5 Real Life Blockchain Applications
From dealing in intangibles like sending and receiving texts, participating in forums, writing and sharing articles, to exchanging tangible assets, the means of internet usage has evolved to a great extent. Today, you can nearly do all the things you can possibly think of over the internet. This calls for security measures which not only protects the tangible asset that is being exchanged but also secures online identities of the entities involved. Cyber crimes and frauds have been on the rise and these criminals have successfully dodged all the measures taken in the past to curb their malicious activities. Well, this time, we have the most suitable measure to curb online thefts and frauds — The Blockchain.
Blockchain is a distributed chain of blocks, where each block contains data of value without any central supervision. Blockchain is cryptographically secure and immutable. Owing to its unique characteristics, Blockchain, is changing the foundations of the business world. From banking to supply chain to identity management to healthcare systems to government schemes, nearly all have embraced this revolutionary technology.
The potential use case of blockchain is inestimable. Here are five realized use cases of Blockchain Technology.
- Blockchain in Electronic Health Record
Today’s EHR (Electronic Health Record), although very essential, is available in an unstructured format stored in the central database of several healthcare providers. This makes EHR vulnerable to hacks and in case of the collapse of central database, the entire health history of patient data is compromised. As per a recent survey, medical negligence is the third leading cause of death.
Blockchain in EHR:
Blockchain will contain references to the EHR data, while Smart Contracts will define and enforce access rules to EHR content. This will ensure that only authorized persons/entities access the EHR data. In addition, the blockchain provides an irrevocable record of all events that the data has undergone. The proposed new system for patient EHR in Blockchain, prioritises patient as the most important beneficiary along with building trust and confidence for all the other parties involved.
Medicalchain, a London-based startup that develops blockchain technology for storing electronic health records, announced this week that it is has signed a working agreement with the Mayo Clinic to explore different distributed ledger initiatives at the health system.
2. Blockchain acting as Land Registry
The lack of proper system to maintain land records and provide a person with conclusive titles, result to infrequent and long drawn legal conflict.
Blockchain will help deal with the nightmares of dealing with land records by creating immutable digital records of transactions and a permanent audit trail which can be instituted. What this means is that once land records or property transactions are on the blockchain software — governments, banks, agents, buyers and sellers can easily access the chain of data pertaining to that property. This will reduce fraud and ensure that properties cannot be sold thrice over to the same entity. Blockchain solution ensures safety, security, transparency, and non-repudiation of data to residents as well as the government — and therefore paves the way for a way more secure technological paradigm.
Rajasthan State government is working with Auxesis Group, to incorporate blockchain in land records.
3. Blockchain in Cross Border Remittances
Cross border remittances generally means transferring or exchanging assets from one country to another. Traditional remittances have hardly changed over the years and now Blockchain is here to radically improve the process of cross border remittances. Currently, cross-border remittance settlement takes huge transaction fees along with a long settlement time. Blockchain based protocols enable this settlement in minutes with a fraction of the fee compared to the traditional banking system.
Auxesis Group, world’s leading blockchain company has built a blockchain-enabled solution — Cashaa which has already transferred millions of dollars across countries in a much faster and cost effective manner.
4. Blockchain Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management is considerably the most sought after blockchain use case. The headache involved in supply chain checks and audit to verify a product for its authenticity is denting a company’s profitability in a huge way.
Nearly all of the world’s leading companies run computerized enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management software. From connected manufacturing equipment to digital shipping notices and RFID scanning, products are tracked on computerized systems from their earliest origins, often all the way to the recycling bin. Even as supply chains have transformed, companies have not updated the underlying technology for managing them in decades. The issues of trustworthiness, quality compliance, transparency and traceability can all be addressed by enabling blockchain based solutions in supply chain.
Walmart is aggressively working to incorporate blockchain in its vendor channel to keep quality check on food products.
IBM solutions for blockchain enabled Supply Chain is gaining considerable traction.
5. Blockchain in Identity Management
We carry a range of identifications: Our driver’s license, computer password, identity cards, keys, social security ID, and so forth. Blockchain ID is a digital form of ID that’s engineered to replace all these forms of physical identification. In the future, fintech scientists say you’ll be able to use the one digital ID for signing up at any registrar. It is open source, secured by the blockchain, and protected by a ledger of transparent account.
Aadhaar, implemented in India, is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained by residents of India, based on their biometric and demographic data. The proposed blockchain solution, AadhaarChain, is the proposed Blockchain based citizen’s repository platform acting as a single consolidated database solution for every Indian. Aadhaar Chain will act as a base infrastructure layer which can with ease integrate with nation’s other products and services while opening up an easy & secure way to build new powerful applications. The platform proposes to fully leverage the system of Aadhaar — the Indian resident data hub.
As we explore several potential use-cases of Blockchain Technology, it is evident that this new age technology is set to bring a revolution unparalleled to any witnessed in the past.
