Digital currencies, like Bitcoin, are interesting for the future. However, I am more excited about what Blockchain can and will do in the future. I will look at 8 potential uses for the technology and how I think it will change how many things are done today.
1. Smart Contracts in the Legal Profession
There is a digital revolution going on in the legal industry and blockchain is the technology leading this transformation. The law is being digitized. If you have ever had to close a mortgage or been part of any legal dispute you know that lawyers are good at creating tons of paperwork. I am convinced they are paid by the word sometimes.
2. Clearing and Settlement
Now this is probably one of the most interesting potential uses for Blockchain when it comes to finance. Clearing and settlement costs the financial industry billions of dollars yearly.
3. Payments
Swift, the interbank payments platform, has been testing a system for a few years that they believe will be how all cross-border payments are processed in the future. It does not currently include blockchain technology mainly because Blockchain in its current state is not ready for this. However, they are building their new system to be able to adapt and include blockchain in the future if it becomes more viable.
4. Smart Assets
Think of all those components being bought and sold in the supply chains of the world, and then think about all those components being recorded in near real-time on a shared ledger. They have been talking about having real time transactions around bills of lading and letters of credit but the challenge has been recording of the bill and then documenting the movement of the assets.
5. Digital Identity
If Digital Identities are recorded on blockchain protocol, then my things can have authorization to transact on my behalf. In other words, I would have an identity recorded on a shared ledger, and then can add devices to my identity.
6. Voting
Think about it for a minute. A secure voting record that requires authentication of a voter’s identity and has a trusted tally. What would the news media and candidates do without the ability to blame their loss on voter fraud or hacking (Sort of kidding).
7. Healthcare
Healthcare institutions suffer from an inability to securely share data across platforms. Better data collaboration between providers means higher probability of accurate diagnoses, higher likelihood of effective treatments, and the increased ability of healthcare systems to deliver cost-effective care.
8. Insurance Contracts
Smart contracts could provide transparency and an irrefutable record for managing claims if it was put on a blockchain and verified by the network. This would mean that identical claims would not be paid thus reducing the potential for fraud and duplicate claims being paid. Blockchain would allow for a more streamlined claims process that would be beneficial to the customer experience as well as save money for the insurance company.
Read the full article here. Beyond Bitcoin the cryptocurrency, it is always the technology behind it which we all know is Blockchain Technology which can be revolutionizing many industries in the near future. Of course, I am expecting that there would be so many other industries that can take advantage of the blockchain and since it is an open technology it can then be considered as a big gift and as a blessing to many. We should expect explosive growth for the application of the blockchain even before this decade closes.
