A TOTAL REVOLUTION: THE DEEPER SIDE OF THE BLOCKCHAIN ICEBERG
Blockchain technology basically consists of a distributed ledger that chronologically records transactions in near real time in the form of a cryptocurrency, but you knew that already. However, when most people use the term “blockchain,” 80% of the time they’re referring to Bitcoin, 15% of the time to Ethereum and 5% to other projects. Truth is that beyond cryptocurrencies that represent digital assets, there is a plethora of worthy startups that are using their own cryptos as a mean to fundraise and solve global issues in more industries than you could imagine. Since the early developments of the blockchain system, all studies pointed towards the infinite possibilities it would eventually open in all fields, so why are we only concentrating on one of them?
DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS: ADD-ONS & WHITEPAPERS
Just like Windows and Linux gave the IT world a solid base from which to build new innovative software from, heavy weights in blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum are doing so too. The power of this tech is that already established blockchain protocols can serve as a great starting point to develop additional services and products that can solve global multi-industry issues.
So read on for a sum up of less obvious industries that, thanks to the elements above, could be on the verge of mass-disruption, and discover the companies behind these shifts.
INSURANCE
We are moving towards the end of fraudulent, lost or unresolved claims. Validations from a decentralized network would mean always receiving mutual consensus on an action, and this action being recorded in all or at least a group of nodes in blockchain. The result? An indisputable and streamlined flow of insurance policies and related claims. In addition, cryptographic keys (both public and private) could transform the value of digital signatures by encrypting valuable information into them — think of it as a crypto profile containing the assets you own, the transactions you initiated, the smart contracts you’ve signed or other data registered to your name.
Companies in this vertical: InsureETH, Tradle, Dynamis
ADVERTISING
Many are the struggles that hit the advertisement industry. On one side advertisers are not having clear transparency over their budget allocation and are not getting value for their money, since most of their ads do not reach their intended targets. On the other side publishers fight with an ever growing audience who employ ad blocking software. Lastly audiences complain of not having a seamless web navigation due to incessant intrusion and distraction from unsolicited advertisements. There is definitely a palpable chaos in the entire digital advertising ecosystem.
Blockchain can solve the above mentioned issues in digital advertising, by enforcing accountability and delivering improved results for ad campaigns. Blockchain technology will enable advertisers to disregard 100 percent of fraudulent traffic. Only actual “conversions” will be paid for, with all bot activity excluded. Advertisers could finally have authentic proof of service rather than the non-transparent systems that exist today.
Companies in this vertical: Wolk, Brave, adChain
DATA STORAGE
A decentralized storage provides added data security, as files broken up and stored across multiple locations are more difficult to hack.
In addition to a higher degree of data security, decentralized cloud storage networks come at cheaper price. A TB of storage at Sia for instance costs about 2 USD per month, compared to 5 USD per month offered by Amazon Cloud Drive, or 8.33 USD per month offered by Dropbox and Google Drive.
Companies in this vertical: Storj, Filecoin, Sia
REAL ESTATE
Blockchain will enable every property, everywhere around the world, to have a corresponding digital address that contains info on occupancy, finance, legal, building performance and usage, and physical attributes that conveys perpetually and maintains all historical transactions. Additionally, the data will be immediately available online and relatable across all properties. The speed to transact will be shortened from the current weeks/months to minutes or seconds. Digital title to transfer a property can be cryptographically secured through the use of tokens that can be transferred as effortlessly, quickly and cheaply as an email and serve as an anti-fraud system too.
Companies in this vertical: Ubitquity, Atlant
FINTECH
Fintech is probably the most obvious space and the first to have proven the use cases and advantages of blockchain: lower costs on all bank transfers including cross-border, quicker almost immediate settlement, fewer errors and exceptions due to block verifications. All these advantages could be used for money laundering protection, international payments, peer-to-peer payments, regulatory compliance and audit.
Companies in this vertical: Ripple, Humaniq, WeTrust
ONLINE GAMING
MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) are online games which are capable of supporting large numbers of players, typically from hundreds to thousands, simultaneously in the same instance. They radically changed the economics of this industry with their open world and online markets, to the point that online add-ons to game digital copy spending ratio can be as high as 10 to 1.
Online Gamers currently have gatekeepers (centralized organizations) dictating prices, levying taxes, censoring users, controlling content, and monetizing their data. With decentralized platforms, consumers can socialize and transact without intermediaries.
Furthermore, decentralized platforms, powered by blockchain technologies, will give gamers and developers what they really crave: full control over building the online community they wish, being part of the ongoing developments since the early inception of a game, thus eliminating the division of the crowd over multiple platforms (PC vs PS4 vs XBOX ONE).
Companies in this vertical: Nitro, FirstBlood, Decentraland
MEDIA
Generally digital objects can lose value because they are easily copied. We see this often in the area of pirated music, movies and TV. But since blockchain makes it possible for creators to register origin of work and set sharing permissions, define the rules of content exchange, it is now possible to create conditions for “digital scarcity”.
Decentralization offers the chance to engage directly with the final crowd and keep better tracks of consumers’ insights, data, behavior and mostly manage correct pricing for online content.
Companies in this vertical: Publiq, Decent
SUPPLY CHAIN
In a world that demands always more transparency and trustworthiness, supply chain traceability and exact knowledge goods exact origin becomes an indispensable prerequisite or may even represent a license to operate. This tough and challenging process of traceability can be automated, simplified and accelerated by efficient use of Blockchain technology and corresponding electronic tracking technology (such as WiFi, QR codes or RFID). Blockchain enables businesses to follow and track the ‘journey’ of goods and their data, including a valid timestamp.The objective is to trace back every product to the origin of the raw materials used, preventing plagues such as child labor and guaranteeing food safety and provenance.
In addition, Smart Contracts can be used for automated execution of payments in case of on-time delivery or to trigger a claim and the automatic shipping of new goods in case of quality failures.
Companies in this vertical: Skuchain, Factom, Ambrosus
If you’re still thinking that this could be a tech bubble or that you’ve missed your train, you are to be contradicted. Get involved now and start elaborating how blockchain technology can have real and positive implications to your business.
Discover more about EuroGate Partners by visiting: eurogatepartners.com
