The conception of blockchain gave birth to many opportunities for individual and institutional investors all across the globe. It was initially set up as a system to revolutionize the financial space. However, more opportunities were discovered with time, increasing the use cases associated with this system. This guide highlights the top ten use cases of blockchain technology.
Offering feasible payment solutions
The flagship purpose of blockchain’s creation was to offer a feasible payment option for the average person. The global payment industry needed a practical and straightforward payment system for a long time. The blockchain ecosystem came to provide a secure and quick system for compiling tamperproof transaction records.
As such, for over a decade, blockchain has been known as a system for money transfers. Many have praised blockchain’s ability to make transactions utterly decentralized.
Blockchain affords the payment industry immutability, high-end security, and transparency. The networks have also been praised for their ability to offer both local and international payment solutions at lightning speed and super-friendly costs. The efficiency afforded by blockchain in payment is inherently superior to banks and financial institutions.
The Ripple and Stellar networks are good examples built specifically for settlements. Stellar majors mainly in international transfers and offer more advantages than SWIFT. Some years back, Banco Santander introduced Santander One Pay FX, a blockchain-based money transfer service. This would enable people to make same-day international money transfers via Ripple’s xCurrent.
Smart Contract solutions
A smart contract is a class of programs designed and stored on the blockchain to run while following a set of predetermined conditions.
Smart contracts rely on blockchain networks to store and supply the data. These contracts began gaining massive prevalence after the birth of Ethereum in 2015.
However, since Ethereum, several primary smart contract hosts have risen, including Binance Smart Chain, Solana, and Cardano. Being homed by blockchain, smart contracts possess similar attributes like transparency, immutability, and complete security.
Smart contracts gave rise to a new financial system known as decentralized finance. Since its launch, smart contracts have been quite applicable in several industries, including education, healthcare, and even entertainment. Among the uses include; Clinical trials, Data sharing, the Music industry, and Supply chain proper ownership.
Simple real estate investments
Real estate is one of the oldest yet most profitable investment systems. This involves capitalizing on gains in the buying, developing, and selling lands and buildings.
The processes involved in real estate are hectic, involving lots of paperwork every few steps. For instance, a lot of paperwork is involved when purchasing a home. Did you know that blockchain can reduce paperwork and bring more efficiency? But how?
The smart contracts highlighted earlier can help ease the troubles and processes of purchasing homes. Using smart contracts, all documentation remains permanently on the blockchain, with less filing and costs. Blockchain’s primary role in real estate is removing mediators, negotiators, and simple brokers.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Let’s talk about blockchain’s role in IoT, an industry that has been speedily developing since the internet’s emergence. In simpler terms, IoT has been defined as the simple interconnection of computing devices in everyday objects in a mission to help them collect, send and receive data.
Blockchain can provide an international-grade database that is virtually unhackable and unalterable. While there have been hacking cases in the blockchain landscape, breaking into blockchains is difficult. With the involvement of blockchain, there will be fewer data breaches in the IoT industry, despite the rise in use cases.
Interestingly the transparent nature of blockchain means that anyone connected to a particular IoT data feed can get instant data feeds. Today, multiple blockchains are already majorly providing hubs for IoT. The most popular is IoTA, a blockchain that boasts usage capability in many industries due to its connectivity to IoT devices.
Supply chain management
The global supply chain system has been clouded with enormous problems since birth. The processes and paperwork involved are long, hectic, and downright costly.
Making an international supply involves many more steps, like customs, courier service providers, and local couriers. Due to the almost neverending processes, tracking the condition/status of goods takes a lot of work.
However, all this changed after the inception of blockchain. Using the IoT devices highlighted above, the supply chain participants can track all goods from the point of origin to the destination. They can also see in real-time if the goods are kept in the right conditions, like temperature. Moreover, the blockchain can help keep live location details of the goods in supply.
The Vechain blockchain network is one of the best tools for supply chain management offered within the crypto landscape.
Healthcare industry
The healthcare industry is easily one of the biggest beneficiaries of blockchain technology. The health industry has lots of record keeping and would benefit from a technology that stores immutable databases.
Blockchain technology offers one of the best data storage systems. Once stored, the data therein remains permanently and is impossible to alter. Blockchain’s great databases can help keep unique data like gender, age, medical info, immunization record, and such on medical conditions. The data remains safe.
There are already many existing examples of blockchain tech in healthcare. Platforms like Medicalchain, BurstIQ, and Akiri offer blockchain-based services in the medical industry.
Education industry
Like in health, blockchain tech has been a significant disruptor in the education industry. Well, record keeping is essential in the education industry. Storing data about students’ grades and individual unit performances is hectic. It becomes even worse when piled up in files. Blockchain offers a simple, transparent record keeper for the industry.
Furthermore, the rise of blockchain gave birth to a digital universe called the metaverse. The metaverse allows people to interact and enjoy unique global experiences without moving an inch. The metaverse can help vastly in distance learning. Using metaverse and blockchain, students can enjoy classes and experiences as if interacting physically.
Non-Fungible Tokens
Blockchain networks, especially smart contract-supporting chains, can host a different number of Dapps, including NFTs. Non-fungible tokens are a group of blockchain assets that act as digital collectibles or certificates of ownership of tangible world assets.
Although the first launch was in 2014, NFTs gained popularity when Ethereum launched. Now, the world of NFTs brings many solutions in the modern world in different industries. The art, music, and gaming industries are among the top beneficiaries of NFTs.
Entertainment industry
The general entertainment industry, including music, art, and movies, has been a big beneficiary of blockchain. Musicians can use blockchain-based products in different stages of their careers. The popularization of NFTs in music began in 2021 when the Kings of Leon launched their music album. Afterward, several other musicians invested in NFTs.
The gaming and general entertainment industry can benefit vastly from blockchain technology. Blockchain gave space for the rise of blockchain gaming and play to earn. This technology allows players to generate income in crypto or NFT by simply gaming.
Digital identity
Finally, blockchain disrupted the digital identity space. Blockchain tech can help protect personal identity from cyber theft. In the online world, it’s practically effortless for hackers and cybercriminals to steal and use your identity in crimes.
Blockchain can store data like date of birth, address, and even financial information. The immutability of the blockchain ecosystem can help protect from data manipulation and general false representation.
Blockchain also provides possible links with IoT devices and hence could bring massive benefits not only to individuals by also to large enterprises.
Final Word
This guide has looked into the ten most popular use cases of blockchain technology. However, this is merely a drop considering blockchain’s large ocean of opportunities. Institutions, governments, and individuals can benefit greatly from this system.