Blockchain explained: What you can do with this exciting technology everyone is talking about

“Bitcoin” and “blockchain” captured a large part of the conversation in the tech world in 2017, and it will get even more attention this year. Almost everyone seems to be talking about it in one form or another. But what exactly is blockchain? Welcome to blockchain explained — and why it is so exciting.

Blockchain explained: What is it?

Imagine a spreadsheet that has duplicates across the entire network of computers. Next, imagine if the network is designed to update all the duplicates, in case of any change in one copy. Well, that’s blockchain for you.

In other words, it’s a distributed and shared database (or ledger) that is reconciled automatically, so all values are updated as and when any change is made.

Each record or copy is called a block and all the blocks are connected to each other through cryptography. Each block contains a hash that points to the previous block, along with a timestamp and transaction data. This way, there is complete transparency within the network, so the possibilities for theft or fraud is greatly reduced.

Such a design comes with other advantages such as:

  • Robustness
  • Durability
  • No single point of control or authority
  • Transparency
  • Incorruptible as it is based on a peer-to-peer network sharing

All these advantages have made it a potential technology for different applications.

What can you do with blockchain?

Since blockchain makes it possible to exchange secure transactions and information between different entities, it has the potential to make a big impact across different industries.

Here are a few potential areas where it can make a difference.

Cloud storage

Cloud storage? Really?

Well, blockchain can be a disruptor of cloud technology within the next five years or so, and in the process, could alleviate some of the problems we are facing in the cloud industry today.

Currently, cloud storage is centralized. This means, you’re stuck with a single provider and you have to trust this provider to protect your data. In some ways, you’re handing over the control of your assets to your chosen service provider.

With blockchain, the entire process becomes decentralized. This way, you can store all your data online, ensure its safety and security, and have complete control over your assets. In addition, you can even rent out your excess space, like Airbnb-style, to make additional revenue.

Already, companies like Storj.io and Factom are working on creating a cloud storage based on blockchain technology. Let’s hope it becomes commercially available soon.

Smart contracts

If you’ve ever been mired in legal controversies or court cases, you’ll know how long and cumbersome the paperwork can get. In fact, lawyers spend a considerable amount of their everyday time creating and maintaining paperwork. At the same time, it becomes difficult to track this vast trail of paperwork, too.

Blockchain can make life easy for law professionals as every piece of information can be recorded on a shared ledger and this could become evidence beyond dispute. This way, the time and effort of maintaining a paper trail would be reduced substantially, along with an increased accuracy rate.

Blockchain explained

These smart contracts can extend to marriage, divorce settlements, home sales, land reclamation, contractual obligations, and more. You can even store the registered documents of your assets in a blockchain network, for better security.

Internet of Things

Blockchain and IoT go hand in hand, and this fusion opens up exciting and limitless possibilities for everyone. Since IoT is all about connecting devices, blockchain can provide control and access at various points in the IoT network. Also, blockchain can boost security and make IoT more usable across different industries.

Identity theft

Identity theft is a massive problem facing the digital world today. Our current system of passwords and security practices is not enough to curb identity thefts. In fact, a study by Distil networks, Interactive advertising bureau, and trust accountability group shows that companies spend a whopping $18.5 billion every year to protect against online frauds.

Blockchain can completely eliminate this problem because tracking and managing online identities will become easy. As a result, there will be a single and seamless sign-on where authentication will be irrefutable and secure. These verification processes will use digital signatures and public key cryptography, which means anyone who has access to the private key is the right person. With such a process, authentication will be a breeze and at the same time, highly secure.

Finances

blockchain explained

Blockchain shot into the limelight because of bitcoins, but today, it is not restricted to just bitcoins anymore.

The architecture of blockchain will make it ideal for clearing and settling transactions in the financial world. Currently, both clearing and settling processes cost billions of dollars to financial companies every year, so using this technology can reduce these costs considerably. In turn, this could translate to lower transaction fees for customers and quicker clearance cycles.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a stock. Right now, it takes about three days for the money to settle in your account. If everyone adopts blockchain, the transfer could be immediate. That’s the difference it can make to your transactions.

Besides clearance, blockchain can also be used for interbank transactions. Though a lot more work needs to be done in this area, blockchain could definitely revolutionize this interbank platform in the future.

Voting

This is a surprising and practical possibility for blockchain. Historically, there have been many incidents of foul-play during voting and charges of voter fraud during elections. But all that could become outdated if we use blockchain for voting.

These systems can be used to cast, track, and count votes, so everyone knows the final numbers. Such a transparent system can make voting a clean process as well. It may even give political parties better insights into voting patterns, so they can prepare well for the next elections.

Forecasting

Big Data has made forecasting a centralized business. While this is not wholly bad, still such a process has tightly coupled forecasting with Big Data, and that could become a problem in the future.

Blockchain can decentralize the process and open up the prediction market. This can change the way people place bets, sell stocks, and determine the outcome of any particular event, ranging from elections to weather. It can also open up new revenue streams for companies in this market.

Companies like Augur and Gnosis have already taken the lead in this prediction market, and we can expect more companies to create their own niche here.

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Health care

blockchain explained

Health care has become a challenging industry because of the political factors surrounding it as well as the growing costs.

Blockchain can reduce this enormous pressure on the health-care industry by sharing data across different entities, so diagnosis and treatment can be more accurate. Also, the cost of maintaining these vast amounts of data will reduce and, in turn, this is likely to translate into lower costs for patients.

Energy

The energy industry is also looking at blockchain technology to improve its distribution. Companies like LO3 Inc. and Power Ledger activities in Australia are looking at the possibility of using this technology to sell locally produced electricity to their neighbors through a peer-to-peer network. If this idea becomes a reality, cost of power will go down drastically and the distribution will be more efficient.

Imagine how cool it’ll be to sell the excess power generated through your solar panel to your neighbor or a local business. Well, that’s possible with blockchain.

Endless applications

Given these endless applications, it’s no surprise that blockchain is creating a big buzz across all industries. Let’s hope this buzz translates into more products and wide adoption, so we can make the most of all that this technology offers.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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2 thoughts on “Blockchain explained: What you can do with this exciting technology everyone is talking about”

  1. Your thoughts under the Identity Theft area bring forward the real problem your not discussing

    [Blockchain can completely eliminate this problem because tracking and managing online identities will become easy. As a result, there will be a single and seamless sign-on where authentication will be irrefutable and secure. These verification processes will use digital signatures and public key cryptography, which means anyone who has access to the private key is the right person. With such a process, authentication will be a breeze and at the same time, highly secure.]

    “anyone who has access to the private key is the right person”

    That’s anyone! So all I have to do is hack your private key, or a companies private key store, and all of this conversation is moot. Everything I do with your key becomes irrefutable.

  2. Lavanya Rathnam

    Hi Danimal,

    Thanks for bring up this point of view. Many companies in this space are working to protect your private identity through many strategies. So far, the most common has been the process of “mixing” where the keys are mixed up, so it’s hard to point a private key to any single individual. Another interesting possibility is zk-SNARKS, a zero-knowledge cryptocurrency where no personal information is stored. It’s something similar to zero-knowledge cloud service providers.

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