Blockchain Use Cases

Briefly, the creation of Satoshi allowed a person to carry out digital transactions directly with another participant, without relying on an intermediary, such as a bank, to process payments. After this blockchain technology started to receive more attention.

The blockchain technology itself is a database that works in a decentralized manner and stores block chains with information about users and transactions. The blocks are interconnected and stored on the devices of each member of the network.

The peculiarity of this network is that the user has a complete copy of this database. Thus, decentralized systems ensure not only anonymous transmission and transactions, but also the security of the entire network and each individual user from attacks, fraudulent actions and loss of their data.

Since its foundation, the sphere of cryptocurrency and blockchain has grown and improved so this technology is widely used in other areas now, which provides increased efficiency. Blockchain technology allows us to create an innovative and transparent business so the manufacturer meets the needs of a modern, knowledgeable and demanding consumer. This opens up security opportunities in many industries and organizations, that’s why we can use it in the banking sector, the healthcare sector, transport and real estate. Blockchain can even be used for elections.

1. Charity & auctions

Charity is an industry that involves huge sums of money. There are a number of difficulties that people who want to help others face: the lack of visible results and information of their help , significant time delays from the moment the help is made to the moment it is provided to those in need, a large number of intruders and other legal difficulties. On the other hand, the blockchain just solves most of these problems.

Among the advantages of the blockchain are transparency, lack of geographical restrictions, visible results, lower administrative costs for charitable organizations, increased speed of transactions due to the lack of intermediaries, and compliance of transactions with the law. Cryptocurrency has become one of the payment methods in charities recently. Therefore, the activities of various organizations such as GiveCrypto.org, BitGive Foundation, and Alice SI. are as transparent as possible, as the paths of financial flows can be easily traced due to blockchain.

The same can be said of auctions, for which accuracy, data security, speed and transparency of transactions are important.

2. Supply chain

A consumer wants and has the right to know where and how the product is made, where the materials used to create it come from, what the working conditions are in the factory where it was made, and what impact production has on the environment. These specific needs of today's consumer can be met with the help of identification technologies. This tool allows a company to store and communicate product history information with full transparency. 

But this vast area of consumer engagement allows blockchain to be embedded in logistics, like an electronic consignment note. So the entire delivery route of a product can be tracked.

3. Healthcare

Today's healthcare infrastructure lacks proper mechanisms for exchanging medical information. Blockchain in healthcare and medicine can be used to manage electronic medical records, medicines supply, control of clinical and biomedical research, remote patient monitoring, improve the insurance and billing process, and analyze medical data.

Blockchain allows the integrity of information, the traceability of data and its preservation. All of these features make blockchain a very suitable technology for storing and managing electronic patient records, as well as for sharing such records. 

For example, the cooperation between the Estonian eHealth Foundation and Guardtime to accelerate the implementation of the Guardtime KSI blockchain in Estonian health care systems. The parties will integrate blockchain to enhance security, transparency, auditability, and electronic systems management and lifecycle management of patient records.

4. Digital identity and no plagiarism 

The work of musicians, video game creators and artists, as well as designers, may not be appreciated enough. Since there is piracy, fraud by agencies or fake art. The blockchain system can improve this structure and make the process transparent and fair. So artists can instantly see and track who, where and when is renting, buying and/or using their content.

Digital art can bring big sums of money. Blockchain-based authentication increases confidence and protects the brand and the consumer. Companies, such as LVMH, Microsoft and Consensys created the Aurora platform, which helps the luxury industry track products.

Blockchain authentication is also being used in the gemstone industry. It was introduced by Tracr, a platform for the diamond industry. Using blockchain, the platform allows the authenticity of natural diamonds to be determined by assigning individual numbers to them. A registered diamond with this digital number can be identified by verifying its provenance and related transactions.

5. Governance

Due to transparency, security and democracy, blockchain technology can help in the development of the state system and in the conduct of various operations. A blockchain-based system will help eliminate the hiding of information, falsification of documents and results. It is useful to use this technology in the electoral process.

1. First, for the first time, it provides an opportunity to create a form of voting in which all the advantages of the latest technologies will be used as efficiently as possible without the disadvantages previously inherent in them.
2. Secondly, the introduction of blockchain technology into the electoral system will demonstrate the achievement of a new standard for the democratization of elections.
3. Thirdly, the successful use of this innovation will contribute to its integration into various areas of the state system and the development of the system as a whole.
4. So far, no elections have been fully held using blockchain technology, however, various countries are beginning to test this technology for further implementation in the electoral process.

A trial voting on the blockchain has already been held, which was recognized as successful in Switzerland in the city of Zug. A blockchain voting system was also tested in the Japanese city of Tsukuba. Residents were able to vote for various community projects.

6. dApps

Decentralized applications (also known as 'dapps') are similar to conventional applications but use blockchain technology to give their users more control over their data, removing the need for centralized intermediaries, making the service 'decentralized'. With these dApps, users have more control over their personal data and finances, as all information is in blocks and protected from third parties.

We can name these types of dApps:

• Financial apps are apps that involve money.
• Semi-financial applications: decentralized applications that involve money but require another part, such as data from outside the Ethereum blockchain.
• Other applications: all other types of decentralized applications that developers seek to create, including online voting and data storage applications.

However, the blockchain and decentralized system is not without its drawbacks, everything has pros and cons. Compared to a traditional centralized database, it has limited performance and requires much more memory to work properly.

The inability to modify data, which on the one hand is a huge advantage of blockchain, can be a disadvantage in certain situations.

To sum it up, blockchain technology has been around for a long time. However, it is still a novelty in many countries and its use is insufficiently regulated by law. The future will show how blockchain technology influences our life and commerce globally.