Where Can Blockchain Be Used? Part 1: Business
By Blockbuster Blockchain on Altcoin Academy
In previous articles, I provided basic descriptions about the blockchain technology. Blockchain technology’s most prominent feature is that there is no longer a need for a central authority or server to execute, record, and keep a transaction. This technology can prevent human errors and maintain transparency. While there are still issues with transaction fees, blockchain technology will reshape how information, data, and money are exchanged between any two parties. So, can financial institutions only utilize this technology? Through this article, I will explain how different industries can implement and utilize technology.
FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
As previously mentioned, people often think that this technology simplifies financial transactions. While blockchain is not limited to the use by financial institutions, when the Bitcoin was first made, Satoshi Nakamoto had the idea of reinventing peer-to-peer transactions. Now as the mining difficulty has exponentially risen, Bitcoin transaction costs are much more expensive than transactional fees from banks and credit cards. However, there are still ways for financial institutions to seamlessly implement the technology. First, banks can prevent cyber attacks by utilizing technology as a private ledger of all transactions. Secondly, regular users can send money across borders without considering business hours and international approvals. Lastly, there are certain projects providing private protocols to send money anonymously.
COPYRIGHT AND ROYALTY PROTECTION
If you are downloading movies, music, and other digital contents for free using pirate-contents or torrents, that is very sad news. However, blockchain’s feature of smart-contracts can reduce the pirating of contents through delayed content release, user incentives, and a record of distributed contents.
FRANCHISES & CUSTOMER RETENTION
If you go to a cafe or a restaurant near the house, you will often find a coupon that you can get stamps or stickers on. If you use the coupon, we can get a cup of coffee for free after purchasing 10 cups of coffee. But many of these coupons are in the form of paper or plastic cards. If you lose these coupons, you will lose all of your hard-earned points. Also, if someone finds a similar stamp or sticker that the store is using, it would lead to a very sticky situation. This problem may not be a big deal if the store is small. But if you have a big franchise, it will be a big problem because there are many branches. However, with the new blockchain technology, all transactions in the store will be recorded and the necessary data will be immediately available without having to use a coupon. It is also possible to provide other rewards in addition to free products through simple programming. The shops will be able to attract more and more customers with this way of attracting royalties.
DATA SHARING
The medical industry can effectively use the data sharing and protection the technology provides. If I am in an emergency room in Italy while all my medical records are in the US, doctors cannot access crucial medical records in time. However, as blockchain widespread to the use of hospitals and private doctors, people can get medical care without hassle. Obviously, medical institutions now have a lot of information digitized. But if you use block-chain technology, it will be much safer and faster. If you have access from overseas, you will be able to access information quickly. Also as there are protocols to secure patient information without publicizing it on public ledgers, patients do not have to worry about the leak of sensitive information. The most important thing is personal information about health. Security is very important because disease and injury are very sensitive. Some people do not want to show that they are sick. This means that if you use block-chain technology at a medical institution, you will be able to protect your privacy from who has access, as well as storing your personal information in a digital form.
Through this article, we’ve explored how blockchain technology helps corporates. In the next article, I’ll explain how blockchain technology can help specific individuals.
Writer: Yunsoo Kim
Re-(E)Think, COO | RichValley, Inc. Director | Yale NUS ’23
