In today’s article, we will go deep into real use cases of Blockchain technology to understand with a wider perspective how it can improve our life.
After learning the most important concept to be able to read this episode, What is Blockchain, now is time to try and explain the technology from different points of view. So, let’s make an introduction.
We have seen a lot of companies getting into crypto and blockchain (IBM, Microsoft, Intel Corporation, Walmart, The Walt Disney Company…) looking for employees trained on blockchain, developers who know how to code in web3 languages and, overall, anybody who is trained in some way on this new technology. That’s why I think it is so important to be aware of some of the fields that blockchain can be applied because there are many. Let’s dive into it:
Supply Chain
Using blockchain in supply chains has emerged as the advanced solution to create more resilient supply chains. The principal concerns in the supply chain industry are the lack of transparency and traceability. Some companies just hide or manipulate the information. Others companies use their own so it makes it hard for people who are not specialists.
That is why blockchain comes to help solve these problems. Blockchain gives the opportunity to supply chain stakeholders to create a transparent and recorded chronology of all information, financial, and inventory flows supply chain transactions.
As blockchain is decentralized, it enables data transparency by indicating a single source of verifiability and bringing more trust within the sector. Another interesting point is that blockchain applications have the bonus of making the logistics process automated, saving the sector billions of dollars a year.
In the next image you can see some other applications that can be done in the supply chain thanks to blockchain technology:
There is no doubt that supply chain blockchain applications will reshape how the supply chain sector and all those who function within it will work.
Healthcare
We all know that the Healthcare system is one of the most important. It is essential to identify real-world scenarios where this technology may be relevant and valuable. Responsible organizations must consider existing problems and needs that the technology could solve to improve the services.
A key consideration when implementing a blockchain in a healthcare setting is patient privacy. A strategy is needed to address concerns related to how patients’ medical information will be collected, used, accessed, disclosed, stored and ultimately disposed of. We have heard of many security breaches in this sector where the bad guys take all the patient’s information and then lose of whole privacy.
Why should you be afraid and alert of this kind of breach when it is in-game your illness and private information? This should not happen. That is why blockchain comes to help with these problems. Let’s get into it:
One of the main use cases of a blockchain network in the healthcare sector is to preserve and exchange patient data through hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies, doctors and nurses. Healthcare blockchain applications can accurately identify severe mistakes and can improve the performance, security and transparency of sharing medical data in the healthcare industry.
What about when a doctor prescribes extra medications for no reason? With blockchain, you could see the medications required for each patient and the exact quantity so doctors would not be able to add more the necessary and market it in foreign markets.
What about the dentist looking at your full profile without needing it? With blockchain, we could give access to the exact information needed for each doctor without having to open your full profile. This way we make available only the info needed at that moment.
These are some of the implementations that I see in the healthcare system. If you wanna get deeper check this document. Also, check this image to help understand a bit more about what we have been talking about.
Finance & Banking
When it comes to Finance and Banking, blockchain could have a massive impact on the financial services industry. Blockchain can make payment processes more efficient. For instance, blockchains like Polygon Technology and Solana Labs can settle transactions in split seconds at $0.01 or less, which is considerably cheaper when compared with Visa, Mastercard and Amex.
Finance blockchain applications like Ripple reduce costs for financial organizations and their clients and customers. Finance blockchain applications help financial institutions save on international transactions, with banks potentially saving $27 billion on cross-border transactions by 2030.
To make it more visible, in this image you can see some of the benefits of using blockchain technology in the finance sector.
In a report from Deloitte, we can corroborate these applications.
Since blockchains provide distributed, unalterable transaction records, financial institutions can use them for keeping records and bookkeeping and comply with regulatory agencies. The more immediate transaction settlements offered by finance blockchain applications can improve existing financial services.
For instance, lenders will be able to fund loans faster, vendors will receive payments quicker, and stock exchanges can immediately settle securities purchases and sales. Everybody wins and everything improves.
Real Estate
We have known all our lives that to invest in the real estate sector it has been necessary to have a large amount of money because you could not invest just some savings that you had. This has always made it difficult to most people to be able to be part of this big sector. Let’s spit some facts:
“The size of the professionally managed real estate market also continued to grow in 2021, rising to USD 11.4 trillion from USD 10.5 trillion in 2020. The Americas contributed 40.2% of the overall market size estimate. At USD 4.6 trillion this was an increase of 12.9% from 2020”.
When buying a property and taking out a mortgage, all property buyers will find the current process tedious and labor-intensive. With several parties involved in the process, like notaries, estate agents and financial institutions, the mortgage process is highly vulnerable to human errors could bring additional costs.
With the introduction of property blockchain applications, we don’t need to rely on paper-based and individual communication is reduced, reducing costs and human errors and speeding up the process. Also, thanks to a leaner lending process, this removal of intermediaries benefits borrowers and financial institutions that can offer more competitive pricing and lower staff costs.
Some companies are taking the lead in this sector. An example is Republic, which allow users to invest in property opportunities, including startup opportunities, video game and crypto investments.
Music Industry
Currently, streaming owns the music industry, and now that the format has established itself as the current savior and future of the business, many competitors in the space are focused on signing up as many users as possible. More and more streaming platforms appear. The Top streaming music services are just getting bigger day by day.
We know these are the bosses when music is the matter. I’m sure most of you that are reading this paper use or have used one of these to play music. At least me, I have been using Spotify every day since 2015 I think and Youtube is more of the same.
To have more background, let’s see their membership prices:
We can all agree that this is such a big industry where thousands of millions of dollars are moved but, most of that revenue does not go to the artists. The biggest players in the music industry still aren’t the artists themselves, but the distributors, many of which have grown into massive billion-dollar companies.
That is why artists have to find new ways to make more money or at least, get back more profits from the work they are doing by creating music and hits.
The combination of blockchain-based platforms and smart contracts plus the artistic community’s standards of inclusion, integrity, and transparency in deal-making, privacy, security, respect of rights, and fair exchange of value could enable artists and their collaborators to form a new music ecosystem.
The use of smart contracts could revolutionize and fundamentally change the music industry by removing third-party middlemen from music sales and centralized music streaming platforms and putting the power and control back into the creators’ hands from an economic and creative perspective. This way musicians can receive equitable royalty payments, venues can curb counterfeit tickets and record companies can easily trace music streams and instantly pay all artists who contributed to songs or albums.
Summary
To summarise, I can only say that I’m 100% bullish on the implementation of Blockchain technology in these sectors and many others. I honestly think that this is game-changing and we have not seen everything yet. Companies are getting in, governments are doing their homework and research.
From the bottom of my heart, if you are still reading, take some time to learn about this technology. DO IT! Because in 10–20 years you will be crazy about how many things run on the blockchain and you will regret not taking your time to learn about it.
I hope that this helps you to understand it a bit more. See you soon.