Bitcoin’s blockchain technology has been around for over a decade. But what does it do? And how may it affect our daily lives? We’ve compiled a list of some of the ways Blockchain could help.
Blockchain Explained Shortly
Without getting mired down in the nitty-gritty, Blockchain is a complex database. It is tough to hack because it is not stored in a single place. This decentralization also eliminates the need for an intermediary. It’s open, which fosters consumers’ trust and empowers them. And because every modification is documented, no one can sneak in and change entries to suit their needs.
So, how does this assist us? Accounting systems that are impenetrable to tampering would reduce fraud. Transactions conducted without the need of intermediaries will be less expensive and faster. Furthermore, decentralization has the potential to improve trust and security.
How Can Blockchain Impact Our Lives?
Some compare the introduction of Blockchain to the internet in the early 1990s. This parallel is also one of the reasons why some people believe the current bitcoin craze is a bubble.
Whether it’s a bubble or not, Blockchain, like the internet, has the potential to change the way we do a lot of things. Maybe it won’t solve all of the existing financial problems, but it could improve encounters involving a contract or a transaction, which might hugely influence millions of people’s lives.
Healthcare
You may have heard that medical records are often misplaced. One healthcare computer system can refuse to communicate with another. As a result, patients are billed for things or services they did not obtain or pay for treatments they did not require.
Consider a system that safeguarded each patient’s privacy and assured that no record could be tampered with. Your medical history could be safely saved and accessed whenever and wherever needed, with your permission.
Any sector drowning in paperwork, especially those with secrecy responsibilities, can use Blockchain as a life preserver.
Home Ownership
When you buy a home, insurance title is one of the numerous expenditures you’ll have to pay at closing. Title insurance will protect you if your title search does not discover everything. That way, you’ll be covered if the paperwork turns out to be falsified a few years down the road or if a long-lost relative shows up with proof of ownership.
What if a blockchain-based land title registry existed? You wouldn’t need title insurance because the ledger would demonstrate precisely when and how the land had changed hands. Because the new method is likely to contain issues, the process may not be as straightforward. However, if we could eliminate some of the paperwork associated with property purchases, we would save money and time.
Another way that Blockchain could make things easier? There would be no more enigmas around lost wills or inheritances since putting your choice on a blockchain would make it nearly impossible for someone to misunderstand or tamper with your wishes. It might potentially distribute your assets on its own.
Blockchain still has issues to work out. The amount of energy required to sustain the chain raises serious environmental concerns, and it’s unclear how effective it will scale. But, even if it only reaches a fraction of its potential, Blockchain will significantly impact our everyday lives in the following years.
Finances
Blockchain technology can simplify our financial lives, from investment records to taxes and insurance claims.
Take, for example, credit cards. The transaction must go through four phases if you pay for something with your credit card. A fee of up to 3.5 percent will also be charged to the merchant.
Digital currencies like Bitcoin, which use blockchain technology, can streamline this procedure and make it nearly free with the comfort BTC price widgets.
Bitcoin was launched in 2009, but it became more mainstream last year. More major retailers are now embracing it, and large institutions such as Visa are changing and figuring out how to make digital currency as accepted as cash.
That, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Many more cryptocurrencies have entered the market since their start, and more people are interested in cryptocurrency.
Supply Chain Logistics
Do you purchase coffee from a fair trade source? How confident are you that the people who made your coffee were paid a fair wage throughout the process?
Ethiopian coffee farmers utilize Blockchain to monitor their beans from producer to roaster to trader. Ethical consumers can drink their morning coffee with confidence, knowing that no one was exploited. Furthermore, companies can leverage their supply chain knowledge to eliminate inefficiencies.
In a similar line, Blockchain has the potential to eliminate the blood diamond trade. Consumers may be more confident that their gems were conflict-free if each step, from mine to cutting to selling, was logged in an immutable ledger.
How about avoiding an outbreak of salmonella? Blockchain would let authorities track an outbreak to its source and get contaminated products off the shelves — ideally before anybody had consumed them.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is a massive step forwards in terms of both technology and the impact it can make on the world. These four are just some of the critical areas that can have the most evolution using it, but we are sure that as time progresses, there will be plenty more new solutions that will undoubtedly change the world and many people’s lives.