Blockchain and Opportunities

Blockchain is one of the most promising new technologies for the future. So what is it? It's a distributed ledger technology that provides a way to record and transfer data that is transparent, safe, auditable, and resistant to outages. It is not something that came up in 2008 contrary to common opinion, but something that was in development since 1991, with Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta working on it.

One of the great advantages of blockchain technology has been its ability to enable secure collaboration among multiple parties from a set of decentralized data. Some have called this the “democratization” of technology because everyone with the proper permissions has access to that data on a blockchain.

From manufacturing to logistics, transportation, health care, and real estate every sector, every industry is set to undergo a radical shift in the next few years potentially because of blockchain yet we do not understand it to an extent where we could be comfortable with it.

“Blockchain technology could change our world more than people imagine. Bitcoin, however, could be a bubble.” - Jack Ma

The idea of blockchain being a radical new technology that can address many different challenges we currently face across the world is sometimes hard to accept. How can one technology, often confused with Bitcoin, have so many different applications. The answer may be similar to something we faced about three decades ago with the mass commercialization of personal computing. Skeptics back then probably asked how could computers be used in every profession, how can they increase productivity, how can microprocessors change the world. Today we have overcome all of those questions as time has proved the value of computing technology beyond anything we could have imagined.

Some of the industries it is already disrupting are:

1.     Banking and Payments:

Some people say that the blockchain will do to banking what the Internet did to media. Blockchain technology can be used to give access to financial services to billions of people around the world including those in third world countries who don't have access to traditional banking. Technologies like Bitcoin allow anyone to send money across borders almost instantly and with very low fees.

 Abra is a startup that is working on Bitcoin-based remittance services. One of the recent examples is of Tata Steel placing an order with a UAE firm using a blockchain platform.

Many banks like Barclays are also working on adopting blockchain technology to make their business operations faster more efficient and secure. Banks are also increasingly investing in blockchain projects and startups. 

2.     Cybersecurity:

There couldn't be a better use of blockchain technology than cybersecurity itself. Although the blockchain ledger is public, the data is verified and encrypted using advanced cryptography. This way the data is less prone to being hacked or changed without authorization. The blockchain eliminates the need for middlemen making it more efficient than many legacy systems and cybersecurity.

3.     Supply chain management:

With blockchain technology, transactions can be documented in a permanent decentralized record and monitored securely and transparently. This can greatly reduce time delays and human mistakes. It can also be used to monitor labor costs and even waste and emissions at every point in the supply chain. This has serious implications for understanding and controlling the real environmental impact of products the blockchain can also be used to verify the authenticity or fair trade status of products by tracking them from their origin.

One of the most recent applications was tracking the CoVID-19 Vaccine using a blockchain system. StaTwig built a blockchain-enabled vaccine supply chain management platform to give stakeholders complete visibility of all vaccines at all times. Another interesting read in Vaccine Passports can be found here.

Some blockchain startups working in this sector are Provenance, Fluent, SKU chain and Block verify.

4.     Networking and Internet of Things(IoT):

Reinforcing the basic concept of blockchain, IoT devices today are well capable of being nodes in a blockchain network, thus keeping your data on your devices and not on a centralised location.

Samsung and IBM are using blockchain technology for a new concept called Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Telemetry (ADEPT) which will create a decentralized network of IOT devices operating like a public ledger for a large number of devices. It would eliminate the need for a central location to handle communications between them. The devices would be able to communicate to each other directly to update software manage bugs and monitor energy usage.

5.     Insurance:

The global insurance market is based on trust management. Blockchain is a new way of managing trust and can be used to verify many types of data in insurance contracts like the insured person’s identity. Blockchain Oracles can be used to integrate real world data with blockchain smart contracts this technology is very useful for any types of insurance that relies on real world data.

Aeternity is one blockchain project that is building tools that are useful in the insurance industry.

6.     Private transport and ride-sharing:

The blockchain can be used to create decentralized versions of peer-to-peer ride-sharing apps allowing both car owners and users to arrange terms and conditions in a secure way with third party providers. Startups working in this area include Arcade City and La’zooz.

The use of built-in wallets can allow for car owners to automatically pay for parking highway tolls and electricity top-ups to the vehicle. UBS, ZF and Innogy are some of the startups developing blockchain based wallets.

7.     Cloud storage:

Data on a centralized server is inherently vulnerable to hacking data loss or human error. Using blockchain technology allows cloud storage to be more secure and robust against attacks. Storj.io and Sia tech are examples of cloud storage network using blockchain technology.

8.     Charity:

Common complaints in charity space include inefficiency and corruption which prevent money from reaching those who are meant to have it. Using blockchain technology to track donations can let you be sure that your money is going to end up in the right hands.

Bitcoin based charities like BitGive Foundation use blockchain secure and transparent distributed ledger to let donors see that the intended party is receive the funds.

9.  Voting:

Probably one of the most important areas of society that blockchain will disrupt is voting. The 2016 US election were not the first time certain parties were accused of rigging election results. Blockchain technology can be used for voter registration, identity verification, and electronic vote counting to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted and no votes are changed or removed creating an immutable publicly viewable ledger of recorded votes would be a massive step forward in making elections more fair and democratic.

Democracy Earth and Follow my vote are two startups aiming to disrupt democracy itself through creating blockchain based online voting systems for governments.

10.  Government:

Government systems are often slow and opaque and prone to corruption. Implementing blockchain based systems can significantly reduce bureaucracy and increase security efficiency and transparency of government operations.

The most prominent example is of UAE, which has set forth the vision for a blockchain based governance at all level of it's government by 2030. Dubai aims to be blockchain enabled by 2021 itself which will include a system wherein all government transactions will be carried out on this network. It aims to reduce transaction time in sectors like real estate by 100%.

Amravati, the capital of divided Andhra Pradesh is using blockchain to secure land records in partnership with Zebi Data.

11.  Public benefits:

The public benefit system is another sector that suffers from slowness and bureaucracy. Blockchain Technology can help assess verify and distribute welfare or unemployment benefits in a much more streamlined and secure way.

GovCoin is a UK-based company that is helping the government to distribute public benefits using blockchain technology. The blockchain is also a good contender for implementing a basic income. Circles is a project working on developing a blockchain based technology for implementing a universal basic income.

12.  Healthcare:

Another industry that relies on so many legacy systems and is right for disruption is health care. One of the challenges hospitals face is the lack of a secure platform to store and share data. There are also often victims of hacking because of outdated infrastructure. Blockchain technology can allow hospitals to safely store data like medical records and share with the authorized professionals or patients. This will improve data security and can even help improve accuracy and speed of diagnosis.

Gem and Tierion are two startups in collaboration with Philips healthcare that are working on disrupting the current healthcare data space.

13.  Energy Management:

Energy management has been a highly centralized industry for long time energy. Producers and users cannot buy it directly from each other and have to go through the public grid or trusted private intermediary.

LO3 Energy is a start-up using the blockchain network that allows customers to buy and sell energy directly from each other in a peer-to-peer way.

14.  Online Music:

Several blockchain startups are coming up with ways for musicians to get paid directly from their fans without giving up large percentages of sales to platforms or record companies. Smart contracts can also be used to automatically solve licensing issues and better catalog songs with the respective creators.

Mycelia and Ujo music are two startups creating blockchain based solutions in the music.

15.  Retail:

When you shop, you trust the retail system of the store or the marketplace. Decentralized blockchain based retail utilities work differently they connect buyers and sellers without a middleman and associated fees. In these cases, trust comes from smart contract systems, the security of exchanges and built-in reputation management systems.

Two startups disrupting the retail space are Open Bazaar and OB1.

This can have a very interesting use in the agri-economy of India. Fair price discovery and ability to sell are not new issues that Indian farmers face, and the answer to this problem can be through a blockchain network.

16.  Real Estate:

Some of the issues in buying and selling real estate are bureaucracy, lack of transparency, fraud and mistakes and public records. Using blockchain technology can speed up transactions by reducing the need for paper-based record-keeping. It can also help with tracking, verifying ownership, ensuring accuracy of documents and transferring property deeds.

UBITQUITY is a blockchain secured platform for real estate record-keeping that is an alternative for legacy paper-based systems.

17.  Crowdfunding:

Crowdfunding has become a popular method of fundraising for new startups and projects in recent years. Crowdfunding platforms exist to create trust between project creators and supporters but they also charge high fees. In blockchain based crowdfunding, trust is created through smart contracts and online reputation systems which remove the need for a middleman. New projects can raise funds by releasing their own tokens that represent value and can later be exchanged for products services or cash. Many blockchain projects have now raised millions of dollars through such token sales commonly known as ICO (Initial Coin Offering). Although it's still early days and the regulatory future of blockchain based crowdfunding is uncertain, it's an area that holds a lot of promise.

As a technology, blockchain is quite simple compared to the transitions it can bring in almost every industry. Any industry that deals with data or transactions of any kind is likely a field that can be disrupted by blockchain technology. It is the democratization of technology in the truest sense.

It is great to see how WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is using blockchain technology in collaboration with ConsenSys to meet sustainable goals and with other similar startups to build Project Tuna.

Blockchain is bound to grow exponentially, creating products which eliminates centralization or middle men in the process, creating a system based on trust. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, blockchain startup companies around the world amassed 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in venture-capital funding, more than the whole year of 2020. India itself, has dozens of startups working on cryptocurrency projects across industries. The growth in the industry looks evident with many Indian big tech firms venturing in this space.

This would be the one of the most interesting space to look forth in this decade as we move from data centralization to decentralization.