Blockchain Beyond Bitcoin so-called blockchain technology, powering Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, is one of the most important technological shifts of the last century. Many still associate blockchain exclusively with Bitcoin or digital currencies, but the full potential of blockchain actually lies far beyond these areas of its application. Blockchain, the decentralized secure, and transparent ledger system, revolutionizes areas as diverse as healthcare and supply chains through to real estate and voting systems.
How is Blockchain Used Besides Cryptocurrencies? Why This Technology Has the Power to Transform Multiple Industries of the Global Economy.
What Is Blockchain? A Quick Overview
Before going on to detail all the other uses of blockchain, I first describe what it is. Blockchain is actually a form of DLT, or distributed ledger technology, by which data will be stored across many computers, known as nodes, in a secure tamper-resistant manner. Every “block” of data forms a chain with the one prior to it, essentially creating an unalterable record of transactions.
Some of its features include:
- Decentralization: No one controls the blockchain.This means that no one has power over the blockchain.
- Transparency: All the transactions are visible in the network.
- Security: Application of cryptographic techniques ensures that data, once recorded, cannot be changed without a unanimous consent from the whole network.
Blockchain Beyond Bitcoins: Application across Industries
- Supply Chain Management
- Supply chains can become better because blockchain technology is capable of increasing the transparency and efficiency of supply chain operations. This was supposedly the nightmare of traditional supply chains – uncertainty, inefficiency, and fraud. Blockchain can end all these nightmares because it allows permanent and real-time records for each step in the production and distribution process.
- For example, Walmart uses blockchain technology to track the origin of its food. Through blockchain, it would be possible for them within seconds to trace potential sources of contaminants for better food safety. Similarly, a Food Trust network by IBM has enabled retailers and suppliers to enhance food traceability in a very minimalistic way without even losing a shred of waste.
- Healthcare
- Blockchain technology promises to radically revolutionize the management of patient data in the health sector. Medical records are found dispersedly within various systems; a fact that makes access and sharing between the providers of healthcare services challenging at times. Blockchain can create unified and secure record keeping for patients while giving them full control over their own medical data.
- The second development that pharmaceutical companies can exploit through blockchain involves the fight against counterfeit drugs, utilizing the full lifecycle tracking of the drug, from manufacture to sale. Here, companies like Chronicled spearhead initiatives toward ensuring transparency and authenticity in their drug supply chains.
- Real Estate
- Bitcoins can make the process of real estate sales easier: they reduce paperwork and speed up transactions, thereby making the deals more transparent. Smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the source code on the blockchain, introduce a fully automatic agreement between the buyer and seller. That would eliminate the middlemen, lawyers and real estate agents included, cut costs, and therefore reduce frauds.
- For example, Propy is one such company that makes secure buying and selling of properties without the pain of traditional methods through the use of blockchain.
- Voting Systems
Another worry in this modern world is ensuring election security and integrity. Blockchain can create a tamper-proof voting system while being transparently conducting votes such that they are correctly counted and not alterable. With blockchain, voter fraud or manipulation would be almost impossible as every vote will be recorded and auditable in public sphere. - In Estonia
- blockchain-based voting systems are already at a testing stage. Blockchain will now clarify all election-related controversies and find trust and fairness in democratic processes.
- Digital Identity
- Blockchain can further revolutionize the management of digital identities. Today we are dependent upon centralized institutions like the banks or government departments or tech companies for our identification processes and of our identity. Blockchain can decentralize this process and give control over personal data to individuals.
- For instance, Microsoft and Civic are designing blockchain-based identity solutions through which people will be able to prove their identities online without having the use of passwords or centralized databases; thus, it could greatly reduce identity theft and fraud activities.
- Energy Sector
- Blockchain technology is disrupting energy markets in the new arena of decentralized trading of energy. The old energy markets were pretty centralized and dominated by big providers. With the help of blockchain technology, consumers can now acquire and sell surplus energy, such as solar, from each other in peer-to-peer (P2P) energy grids.
- For example, in Brooklyn, LO3 Energy has already been established to be a blockchain-enabled microgrid. Residents in that area can trade solar energy based on that decentralization of the grid, which might just be the key to more sustainable and lower-cost energy markets.
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