Blockchain technology has taken the world by storm and has transformed the internet landscape drastically for the better. Originally, the internet was mostly used for sending emails and browsing the web but these days the internet is mostly used to buy and sell things online, perform banking transactions, and also to transfer sensitive information as well. All such transactions that happened online are kept in record and keeping the integrity and maintaining the privacy of the user is what matters the most in today’s world
All this can be efficiently done by the use of blockchain technology, blockchain can be defined as the decentralized digital ledger that is distributed among a network of nodes and is made public for anyone to view. The transactions are validated by a network of nodes which are connected to each other running algorithms to perform complex tasks in a race to finish the said task first, this is how the transactions are validated. The information of every validated action is stored in the form of blocks that are linked to their predecessor blocks using which a chain of actions can also be viewed and verified by any user. Once the information is stored on the block and it is added to the chain it becomes virtually impossible to change the said information. Decentralization, transparency, and immutability are the three pillars of blockchain tech.
Blockchain Use Cases
With a brief knowledge of how blockchain technology works, here is a brief list of the top use cases for blockchain in 2020.
Cryptocurrency
For most people, cryptocurrency and blockchain are synonyms, the entire cryptocurrency network is based on the decentralized nature of blockchain technology. Traditionally a bank as an intermediate between both parties but with the use of cryptocurrency there is no need for a central governing authority. All of the transactions are verified and made possible by a network of nodes. The benefit of using blockchain in finance is that there are no transactional fees that are applicable on the either sender or the receiver.
Land And Automobile Ownership
With the use of blockchain technology, the traditional use of paper-based land records can be ditched. The whole system can be made self-sufficient and be made much more efficient, the information regarding land registry would be kept in a block and added to the chain once the transaction is completed. Once added the information would remain unchanged and would provide transparency if the need to check the ownership(s) ever arise. The same can be said for the automobile as it would provide transparency in buying and selling motor vehicles.
Insurance
The insurance industry tackles many fraudulent claims every year and sometimes they do fall prey to such fraudulent claims, insurance companies could also benefit greatly from the use of blockchain technology. One such example is the transparency provided by blockchain in verifying the ownership of property, such captured properties can easily be transferred from one party to another and will also leave a transparent trail if validity is ever questioned.
Digital Voting
Voter fraud takes place in almost all of the democratic countries, people usually tamper with the final tally to tip the scales in their favor. With the use of blockchain technology, once the vote is cast and verified by the nodes it becomes unchangeable and even if one tries to change the number of votes at their own end than the change becomes visible to every other node in the network.
Blockchain Internet Of Things (IoT)
The IoT itself is revolutionizing the industry as it is and with the help of blockchain it can be made more secure and reliable, the blockchain technology can help with the encryption of such devices so that you can communicate with such smart devices at your home with ease and peace of mind.
Encrypted Messaging
As mentioned before blockchain can help with encryption as well, the peer to peer messages can be stored on multiple devices which then be only accessed with the use of one’s private key.
Stock Exchange
The stock market can also be improved with the use of blockchain as it will speed up the transfer of shares from one person to another, also it will add transparency to share trading as they would be public, it will prove to be cost-effective and instantaneous.
Immutable Backups
Backup can also be secured with the use of blockchain as the cloud storage will be immune to hacker attacks and the data would be safe while keeping its integrity.
These were a handful but most useful use case scenarios for integrating blockchain with real-world applications, blockchain is still improving with many other applications emerging every day and it might be that the most important application is still yet to be discovered.
