Blockchains are great tools to keep a record of transactions made using a specific digital currency. Because they act as decentralized systems, all information gets documented on every node on the blockchain. In simple terms, a blockchain maintains a ledger of all transactions across the different computers or systems that are part of its network. Since this is a distributed ledger, there is an increased level of security when blockchain technology is used.
In the last few months of 2017 and in early 2018, Bitcoin and a few other cryptocurrencies enjoyed a lot of popularity and they even generated a degree of curiosity in the mainstream. However, since then this area has remained rather a niche while the blockchain technology that fuels crypto is witnessing tremendous growth. While the cryptocurrency market remains unpredictable, it appears that blockchain technology alone can drive innovations across industries. Let’s try to understand how this could be a gamechanger in the future:
The Basics
On the basis of how the blockchain is structured, different parties will be able to see whether they have access to view past entries and enter new ones. However, it is worth noting that a majority of blockchain networks have a set of tricky rules and regulations that guide the addition of new data blocks to the pre-existing chain of records. All content on the blocks and the blocks themselves are protected by cryptography that is not easy to crack. This is a security measure that ensures that past transactions and records cannot be tampered.
Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency do go hand-in-hand but the use of this technology is not limited to digital currencies. In fact, several blockchain enthusiasts are of the opinion that this technology could have far greater potential beyond cryptocurrencies and that the same is being discovered only now.
The Future
Cross-border or international payments is one of the key spaces that will benefit from blockchain technology.
In finance
- Non-bank financial services can now be accessed through your smartphone. A blockchain-based platform is now allowing access to such a service. It could boost the liquidity of the company that chooses these services as no prior funding is required to facilitate international transactions.
- One organization has made use of blockchain technology to help small businesses in sending as well as collecting payments from Africa. These operate by converting local legal tenders not into U.S dollars but into stablecoins. This cuts down the dependency on dollar-backed conversion systems and also allows trading during bank holidays which helps in improving the overall efficiency of the system.
- Another company is innovating by looking to create an open-source hedge fund. This would operate by sharing encrypted datasets with those data analysts who’re involved in creating predictive models.
In business
Blockchain technology can increase efficiency, bring down costs and boost revenue which can, in turn, be great for any business.
- Did you know that a popular luxury goods brand is now using blockchain technology to track goods and prevent counterfeiting of products? So far there are over 10 million products registered on their platform.
- The blockchain database is also a boon for many artists, writers, and people who deal with intellectual property as it is being used to deal with copyrights and royalty payments as well as to resolve issues related to the distribution of rights.
In legal
In the legal scenario, blockchain technology can be used to maintain a record and validate documents such as title deeds while also being helpful in creating smart contracts. Blockchain technology can play a very important role in making the judicial system very efficient by storing as well as validating courtroom evidence. This can be done through smart contracts that are basically digital representations of a legal contract. All contract terms can be coded and executed by default without having an intermediary. In fact, certain U.S states have already allowed using smart contracts for particular legal contexts.
In real-estate
Real estate transactions can be complex and expensive affairs. They often require an agent to help with the tonnes of paperwork they come with. The entire process becomes a lot easier with blockchain which could help by searching and purchasing real estate via tokens that represent real-world assets. Some advantages of these are:
- Simpler and direct transfers that involve only buyers and sellers, eliminating the need for an intermediary.
- Supply a large network with uneditable evidence of ownership through a distributed digital ledger.
- Since a token can be split just like a bitcoin, smaller real estate investments could get a boost.
- Since each and every transaction gets approved by peers in the network, there’s better transparency and improved security.
Currently, Deedcoin is a good example of using blockchain technology in the real estate space. It brings together real estate agents as well as home buyers which drastically brings down the commission rate to 1%.
In logistics and supply chain
Innovations have time and again affected supply chains. This is even more complicated in the current times where supply chains spread across continents and thus involve a great bulk of payments and invoices. Apart from these, there are several entities that are part of the chain and thus supply tends to stretch over months.
Since the idea of introducing blockchains is to improve and simplify processes, it could do wonders in the supply chain and logistics world. Each time the goods are transferred, the action can be recorded on the immutable blockchain.
In healthcare
Because blockchains are extremely secure, they can be effectively used in the healthcare sector. It could be used to store information about patients on a decentralized database that is safe, transparent, and yet accessible to medical practitioners as well as patients.
Here are some other applications for blockchains in the medical sector:
- Keep healthcare data safe
- Maintain and manage a personal health record data
- Management of point-of-care genomics
- Electronic health records data management
- E-management of health records
One thing is for sure, blockchain technology is going to play a monumental role in redesigning the way various industries operate. It is not a technology that will remain limited to cryptocurrency but can expand to sectors like finance, legal, healthcare, and supply chains to name a few.
