How Can Blockchain Technology be Applied in Real Life?
We have mentioned a lot about Blockchain Technology these days, we even write Blockchain blogs to show how great an impact it is on our modern world. According to Statista, worldwide spending on Blockchain solutions is expected to grow from 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 to an estimated 19 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. Knowing the significant growth of Blockchain development, in this article, we will discuss the growing list of applications and use cases of blockchain technology in business and life. Let’s check it out!
THE APPLICATIONS OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IN REAL-WORLD
- Cutting out the middleman
A new paradigm of transaction execution called blockchain could eliminate the need for all of these middlemen. In a blockchain, transactions are verified by distributed nodes, and anyone can join or leave the network as they please without disrupting the network’s ability to form a consensus on transactions. Instead of using a single computer to manage transactions, as we do now, we could leverage a global computer.
Companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Expedia act as aggregators, i.e. a centralized platform that connects providers of service with customers who need that service. The centralized aggregator is the one in control here; they set their own terms and conditions, and, naturally, take a cut of each transaction as their fee. Blockchains are now being used to cut out the middleman and create a secure, decentralized way for service providers and customers to connect and transact safely and directly.
2. Healthcare
Today the need is for quality health facilities supported by advanced and newer technologies. Here, Blockchain software development would play a critical role in transforming the healthcare sector. In addition, the landscape of the health system is moving towards a patient-centered approach focusing on two main aspects: accessible services and appropriate healthcare resources at all times. The Blockchain application enhances healthcare organizations to provide adequate patient care and high-quality health facilities. Health Information Exchange is another time-consuming and repetitive process that leads to high health industry costs, quickly sorted out using this technology. Using Blockchain technology, citizens may take part in health study programs. In addition, better research and share data on public wellbeing will enhance treatment for different communities. This ledger technology also helps healthcare researchers uncover genetic code by facilitating the secure transfer of patient medical records, managing the drug supply chain. A centralized database is used to manage the entire healthcare system and organizations.
Until now, the most significant problems faced are data protection, sharing, and interoperability in population health management. Patients and medical personnel require safe and straightforward means of recording, sending, and consulting data over networks without safety concerns; thus, Blockchain technology is implemented to resolve these issues.
3. Finance and transactions
For personal banking, blockchain could help secure a user’s data through anonymization when using their account. The bank still has this private information and can still validate transactions, but the bank accounts themselves become much more secure.
For trade Finance, Blockchain has the ability to streamline trade finance deals and simplify the process across borders. It enables enterprises to more easily transact with each other beyond regional or geographic boundaries.
Additionally, financial data is very important for any organization. And, this is where the smart contracts come in. They provide the necessary way to record data for a more accurate and transparent financial data collection. With smart contracts, it is easy to manage the uniform recording of data across an organization resulting in reduced auditing costs and reporting.
Barclays has already launched a number of blockchain initiatives for, among other things, tracking financial transactions and combating fraud, and Bank Hapoalim is collaborating with Microsoft to create a blockchain for managing bank guarantees. In another example, Aeternity’s blockchain platform allows users to create smart contracts that become active when certain conditions have been met, which means automated payments can be released when parties in a transaction agree that their conditions have been met.
4. Decentralized Social Platforms
Technology’s rapid advancement has far outpaced authorities’ ability to keep up, resulting in products and platforms that invade our privacy and jeopardize our right to free expression. By creating secure and private decentralized social networks that put the user in control, blockchain promises to disrupt invasive social platforms that censor our content and mine and sell our personal data.
End-to-end encryption of every contact is possible with decentralized social platforms powered by blockchain, ensuring personal privacy and sovereignty over user data. On the other hand, mainstream social media sites profit from user data and behavior, turning users into commodities to be sold to the highest bidder.
5. Supply chain management
Blockchain’s immutable ledger makes it well suited to tasks such as real-time tracking of goods as they move and change hands throughout the supply chain. Using a blockchain opens up several options for companies transporting these goods. Entries on a blockchain can be used to queue up events with a supply chain — allocating goods newly arrived at a port to different shipping containers, for example. Blockchain provides a new and dynamic means of organizing tracking data and putting it to use.
DeBeers is planning to use blockchain technology to trace diamonds all the way from the mine to the end customer, which will increase transparency and allow customers to verify that their diamonds are free from conflict.
Walmart is also using blockchain technology to track the safety of farm produce — which will be welcome news for consumers after batches of contaminated lettuce left dozens of people in the United States sick in 2018, causing the retailer to pull lettuce from stores as a precaution. From 2019, farmers will have to input detailed records of their products into a blockchain and, in the event of any future contamination scare, Walmart will be able to pinpoint potentially contaminated batches much more easily.
6. Voting and Public Policy
Voter fraud has become a growing concern as ballot machines made by independent foreign entities have proven to be both hackable and unreliable. Encryption and decentralization afforded by blockchain technology provide a platform for an immutable and incorruptible database that ensures that voting records are 100% verifiable.
Voter identities and political preferences are hidden from public view with blockchain. Tampering is impossible with a single secured ID for each vote, and election authorities may precisely tally votes on the blockchain without fear of duplicate voting or bogus identification.ase that ensures that voting records are 100% verifiable.
CONCLUSION
As we can see, Blockchain technology is uniquely placed to eliminate problems that plague every business. In this article we only mention key features of Blockchain applications, there are also many great applications outside and we fully believe that the best uses of blockchain technology are yet to come!
Inspired by what we wrote and want to improve your business’ efficiency? Do not hesitate to contact us via: hello@spiritlabs.co
REFERENCES:
Article: How Can Blockchain Technology Be Applied In Real Life?
Article: The growing list of applications and use cases of blockchain technology in business and life by Bernard Marr
Article: Blockchain Technology Applications & Use Cases by Kacper Kurek
