There is currently a lot of focus on the Blockchain space, but this interest isn’t something novel; it has been developing over the years, and it’s still growing. Now you may wonder, “is Blockchain technology really worth all the hype it has generated?” The answer to that is an absolute Yes, and there are several reasons for that.
Blockchain technology is growing rapidly and has already proven to be a massive asset in supply chain management and security. More big-name companies are also modifying their operations to include Blockchain technology. It’s safe to assume that the entire industrial space will experience a massive transformation in a matter of time. It’s guaranteed that Blockchain technology is going to be the catalyst for this massive industrial overhaul. Exciting, isn’t it?
Wondering what industries will be transformed by Blockchain technology? Read on to find out!
Before going into a breakdown of industrial spaces that will be affected and transformed by Blockchain technology, let’s briefly consider what Blockchain technology is and how it operates. This information will help you better appreciate the magnitude of Blockchain tech’s effects on global industries. It’ll also help you understand the “how” of it all. So without further ado, what is Blockchain technology?
Popularity of Blockchain
Table of Contents
Whatever metric you look at, interest in blockchain is growing. From a usage perspective, daily cryptocurrency transactions are on the rise. And from an investment perspective, venture capital investments have been increasing rapidly with more than $17B of investments in 2021 (compared to $5B in 2020). The job market is incredibly hot too with rising demand for Blockchain Developers.
Google searches for “Blockchain jobs” over time
Basic Introduction To What Blockchain Is
The average person hears “Blockchain” and immediately thinks “crypto.” However, although cryptocurrencies are a significant part of blockchain technology, there is much more to blockchain tech than the crypto space. Simply put, a blockchain is a digital ledger made up of an extensive computer network system. Fundamentally, a blockchain securely records information in a way that is impossible to alter or tamper witH.
Although this seems pretty basic, it serves as the foundation of the many use cases of blockchain technology in several industries. For example, in terms of security, every piece of information stored in a blockchain is validated by the owner via a digital signature mechanism. This, in turn, “secures” the information on the blockchain and ensures that other network computers can see it, but no one else can alter it. Fascinating right?
Now you’re probably wondering what all of these have to do with blockchain transforming the industrial space. Well then, let’s find out!
Industries That Blockchain Tech Will transform
Healthcare
The healthcare industry is arguably one that has benefited a lot from the integration of technology into patient treatment and management. However, it is still severely limited by the fact that effective healthcare is still largely unaffordable for most people. Some other challenges in the health industry include a lack of access to important information and gaps in doctor-patient confidentiality.
Already, blockchain has been integrated into the health system to help improve its efficiency and effectiveness. Although this blockchain adoption in healthcare is still in its early stages, it has delivered astounding results that only serve to highlight the promise of blockchain tech further.
Case Study: Patientory
There’s a lot of data fragmentation as patients receive treatments from different medical clinics. One patient can visit over five clinics to seek effective treatment for different conditions. Each doctor will have a “fragmented” medical history of this patient, making therapeutic interventions dangerous. This is where Patientory comes in.
Using blockchain technology, Patientory has created a system where every detail about a patient’s medical history, diet, and so on is stored on-chain. This chain ensures that any doctor that wants to treat a patient can easily pull up everything there is to know about that patient.
Finance
The traditional system of money transfer is a very clumsy and inefficient one. Think about it; if you want to send money to someone, you’ll have to deposit the funds in your bank, get the bank to transfer it to the account of the other person, and wait for the receiving bank to process it before they finally alert the person you sent the money to. Although this is a system that most people have become used to, it still needs to change the fact that this approach is time-consuming and involves too many parties. With blockchain technology, however, the number of participants is effectively reduced to just two; you and the receiver, allowing faster transaction processing.
Case Study – Polygon
Polygon is one of the most popular blockchain ecosystems in the world, and theirs is a well-deserved reputation. Unlike regular financial transactions that could take up to five working days to fully process, transactions run on Polygon are usually completed within seconds. Sometimes, the transaction speed could be as fast as a split second! Moreover, every transaction’s status is publicly recorded on the blockchain. This allows for easy transaction tracking and dispute resolution.
Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management is one area in blockchain technology that has been employed significantly, and its integration has been amazing. Ever been in a situation where you bought something online, and you’re having it shipped to you, but you need help to keep track of where the item has gotten to? If you have, then you know these situations are pretty frustrating, right?
With blockchain technology, however, real-time tracking and monitoring have become very easy. It will interest you to know that shipping giant DHL relies on using blockchain technology in this format to validate and maintain transaction integrity.
Legal Industry
Ideally, you’ll have to involve a lawyer if you want to agree with another person concerning the sale or purchase of an item or service. In some cases, you may even need banks to serve as “enforcers” for the contract terms. However, not only is this usually costly, but it could be more efficient as it often wastes time. This is where smart contracts come in.
Case Study – Smart contracts
Smart contracts are designed such that they combine the functions of a lawyer and an enforcer. How? A smart contract is usually designed such that it takes into account the desirable outcomes of both transaction participants. Of course, this means that before both parties can get what they want, there are “obligations” they’ll have to fulfill. These obligations are also built into the smart contract. Both parties release the objects of the transaction into the smart contract. The smart contract then secures these items and only releases them when the prerequisite conditions are met. This helps to guarantee safe exchange in a trustless environment.
Governance
There are several factors or challenges affecting the governance space; however, the most prominent of these is the issue of transparency. A good number of people are politically apathetic, and this is because they believe that modern-day governance lacks transparency. This is especially prominent in the area of elections and voting. The introduction of e-voting solutions did little to solve this problem because it simply opened up the possibility of tampering with statistics via hacking. This is where blockchain tech comes in.
Case Study: Voatz
Voatz is a mobile voting solution that is designed to run on the blockchain. Blockchains are practically impossible to hack due to several factors, such as large blockchain size, high-level encryption, and so on. Voatz leverages the security and immutability blockchain tech offers to provide people with a platform where they can vote without the risk of their votes getting tampered with. Voatz has been successfully used for vote collection in several states, e.g., West Virginia.
Some other industries that the introduction of blockchain tech will transform include:
- Real Estate
- CyberSecurity
- NFT
- Identity Security
- Art Industry
- Advertisement
Conclusion
Although it has been around for a while, blockchain technology is still relatively new, and there are certainly a number of kinks to work out. Nevertheless, it has shown tremendous promise and is worth paying close attention to.
