If you’re familiar at all with the blockchain, odds are it’s because of an interest in bitcoin. The world’s first and most valuable cryptocurrency was founded on the basis of blockchain technology, and has since gained major worldwide influence. While debate is ongoing about bitcoin’s long-term merits or its potential to function as an everyday currency, enough people have bought and traded it for it to be taken seriously. In fact, bitcoin is even being factored into tax considerations, as we covered in a 2019 article.
The blockchain’s role in all of this is to serve as the transaction-tracking and validation system that allows bitcoin to function. Typically described as a “universal public ledger,” it is an encrypted digital log of any and all bitcoin transactions that cannot be corrupted. It can also be used for transaction-based applications. For instance, one can organize a deal such that the blockchain completes a transfer of funds once a given task (say, the transfer of a property deed) is fulfilled.
These capabilities – tracking digital transactions in an exact manner and mediating deals and agreements – have already helped blockchain technology to expand beyond its core utility as the foundation of the bitcoin market. So, with that said, here are a few other areas in which this technology can be used.
Supply Chain Management
Supply chains in industries of all kinds are actually enjoying a lot of technological upgrades these days, from better shipping fleet management to automated warehouse functions, to improved product tracking, with the help of identity verification solutions. And it’s where that last point is concerned that blockchain technology can make (and has already made) a significant impact. The Balance Small Business points to improved visibility and elimination of errors as the primary benefits of blockchain use in supply chains, and both involve the registration and tracking of goods on the move via a digital ledger. The idea is that with supplies’ movements marked on a blockchain at all stages of the supply chain, managers can gain a far more precise picture of their operations.
Forex Trading
If the forex market is foreign to you, it may help to know that it is basically another term for currency trade. FXCM describes the process as buying and selling currencies in the hopes of profiting off of the differences as prices move. This process of forex trading occurs right now through what are more or less online brokers, but we’re beginning to hear of examples of the blockchain being implemented to make the trades more exact and more secure. Much the same way the blockchain is used in bitcoin transactions, purchases and sales of various currencies in the forex exchanges can be recorded and monitored via blockchain tech. Don’t be surprised if blockchain is the general standard in forex markets in a matter of years.
Medical Record-Keeping
Medical record-keeping is something most of us have never really given a second thought to. When you consider it from a hospital’s perspective though, or even from that of an entire medical network, it’s easy to imagine it as something of an organizational nightmare. There may be thousands of patients in a given system, with tens of thousands of appointments, medications, sets of instructions, and notes from physicians to consider. Plus, from a confidentiality standpoint, it’s important for all of this information to remain secure and private. Given these concerns, it’s perhaps not surprising that blockchain technology has come up as a solution for the storage and transfer of medical records. It can ensure that nothing is lost or forgotten, and keep records secure at the same time.
Precious Gem Shipments
In a strange way, we can actually think about blockchain’s potential in worldwide precious gem markets the same way we think of modern supply chains. That is to say, a given product can be tracked at all stages from initial registration to a point of sale. The reason we’re remarking on the blockchain’s utility in gem shipments specifically, though, is that this is a space in which there has historically been a great deal of improper dealing. From conflict diamonds to false gems, to fraudulent certifications, there are all sorts of potential issues that blockchain tracking can help to solve simply by keeping exact tabs on any given stone headed to market.
Voting
As far as we know, a blockchain-based system has yet to actually be put to use in any real political election to date. However, this has become a somewhat popular topic of discussion. TechCrunch suggested that blockchain could bring accuracy, transparency, and immutability to elections, and in an age when people are increasingly concerned about compromised voting systems or inaccurate ballot counts. Again, we don’t know of significant instances in which this has actually been tried, and it would be a difficult change for any government system to implement. As more of a future concept though, voting via blockchain is another very intriguing possibility.
There are many more examples worth considering, and at this point some quick research will turn up all kinds of interesting blockchain applications. Hopefully though, this introduction has given you some idea of the excitement blockchain technology is generating beyond the world of bitcoin.
