The Future We Need, Now
Now that the early-quarter buzz over blockchain and cryptocurrency has calmed, blockchain technology can finally be assessed with a pinch of realism. The bulk of ICO scams have fizzled out along with their lofty product promises, giving the passionate survivors in the market their time of impact.
We narrowed down three ingenious blockchains with the power for worldly impact: think digital identity recognition in crowded smart cities, prevention of counterfeit trade and closing the communication gaps among the world’s perishable food supply chains. If you thought the world was done believing in blockchain, think again.
1. No One Can Steal Your Identity When Your Citizen ID is Linked to Your Digital Identities
Black Mirror’s Social Rating System, termed “Yelp for the People”
It’s 2018, and 2016’s Black Mirror’s Nosedive episode may be coming true — starting with Taipei. The smart city has joined forces with IOTA, a scalable distributed ledger protocol that transfers data and money at speeds and volumes faster and greater than a typical blockchain with scaling limitations. IOTA will be implementing TangleID, a future-proof system that links and verifies one’s digital identity to their physical identity — like a more thorough Know Your Customer (KYC) protocol.
This highly efficient technology will be the crux of Taipei’s identity theft and voter fraud-proof digital identification system. TangleID connects our social credentials and records to our citizen IDs, linking our digital identities to our real selves. Spam accounts, fake digital identities, identity theft and credit scams may soon become a thing of the past.
2. Encrypting Digital Fingerprints on Your Tech Products to Combat Global Counterfeiting
Sorry Internet pirates, but blockchain may soon clamp down on your free hauls much more than cybersecurity efforts have for the past few decades. According to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, global trade in counterfeit and pirated electronic products has surpassed over $1.7 trillion in value — a gaping profit drain in a highly patented technology industry.
It’s now or never. Technology giants IBM and Seagate have developed a joint vision to eradicate data loss and technology fraud, starting with the formidable IBM Blockchain Platform. The collaboration will pack on another layer of security by combining blockchain with Seagate’s advanced cryptographic product identification technology — the Seagate Secure™ Electronic ID. Users will now have a way to authenticate and track the sources of their disk drive products at any stage of the product cycle via the IBM cloud, increasing product assurance.
Higher security means you’ll no longer have to worry about (fake) hard disk drives prematurely dying out on you again — you will get the goods that you pay for.
3. Know Your Veggies with Blockchain-Powered Food Supply Chains
You’ll never think you’ll need blockchain to account for something as trivial as vegetables — unless you’re a global retail giant like Walmart who;s accountable to millions of consumers. The global retail giant operates more than 11,700 stores under 59 company names, with 2.3 million employees in 28 countries around the world while managing an average of $32 billion in inventory.
Remember the E. Coli Romaine Lettuce incident? If something similar struck again, Walmart would be thrown into a supply chain auditing nightmare. Tracking perishable food to its source and having to scour across your global supply chain for the root of the problem can really bury a firm in paperwork.
“You can never have a full view of what’s happening in the food system when some suppliers use paper or devices that don’t communicate with each other.” — Frank Yiannas, Vice President of Walmart
Walmart’s visionary plans require its suppliers to account for everything on the user-friendly IBM Cloud blockchain — a standardised platform log for information accountability. IBM’s Food Safety Trust has helped Walmart establish a well-accounted-for supply chain, streamlining its supply chain audits from a seven day wild goose chase to just 2.2 seconds. That’s a drastic reduction of the risk that infected food may reach the consumer — a revolutionary improvement in food safety and transparency, made possible via blockchain.
Watch Walmart’s blockchain-powered supply chain at work here
Blockchain is the Future
Sure, many of the promising blockchains out there are still taking their baby steps. But similar to the rise of the computers, laptops and smartphones, brilliance takes time to polish — especially for something with as much worldly potential as the blockchain. Believe or leave — it’s up to you.
