Blockchain – more than cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency has become one of the most highlighted topics in the last few months. We are talking about things like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and a whole bunch of other new digital currencies. The price of Bitcoin, for example, has risen more than 300% over the last year. It actually doubled in 2017. Etherium made it up by 2000%. Needles to say, there is a lot of excitement about investing in a new type of money, as the global cryptocurrency market capitalization exceeds $150 Billion.
The growing popularity of Bitcoin has proved Blockchain’s usefulness in a financial sector. Technology experts believe that Blockchain can fundamentally change the familiar way other industries operate.
Cryptocurrency was just the beginning
It’s getting clear to many that Blockchain goes much further than just mining digital currencies. A transparent transaction data register, with no central supervision and a high level of fraud resistance, can be deployed to practically any sphere of our life.
According to the World Economic Forum, approximately 10% of global GDP will be stored through Blockchain technology in the next 10 years.
Startups are driving awareness of Blockchain in industries varying from banking to healthcare. Companies choose the technology for its higher transparency and credibility in the digital data world. Let’s take a closer look on how Blockchain solutions evolve across certain economic sectors.
The fact is that the common “central banks architecture” hasn’t changed for the previous 150 years. Decentralized payments technologies can completely transform the money transfer processes — both globally or domestically. A more transparent payment channel without any unnecessary middlemen can be created with the Blockchain technology — offering fast transactions at very low fees.
Today the process of verifying academic diplomas and course certificates is still a time-consuming manual work that requires a lot of paper documentation. Whether it’s about primary school or higher degrees of education, using Blockchain solutions can significantly simplify verification procedures in the educational ecosystem, avoiding any fraud connected with unearned credits.
Hospitals and other healthcare providers face difficulties in secure data sharing across platforms. Blockchain applications in healthcare sector allow every party in the chain sharing access to their databases without any risks. Better and risk-free data collaboration could result in higher diagnoses accuracy, effective medication and the greater level of offered services.
Analysis and forecasting
Forecasting sector with its researchers, analysts and consultants should expect certain changes brought by Blockchain as well. The accuracy of transaction data used for analyses through machine learning algorithms will allow making more accurate forecasts.
Every real estate transaction entails considerable risks, such as possible fraud, mistakes made in paperwork or public records. The use of Blockchain can essentially speed up the process of buying or selling property. The digitized process of recording, transferring and verifying real estate documents can completely replace the old-fashioned and slow paper-based way of keeping records for good.
Crowdfunding and charity
For people making crowdfunding investments or charitable donations, use of Blockchain solutions gives the ability for an accurate tracking of where money goes, how it is used, and where it ends up. Blockchain delivers the highest level of transparency to prevent financial misconduct and ensure that money reaches the meant addressee.
When speaking about business, Blockchain applications can be easily and effectively used for verifying digital contracts/transactions, providing full transparency in accounting, and making auditing a faster and lower-costs process.
The procedure of hiring new employees may become a very time-consuming process. Definitely, it would be much easier for HR specialists to check those applying for a position, if the employment history and criminal records would be available in a Blockchain register, additionally making that data falsification-free.
What should we expect?
The financial opportunities brought by Blockchain are substantial, but that is not the only benefit of the innovative transaction register. Blockchain technology itself can bring significant transformation to every global industry, changing the life and processes we are used to. The boosting amount of investment into cryptocurrencies, as well as the growing number of startups developing industry-specific Blockchain solutions, are the clear-cut signs of the evolving ecosystem.
Yet, with Blockchain being the new technological wave, the future forecasts for its development may vary from “another bubble” to “world changing solution” depending on who you ask. Time will tell if Blockchain can help us restore the processes of our everyday life in order to make it more simple.