Many people associate blockchain tech with only cryptocurrencies. This is no further from the truth. Blockchain technology (or distributed ledger technology) has several use cases in healthcare, logistics and supply chain, agriculture, real estate, securities, and several other ecosystems.
In this guide, we will disclose some of the industries where blockchain tech is being employed to ensure efficiency and increased productivity and immutability.
What is Blockchain Technology?
Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that is distributed across a network of computers. It ensures that once data has been recorded, it can not be altered or tampered with; this is very important to maintain blockchain's trustless nature.
With this, users have no reason to rely on banks or governments to validate transactions. Instead, they depend on a network of participants who verify and validate all transactions collectively.
This system is accompanied by many advantages. First of these is transparency; all transactions are visible to everyone and this ensures accountability. Another major benefit is security; with the use of cryptographic algorithms, blockchain networks are able to ensure that data is secure and cannot be hacked or altered. Blockchain also automates processes that would normally require intermediaries, thereby reducing costs and promoting efficiency.
Initially, it was used to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions. However, it has expanded into many sectors, including healthcare, supply chain management and many more.
Here are a few sectors that can adopt blockchain tech for operations:
● Banking and Finance: Traditional banks are bogged with lengthy deposit and withdrawal processes and operational hours. With blockchain tech integration, bank customers can see their deposits and withdrawals processed within minutes or seconds regardless of the day or time. Also, banks can better fast-track bank-to-bank funds exchange securely. Banks like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC are some of the top-tier global banks utilising blockchain tech.
● Healthcare: Hospitals and healthcare companies can utilise blockchain to record and store their patients’ medical records securely. This way, when a patient’s record is generated and signed, it is added into the blockchain and cannot be altered. This removes the chances of human error and manipulation making it easier for healthcare professionals to access real patient details. These health records are encoded and stored on the blockchain with a private key so that only authorised personnel can access them.
● Property Records: Property records as we know it is prone to human-error and is both time and cost consuming. Integration of blockchain increases records accuracy, making it easy to prove ownership especially in war-torn regions. Even better, it is cheaper and requires less effort when compared to their traditional means.
● Voting: The familiar way of electing new public officials is fraught with fraud, disinformation, and violence. Using blockchain will remove situations of votes tampering as verified tasks are immutable on DLT services. It also increases transparency as anyone (be it a vote caster and elected officials) can view the results in real-time as they are uploaded. This way, the people’s choice will take up key government positions without any fear of being cheated.
● Supply Chains: Blockchain tech can also be used in recording origins of materials that manufacturing companies purchase. This way, they can verify the authenticity of these materials. On the consumer end of the stick, users can verify if what they purchased is the authentic product and if it’s the manufacturer they trust. This will eliminate instances of duplicates and fakes, allowing companies to generate their due revenues without fear of losing out to bad actors.Meanwhile, users can better ascertain if certain products with labels such as ‘organic,’ ‘locally produced,’ are what they say they are. This increases transparency all around.
Conclusion
Blockchain is going far beyond its roots in cryptocurrency and is offering everyone the chance to usher in a new face of the digital age. With it, businesses and entire ecosystems can increase transparency, boost transaction speed, and ensure that data is never manipulated. There is also the attribute of making permissionless services which means companies can offer products to any of their customers without demographic restrictions.
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