simple terms, Blockchain offers transparency through which buyers can make an independent confirmation that their goods are of the right source. This can revolutionalize industries such as fashion and food industry primarily if ethical issues are a critical factor.
2. Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, blockchain disruption is expected at the same high level. Long considered as an industry with poorly integrated databases, the healthcare system is faced with the problem of having patient records located in different databases, which can slow down workflow and cause errors.
Unfortunately, these systems have been disparate, making it difficult for patient data to be securely kept on a decentralized platform provided by blockchain systems. Think about the Estonian eHealth Foundation with blockchain to ensure the safety of more than one million patient records. Not only has the general security of data been increased, but patient information has become more accessible to care providers.
Insider Tip: He admitted that Dr John Thompson, a Healthcare IT specialist, should call on the healthcare providers to join the blockchain consortia in order to share the costs and benefits of such innovative solutions.
Further, blockchain help ensure the origin of the drugs through drug track and trace preventing the counterfeit drug market, which is valued at more than $ 200 billion. Since each transaction takes place over a blockchain, it becomes easier for the pharmaceutical companies to track the authenticity of a product right from the manufacturer up to the consumer end.
3. Financial Services
Now, if there is an industry that has started on the road to embracing blockchain technology, it is the financial sector. Cryptocurrencies are just a start – or, to be more precise, a tip of an iceberg. It has emerged that the use of block chain will transform the way we conduct financial transations by making them more efficient, secure and transparent.
Take for instance cross-border payments that typically require day to complete and are charged high fees. The traditional process for these transactions is long and expensive, blockchain shortens it to within a few seconds. Ripple for instance works exclusively with more than 300 partners across the globe leveraging on its blockchain to enable real-time payments across borders.
Insider Tip: In her article, financial analyst Sarah Brown suggested the following areas of blockchain application for financial institutions: payments as well as smart contract that can actively participate in such operations as approvals of loans, or insurance claims.
Also, the above discussion reveals that blockchain can also solve the problem of financial literacy. More than 1.7 billion people around the world are excluded from traditional financial services and innovation in the form of blockchain can bring value and efficiency to excluded communities.
4. Digital Identity Verification
That has remained a necessity in the current world with different cases of data and identity theft across different platforms. Conventional techniques are inconvenient, though prone to certain forms of security vulnerability. Blockchain has a relative solution here of decentralizing the method of verifying identities.
Think of a world in which people own their identity data, and provide only the relevant details to service providers. This is the promise of blockchain-based identity systems like uPort and Sovrin described in this article. These platforms allow the creation of a user’s identity, which is practically safe from identity theft.
Insider Tip: A cybersecurity expert Michael Lee emphasizes the need of user understanding when it comes to managing identity on blockchain-related applications for security and functionality.
In addition, on its basis, it is possible to solve problems related to the verification of customers and the so-called Know Your Customer (KYC) commission, which helps the financial sector work with customers faster, while strengthening protection against fraud. From a Juniper Research report, blockchain could potentially save bank and its customers up to 50% of what they spend on KYC currently.
5. Real Estate
Purchases of property, for instance, are widely recognized to be complicated and expensive deals. This method, therefore, incurs many difficulties ranging from massive paperwork to fraud factors. Blockchain can make them easy and safe, offering a revolution in the industry.
Think about Propy, it’s a platform built on the blockchain which allows the real estate transactions to be fully online. Propy achieves transparency of property transactions and minimizes the possibility of fraud by recording the transaction on a blockchain. It has made the first of its kind of property sale that has been registered using blockchain in 2017.
Insider Tip: Real estate broker Julia Evans advices agents to adopt blockchain so as to provide clients with better services hence stand out due to increased competition.
Also, blockchain is capable of partial ownership making it possible for people to invest in real estate with relatively small amounts of capital. It also equalizes investment opportunities in real estates to a number of investors who wouldn’t otherwise be able to venture into such investment.
6. Voting
Voting is probably one of the most sacred activities in a democracy, unfortunately, manual voting is highly susceptible to fraud. The promises of blockchain are to provide safe and transparent means to protect the authenticity of elections.
Think of blockchain in West Virginia used in the 2018 midterm election where the military homeowners were allowed to vote through a blockchain application. While enriching the security level of elections, this initiative also focused on the easing of accessibility for the voters.
Insider Tip: As political analyst, Laura Wright speaks about the use of pilot programs in the small scale elections so as to identify and rectify any problems before going for large-scale blockchain voting.
Blockchain can also make the voting process more efficient and help more people to vote because people can vote from anywhere securely. Every voter’s voice is captured in a blockchain, meaning votes cannot be rigged, deleted or manipulated in any way, therefore giving credibility to an electoral process.
7. Energy
Another industry that blockchain can create a huge impact on is the energy sector. Looking at peer to peer energy trading to grid management, blockchain provides novel solutions to the energy sector.
Suppose everyone could as easily barter the surplus electricity that has been generated from solar panels with the power from our neighbor. This is the promise of decentralised energy systems alike Power Ledger that simplifies peer-to-peer energy trading, allowing consumers to drive the energy shift to renewable sources.
Insider Tip: Energy consultant David Green suggests that the energy companies should start carrying out pilots in order to learn how the blockchain can be best applied in energy management and trading.
Another area, where the blockchain can also benefit the grid is through real-time information about consumption and production. This can enhance the grid efficiency and reliability, minimize costs and enable the incorporation of new renewable sources in the power grid.
8. Retail
Large cities and small towns, all neighborhoods, are experiencing the transformation of retail through the blockchain. From supply chain tracking to customer rewards, blockchain technology has transformative solutions for the realism of the retail sector.
Let us discuss one more factor: products’ counterfeiting, which remains an evolved threat for many luxury brands. Blockchain can help in validating the products, so consumers receive the right products. For instance, LVMH has recently introduced AURA, the blockchain based platform for tracking the origin of products mentioned above.
Insider Tip: According to a retail strategist Emma Clarke it is important that brands incorporate the blockchain mechanism to enhance customer interactions, being trustworthy and unique.
Besides, blockchain can disrupt the customer retention strategies as it is possible to establish a singular and secure system of utilizing client rewards. This is a plus for the end consumer and minimizes the paperwork required on the side of the retailing company.
9. Charity
Non-profit/Charitable organizations for instance are often perceived to lack stringency, transparent and donors are never too sure on how their donated funds are spent. Blockchain can help to increase transparency and effectiveness of actions based on charitable objectives.
Suppose you could follow where your money is going in real-time and guarantee the funds would go where they are needed. This is the vision of platforms such as Alice, a blockchain social funding network that brings more transparency to the charitable work.
Insider Tip: Charities are urged by philanthropy specialist Linda Foster to harness this technology to enhance credibility among the givers and organisational effectiveness.
Blockchain can also help cut on organizational costs through the automation of activities such as tracking of donations and preparation of the related reports. This means that more of the funds get delivered to good causes, hence making a difference.
Personal Story: Blockchain in Changing Face of Charity
When I first time heard about the blockchain, I did not believe that there is more for it than just cryptocurrencies. However, he says, that everything changed when I volunteereded for a local charity, Hope for Tomorrow, which’s main mission was to help people to get clean water in different underserved regions.
In my stay there I saw it was difficult to demonstrate transparency and trust in donations. A lot of donors sought to know that their funding was well deployed. Based on this model, we proposed that a blockchain solution to track donations should be incorporated in real-time.
For this, with the help of a friend adept in IT, I created a blockchain ledger that stored every transaction made. To be able to track the allocation made to each project, each donor was assigned a token, which represented what he or she donated to the cause. For example one donor by the name Sarah donated 500$ for filtration of water. By our blockchain system, she could view the particular project her money contributed to- from purchasing to installation.
The impact was profound. Not only did we achieve the goal of raising more special donations, 30% more than before in only three months due to the increased transparency, but also enhanced the relationship with our donors. Souza and Dominick observed that participants perceived higher levels of relatedness, and were highly motivated to engage in donate again.
I learned that it was possible to change the charity sector for the better by bringing blockchain and embracing the needed change to make a donation transparent and fully filtered to the receiver.
10. The Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is rapidly growing and is already in billions of devices all over the globe. However, challenges experienced by IoT systems, are the issue of security and compatibility. These issues can be solved by blockchain that offers a safe architecture for IoT networks with a decentralised approach.
Let us examine the problem of security of devices. Blockchain technology means that every device in an IoT system can be developed with its own unalterable ID, meaning that it is less susceptible to hacking. This increases security in IoT systems while at the same time improving the level of confidence in the systems.
Insider Tip: Kevin Brown IoT specialist suggested that users begin with small scale blockchain IoT to familiarize themselves with security before going large scale.
It also helps in integration or processing that would allow it to connect different IoT objects and systems. This makes them both efficient and opens up new opportunities for the Internet of Things ranging from smart cities to industrial uses.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is not hype; but a reality which has the potential to revolutionize multiple industries. From providing greater clarity of supply chain networks to the protection of online identities, blockchain solutions offer the capacity to redesign our reality. As we adapt ourselves to this technical advancement, it becomes imperative for all business organizations, governments and citizens to search and develop ways and means for implementing blockchain technology and systems that will lead to a more reliable, secure and efficient world. The expectation that blockchain will bring to life is enormous; the influence will not be felt only in industry but in all spheres of society and therefore within people’s life, graphic depiction of revolution.
