Blockchain applications The Meta Economist

10 applications for blockchain technology

4 July 2022

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The many advantages of blockchain allow its application in several different sectors, from finance to healthcare, from the electoral system to government administration.  These 10 are just the tip of the iceberg and as blockchain technology evolves so will the possible applications.

BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS - The protagonists of the web of the future will be the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), ie distributed logs or shared logs that is based on replicated data, shared and synchronized on the network and spread across multiple subjects in multiple places, nations or institutions. It is not based on a centralized database, in fact there is no central administrator. Among the most used DTL technologies today, and perhaps even the best known, is blockchain. It is known for its application in the banking and financial sectors, but in reality the fields of use are multiple.  

The benefits of applying Blockchain in a nutshell

Before listing and motivating all the applications in the blockchain it is important to clarify what are some advantages of this decentralized technology, because they are common to most applications. As a decentralized technology, information travels across multiple nodes that provide cybersecurity and system resilience. The operations carried out in the blockchain are automated and therefore do not require the presence of human intermediaries. This decreases potential security issues, the possibility of information tampering, and hacking attempts. Everything handled by the blockchain is public, but protected by advanced encryption techniques that anonymize personal data and other information. In fact, it allows users to "divide" the data and distribute them in various points of the network, allowing only the legitimate owner to be able to reassemble and use them. 

Despite this, it remains a transparent system thanks to the application of distributed registers that store data in an identical and unchangeable way in several places. The blockchain allows you to view the entire history of a transaction from start to finish without leaving any data behind.

10 applications of blockchain

Banche e Finanza

The first applications of the blockchain or rather, the most widespread to date, concerns the banking and financial sectors. It is therefore not surprising that there are very widespread startups aimed at developing blockchain application models for financial products and services.

The advantages of using DTL technologies are mainly related to increasing operational efficiency, significantly increasing the speed of operations that become almost instantaneous. Blockchain enables automated, simplified and secure transactions. The issuance of loans, securities and other financial and banking products allows you to follow the life cycle of each transaction in an agile manner. 

Professional bankers in the banking sector have stated that the use of the blockchain in these sectors would bring savings of up to 20 billion dollars a year in administrative expenses.

Insurance

In the insurance field, the greatest use of blockchain and smart contracts is to try to optimize operations in order to drastically reduce, or at least to reduce the use of paper. It also aims to lower costs and increase the efficiency of operations. The absence of an intermediary that grants the blockchain would allow users to take out insurance directly from buyer and seller without going through the insurance company.

Industries and retail

There are many applications of blockchain in the industrial sector. It starts from the filing of patents in case of production of a new project to be placed still in the market. DTL technology allows you to keep track of the entire life path of the product, from the origin of the raw materials used to the sale to the ultimate consumer. But supply chain management is the focal point of blockchain use in industry. The goods in fact can be traced in a unique way in each phase of transport to  storage in a warehouse..

In addition, stolen goods are protected if attempts are made to resell them in other markets. Not to mention that It also simplifies the management of any gif cards or loyalty programs while reducing related costs.

Food industry

The life cycle of a food product goes through many supply chains: from the producer to the consumer there are several other intermediate steps. Losing information from one to another is very easy. The blockchain greatly simplifies the traceability process by facilitating the purchase and consumption for all types of buyers, from merchants to consumers. The blockchain can also ensure the safety and freshness of food and reduce waste. Not only that, in case of corrupted or contaminated lots it becomes easier to trace back to the source in a few seconds and trace where they ended up.

Healthcare and the pharmaceutical sector

One of the focal points of the global healthcare system is to be able to communicate and have access to a patient’s medical information wherever they may be. The blockchain, while ensuring the privacy of individual patients, achieves the goal. It would also make the files clearer and more traceable, allowing you to trace every single drug and surgery performed on the patient and who administered, prescribed, performed it. In the healthcare system the blockchain also benefits the supply chain of drugs and hospital supplies, eliminating the danger of speculation that too often we see.

As for drugs, the issue is very similar to the food industry. In fact, it guarantees the safety of drugs and in case of corrupted or contaminated batches it becomes easier to trace back to the source in a few seconds and trace where the fallacious products are finished. As with blockchain patient records, it becomes easier to share data across platforms and institutions about drug-related information, including the side effects it may have caused, without pharmaceutical companies tampering with the data to hide any problems.

Government and Public Administration

Blockchain can help governments and public administration work more efficiently. It simplifies and makes more transparent the sharing of data between citizens and agencies and also makes it safe. It also ensures the compliance of regulations, the management of contracts, identities and services to citizens. The automation of processes would also drastically reduce the complexity of the bureaucracy behind many of the services that public administration provides.

Energy sector

In the energy sector, the use of the blockchain allows to eliminate the intermediation of the companies of production, activation and management of energy supply contracts. It also curbs the problem of hacking the electricity networks that each of us relies on and that for some sectors, such as health, constitute a source of life, without using euphemisms. Being disconnected from the power grid even for a few seconds for some means immediate death.

Authentication

The reliable and verified database of the blockchain allows you to certify any document, thanks to the marking of a time mark. This offers the possibility to authenticate any act without being sure and equivocal. In this field there are many applications:

●   Buying and selling of shares

●   School and university degrees

●   Notarial deeds such as wills, purchase and sale of real estate, foundation of a company, association etc..

Voting system

Electronic voting is present in many world electoral systems. Those who do not adopt it, like Italy, cite the refusal as a reason that they do not consider it safe, but rather very likely to electoral fraud. The blockchain would eliminate this challenge. It eliminates the possibility of double voting, fraud and guarantees the authentication of the voter’s identity.

Crowdfunding and charity

In the activities of collecting money for charity and having the certainty of where the donated money will end up, it guarantees a greater success of the operation, as it reassures donors about the reliability of the institution to which they are relying. The ability to accurately track where individual pennies donated by individuals or companies end up makes blockchain a great ally. Moreover, it is possible to unblock the donated money only when it is used by the applicant institution, which would make the operation even more secure.

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