The development of network technologies that are decentralized, fast, have low transaction fees and transparent databases have led to the evolution of many industries today. The world is changing: because now it is possible for management, information sharing, and data storage to be realized in a healthier way in every field from healthcare systems to supply chain management, from artificial intelligence development to production chains.
Get ready to be surprised because there are lots of use cases of Blockchain technology that you may not even think of! Without further ado, let’s start with the brief definition of Blockchain technology and continue with the applications and use cases.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Blockchain is a decentralized system that ensures that a copy of the recorded data is kept at all nodes in the network. The transactions, ie. data, recorded on-chain nodes are irreversible, and accessible by every network member.
- Blockchain is used in many areas today due to its decentralized, transparent, and secure structure.
- That it eliminates intermediaries in large-scale commercial processes and accelerates the process thanks to smart contracts makes Blockchain technology advantageous.
- The technology is now used in many different sectors, from healthcare to automation, education, supply chain management, and so on.
Table of Contents
What is Blockchain Technology?
Perhaps you already know, but a brief introduction to Blockchain technology wouldn’t hurt anyone. In essence, Blockchain technology can be described as a “distributed database.” It is a decentralized system that ensures that a copy of the recorded data is kept at all nodes in the network. Every user in the world can see a record of transactions that take place on a blockchain network, in other words, blocks. The system, which is completely transparent with this feature, provides anonymity, thanks to the fact that the transactions are not tracked by whom.
Each block carries its own unique ID and hash function of the previous block, making it very difficult or impossible to manipulate data at any point in the chain.
The way they protect, transfer and validate data on the chain extends blockchain networks far beyond being used for cryptocurrencies. It is possible to use Blockchain technology in a wide range of applications, and it is actually encouraged for businesses, governments, and organizations to use since it enables fast, secure, and low-fee transaction processes. Now, it’s time to take a look at top Blockchain applications and usage areas.
Money, money, money: Borrowing, Lending, Transfering
Security is required in almost all financial issues – when money and other valuable belongings are involved, people naturally do not want to risk anything. One popular usage area of Blockchain is hence, money transfers. Money transfers might not be a major issue within the country, but you know the drill if you have ever made an international money transfer.
- For example, one of the most popular means of sending and receiving money internationally is Western Union, where it is possible to send and receive money through its offices worldwide. But we need to remember that if there is a middleman “facilitating” the process, that middleman is gaining something from it – which is the fee that nobody wants to pay in the Western Union example.
This tedious fee issue was somehow relieved when Blockchain banking was first announced. It is possible to transfer and receive money within Blockchain technology (through cryptocurrencies), and guess what? The middleman is eliminated here. Technically not entirely eliminated, but it is not as traditional as what is happening in the Western Union example. The fees you are eligible for in Blockchain banking will be significantly lower – or even zero.
The use of Blockchain in banking goes beyond just sending and receiving money. In fact, some believe that decentralized finance with the help of Blockchain technology will be the new normal. When we think of what is being offered and what costs we are freed from, why not?
In those terms, Blockchain banking also comes in the form of borrowing and lending money, again without the tedious bank cut-offs. There are no thousands of papers you need to sign off, and we are not even talking about the interest rate. Borrowers and lenders are being connected across the globe, all with the help of Blockchain banking – a system called peer-to-peer lending. It gets even better – you can remain anonymous while being a lender in this context. And as a borrower, you will be benefiting from the low interests, so it’s a win-win situation!
- Vast Bank is a banking platform that allows you to transact with 12 different cryptocurrencies. Do not confuse Vast Bank with other traditional DeFi platforms: because this bank has physical branches and ATMs.
The bank allows you to create a crypto account, allowing you to trade with a trading fee of only 1%.
Blockchain technology minimizes the possibility of transfer delays. In addition, the checking account options offered to make it possible to earn 0.30 percent APY for your deposits. Combining blockchain technology and traditional banking, Vast Bank makes it possible to withdraw money with a debit card from 56.000 different ATM points.
Healthcare: Best for Patient Privacy & Supply Chain
When we are talking about healthcare, we directly involve the patients, the patients with sensitive information which they would want to remain confidential. The Hippocratic oath may not be enough in some cases, and in some cases, confidential information might not be in both parties’ hands – there are always hackers out there. With the help of Blockchain technology in the healthcare industry, patient data is ensured to be secure.
We are not only talking about sensitive personal information such as the patient’s disease history. There are also home addresses, social security numbers, credit card information, and every other information provided to the hospital. Moreover, sometimes the data is needed to be transported to another doctor, hospital, or healthcare professional. In this case, it gets at more risk, and Blockchain technology works as a system to secure it.
Remember, storing data digitally on a network also minimizes the costs that institutions have to make to maintain a database.
- Healthblocks is one of the companies that provide services to store and transfer health data based on blockchain.
- Medicalchain, as a US-based company, aims to store medical data securely and transfer it quickly and transparently. Moreover, MedTokens, which supports the company’s project, can be found on Bitfinex, Huobi, Kucoin, Gate.io.
- Orbit DP serves peer-to-peer databases supported by distributed ledger technology, not only in the field of health and patient care but also in many different sectors.
Explore all other companies that provide data management in the health care industry:
Drug Supply Chain Management: IoT Sensors and Smart Contracts
Drug supply chain management is both very expensive and requires a large number of documents and protocols due to the intense regulations demanded by government agencies today. While the drugs transferred from one place to another must be maintained at a certain temperature and humidity balance, it is also very important to regularly monitor the inventory in warehouses and retail stores. Moreover, tracking the real-time locations of drugs entrusted to logic companies is of maximum importance in terms of ensuring patient safety.
Blockchain technology accomplishes all this by combining it with IoT technology. IoT-based sensors added to warehouses, vehicles carrying drugs, and production units regularly provide real-time data on temperature, quantity, humidity, drug ID, location to the necessary institutions. Moreover, the distributed ledger technology, on which the blockchain is based, makes it possible for all this data to be followed not by a single person, but by each subject in the supply chain.
Is that all?
Of course not.
At the same time, by reducing the bureaucracy in drug import and export processes to zero, money transfer and product sales are accelerated with Blockchain. Parties that benefit from automated smart contracts instead of traditional contracts also save time and money to manage the commercial process.
So, how is the traceability of the products ensured? Of course, the manufacturing companies add QR codes containing a timestamp, item name, location, manufacturing, and expiry date to drugs.
- Capgemini is one of the companies that offer Blockchain solutions for supply chain management in the life science field.
- IBM aims to fight fraud and theft with provenance authentication with the huge Blockchain support it offers in the pharmaceutical industry.
- A Chinese company named Easysight Supply Chain Management is integrating HyperLedger Fabric Open-Source Blockchain technology in drug supply chain processes in collaboration with IBM.
Real Estate: Intermediates Out, Fractional Ownership In!
Almost every industry is taking its part in Blockchain technology, and real estate is not an exception. In fact, the real estate industry is one of the industries that is being benefitted from Blockchain technology the most. With smart contracts, the buying and selling processes of real estate assets, property declaration and more can be made much less costly and faster. NFTs can also be very useful technologies in the digital representation of real estate objects.
Smart Contract Benefits in Real Estate Industry
Smart contracts bring great benefits to the real estate industry.
- First of all, its irreversibility and trackability of it make it extra secure.
- Moreover, since the parties can remain anonymous, the requirement of a central authority or any other external enforcement is also eliminated.
- It doesn’t even end here. We mentioned how real estate could be tokenized thanks to smart contracts. This brings a new way of real estate platforms and marketplaces, and ATLANT provides a really good example of it.
Another application in real estate that facilitates everything is the elimination of intermediaries. Perhaps you know, there can be way too many people involved in a single real estate transaction. With the use of Blockchain technology, everything is more readily available, and the floor is left to only the seller and buyer.
Fractional Ownership in Real Estate Industry
Moreover, the application of Blockchain technology in real estate allowed fractional ownership.
Since the tokenization of real estate assets is possible, it is also possible to own a fraction of those tokens. This concept allows the shareholders to have the right to vote in the decision-making processes of the project, as well as access the priority to the products of the token.
What does it mean in a real estate investment? Well, for example, when a token representing a shopping center is released, the user who buys this token will have a say in the activity areas of the shopping center, the companies with which it will make a deal, and the advantages it will offer to the investor. Just like the shareholder logic in traditional purchasing processes. But now in a decentralized space.
- As a platform that believes in ethical property ownership, Axioma ensures that individuals whose properties have been confiscated get them back during digital auctions: Thanks to an intense investment network support.
- Blocksquare provides the technology for tokenizing real estate objects that we just talked about. This enables tracking, selling, buying, declaration of ownership, and purchasing of insurance services for real aesthetic objects that can be traded digitally as tokens. Moreover, tokenization is a great option for those who want to store their income by selling their real estate on a decentralized network.
- Think of Elea Labs as Google Maps or Yandex that provides navigation services by mapping the entire world. But this time, a detailed map of all properties will appear, not just roads and businesses in the world. Leveraging blockchain’s distributed ledger technology, Elea Labs aims for an accessible, transparent, and decentralized DNA of properties in the world.
- PropertyClub, a USA-based real estate search engine, develops Blockchain-based technologies that can support the buying and selling processes of people who want to make property investments. This new technology could free the real estate market from traditional currencies, making it fully functional with cryptocurrencies.
- In addition to all these companies, many companies such as RealBlocks, Propy, Meridio, ManageGo, CryptoProperties, Harbor, Reasi, StreetWire, The Lending Coin, Slice are determined to transform the real estate sector with the help of Blockchain.
Cybersecurity: Works on Many Fields
We have talked a lot about how secure Blockchain technology is. In this context, it would be such a shame for it to be not used on cybersecurity. While it was evident that most of the data breaches are because of human error, why not leave things for something that eliminates human errors? Blockchain technology is hopefully can be very beneficial. Even eliminating the risk of traditional hacking would do a lot for society, and as it gets even more prominent, the results might be astonishing.
We have talked a lot about how secure Blockchain technology is. In this context, it would be such a shame for it to be not used on cybersecurity. While it was evident that most of the data breaches are because of human error, why not leave things for something that eliminates human errors? Blockchain technology is hopefully can be very beneficial. Even eliminating the risk of traditional hacking would do a lot for society, and as it gets even more prominent, the results might be astonishing.
The most prominent change in the context of cybersecurity with Blockchain is the authenticating codes in various software. Just because Blockchain technology wasn’t available in the past, many big companies suffered a lot – because today, with Blockchain technology, it is impossible to go through some problems.
- Now, Coinbase uses Blockchain tech to store its user’s wallet and password information in a secure database.
- Philips Healthcare, on the other hand, uses Blockchain in the process of storing the collected data from patients and it optimizes healthcare services in terms of operational, and administrative sense.
Gaming: The New Version of Reality
With Blockchain, it does not necessarily have to be all about serious issues like security, finance, and healthcare – it can be all fun and games. Back before the Blockchain became pretty popular as it is today, developers saw it as an opportunity to bring some solutions to the pain points of the gaming industry – because it is evident that it was bringing a lot of benefits to other industries. When such an opportunity is seen, the results might be pretty cool.
One example of the Blockchain use case in the gaming industry is a game called CryptoKitties. In this game, players can breed digital cats and collect them. Here, all the transactions are conducted through the Blockchain system. But that was only the beginning; after CryptoKitties, different developers created different systems and games, including but not limited to Cartesian and Alien Worlds.
The use cases of Blockchain in the gaming industry is to eliminate the economic issues that may arise from the companies’ manipulation, shutdowns, and imbalance in gameplay. Since Blockchain offers a distributed open-source that is accessible to everyone in the network, people can own the assets, have access to a decentralized marketplace (which is a lot better than the traditional marketplace), consensus-driven updates, and many more.
The gaming era with Bitcoin is just starting, and we are expecting a lot from it, especially with the rise of Metaverse.
Explore ”Gaming and Metaverse” article to have a look at the most popular games that use Blockchain technology.
Art: The Heart of the NFTs
Just when you think that Blockchain cannot be more involved in our lives, it does. Perhaps the latest application of Blockchain today comes in the form of “art.” You may be thinking, where does art can find itself a place in Blockchain?
It really can. It is nearly impossible today to go through a day without hearing “NFT;” if you can do that, the chances of you living under a rock is pretty high. Everybody is somehow talking about it.
For those who don’t know what an NFT is, it stands for “non-fungible tokens.” They are a form of art created through technology, and they are being sold. Not for a couple of dollars, not even thousands of dollars, but people are paying millions of dollars for NFTs. And it is becoming increasingly popular, more artists and musicians, and basically, anyone who wants to introduce their art to the world and profit from it enters the world of NFTs. It is possible to see NFTs in marketing campaigns of businesses and companies as well.
There are numerous marketplaces where you can sell your artworks as NFT or create and list new digital artworks in NFT form. We have listed some of them for you:
Supply Chains: Easy to Trace, Lower-Cost to Pay
Another popular application area of Blockchain, and perhaps the most helpful use case (in some contexts), is supply chains. Today, it is possible to have control over an entire supply chain from the raw material to the moment it gets delivered to the customer, with the help of Blockchain technology. This opportunity eliminates many challenges in the supply chain, especially those arising from tracking and tracing.
For example, some of the products might go missing at any point in the supply chain. While it is possible to prevent this and solve it through audits, it may not always be possible, and it may be quite challenging to do so. But with Blockchain technology, it is possible to detect every movement of the products and see what went wrong and where. This way, it is possible to prevent mistakes and intervene with them and find the cause of the problem and work on that for long-term results.
So, implementing Blockchain technology in a supply chain both resolves ethical concerns and ensures that everything goes according to plan!
How can blockchain technology be applied by governments?
Governments can use it to keep important government secrets and documents, optimize the services provided by government agencies, enable reliable tracking of voting and election processes, and increase their accountability by making the taxes collected and expenditures transparent.
How could Blockchain be used in education?
Blockchain can be used to open platforms where students and educators can share educational materials in a rich, accessible, free, and decentralized way. In addition, traditional educational institutions can benefit from the distributed ledger technology of blockchain networks for exam applications, tracking of exams, and sharing and storing data such as grades, attendance, etc.
How can blockchain be used in the car/auto industry?
In order to prevent fraud in second-hand vehicle purchases and sales, car data such as mileage, accident, and changed parts can be kept on blockchain networks. Moreover, services such as insurance and motor insurance for digitalized (tokenized or produced also as NFTs) cars can be purchased for lower. Furthermore, car manufacturers can provide data such as real-time traffic status information by equipping devices with Blockchain-based IoT technologies.
Is Blockchain Technology a Passing Fad?
Actually, it’s the opposite. Because Blockchain is a technology that is still developing and changing the rules of the game by applying it to various sectors.
How blockchain can be used to boost the agriculture industry?
In the agriculture industry, any information such as the real-time productivity status of the fields, the expected harvest time for the planted products, the quality of the products, the occupancy status of the warehouses, and transfer devices can be provided with Blockchain-based IoT sensors. Moreover, if the import and export processes of agricultural products are provided through a Blockchain-based trading platform, bureaucratic requirements, waiting times, and millions of dollars paid to intermediaries can be eliminated. This will mean that agricultural products can be distributed around the world faster and less costly.
