Blockchains—once solely associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—are fast becoming an essential utility for industries beyond financial services. It is a decentralized, transparent and secure technology that has the potential to revolutionize every industry, from supply chain management to healthcare. This article will present you with existing examples of blockchain technology in practice across industry verticals to expect functionality and innovation.
What Is Blockchain Technology?
Before we jump into the examples, let’s familiarize ourselves with what is blockchain technology. Ultimately, Blockchain is a decentralized ledger that records transactions on thousands of computers. The records — or “blocks” — are linked together in a chain, such that it is virtually impossible to change any of the previous transactions. This makes it a very good candidate for the three main features of transparency, security and immutability that will differ per industry as to what they see as valuable.
Getting to Know Blockchain Technology
Decentralization: The Blockchain cannot be controlled by a single entity and is operated by nodes (computers).
Traceability: Every transaction on the Blockchain is traceable by all the parties in a given network, increasing accountability.
Security: Due to advanced cryptographic techniques, the Blockchain is highly secure against fraud and hacking.
Thus, transactions are immutable in blockchain terms and can never be changed or deleted once they have been recorded.
Blockchain Technology Applications in Real Life
1. Supply Chain Management
Overview
Blockchain is disrupting the traditional supply chain domain by offering transparency, traceability, and efficiency. Legacy supply chains tend to be opaque due to intermediaries that make them more efficient and costly.
For example, The Walmart & IBM food trust blockchain.
Walmart, in association with IBM, adopted a Bladechain-based system to track the origin of food products. The system is designed to track food products, including fruits and vegetables, all the way back from the farm to the store shelf. Right now, companies can take upwards of several weeks to trace the source of contamination during a foodborne illness outbreak; through unparalleled data transparency, Blockchain could reduce this timeframe to mere seconds or minutes.
Benefits:
Greater Transparency: Consumers and shopkeepers can trace products back to their origin.
Improved Efficiency: Less time spent on the recall process — less waste.
Enhanced Trust: Builds consumer trust through product integrity
2. Healthcare
Overview
The healthcare field is using Blockchain to increase data integrity, portability, and patient care. Blockchain is leading the trend, having made significant inroads into patient records, drug supply chains, and even clinical trials.
Example: MedicalChain
MedicalChain- enables patients to store their medical records securely using blockchain technology, which can then be shared with the healthcare provider. It does this by enforcing permissions on medical data so that only authorized individuals can read sensitive information.
Benefits:
Data Privacy: Secures patient details from unauthorized entry.
Interoperability: Allows the sharing of patient information between health service providers.
Empowering Patients: patients have the power to allow or deny who can view their medical data.
3. Financial Services
Overview
Cryptocurrencies were the first operational implementation of blockchain technology and appeared in the financial sector. Needless to say, this use has broadened over time, with functionalities like cross-border payments, smart contracts, and Decentralized finance (DeFi) being developed on it.
Example: Ripple (XRP)
It makes use of blockchain technology to enable instant and low-cost international cross-border payments. In traditional international transfers, the same process can take days, and fees are sky-high; with Ripple, we complete transactions in seconds and for peanuts compared.
Benefits:
Speed — Transactions happen in seconds.
Cost Efficiency: Significantly lower than fees charged by traditional payment services.
Global Reach: Allow token transfer across territories with no restrictions
4. Real Estate
Overview
Real Estate- Property Transactions, reducing fraud & increasing transparency with Blockchain
Example: Propy
Propy is a real estate platform on the Blockchain that allows transactions to go completely online. Buyers and sellers can complete deals securely in a safe, transparent environment where all documents are stored on the Blockchain.
Benefits:
Transparency — everyone gets to look at the same information, so there is less potential for arguments.
Security: Blockchain is quite secure, as property records cannot be manipulated.
Time and Cost Saving: Time and cost saving of conventional real estate transactions.
5. Voting Systems
Overview
One application area where it is looking to employ blockchain technology is for secure and transparent logistical systems for voting systems. The traditional voting system suffers from fraud, tampering, and non-transparency, which raises questions about the integrity of elections.
Example: Voatz
Voatz is a blockchain-based voting platform that has been piloted in the United States, most notably with some voters during the 2018 midterm elections. Through the system, voters can securely cast their vote with a simple tap on one of our smartphone apps, and each vote is immediately recorded onto a blockchain platform.
Benefits:
Security — There is no way to tamper with the results that would be verifiable/nullify all votes in question.
Transparency — Results are not up for dispute, and fraud cannot be claimed as each part of the process is recorded and visible
Accessibility: Allows remote or disabled voters to cast a vote
Blockchain Technology: A Table of Real-Life Applications
| Industry | Blockchain Application | Example | Benefits |
| Supply Chain | Traceability and transparency | Walmart & IBMIncreased | transparency, enhanced efficiency, improved trust |
| Healthcare | Secure medical records | Medical Chain | Data security, interoperability, patient empowerment |
| Financial Services | Cross-border payments | Ripple | Speed, cost-efficiency, global reach |
| Real Estate | Online property transactions | Property | Transparency, security, efficiency |
| Voting Systems | Secure and transparent voting | Voatz | Security, transparency, accessibility |
The Future of Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology’s applications are sure to spread even further as the practice matures. Possibilities range in use cases from intellectual property management to energy trading. Overcoming challenges like scalability, regulatory hurdles, and public perception will be the key to broad adoption.
Problems with Blockchain Adoption
Speed transactions high: Blockchain networks of now need time reset big limit;<>[] ( )
Regulatory Uncertainty: Blockchain has been the focus of global governments in terms of delivering a regulatory environment, albeit definitely not standardized yet.
Public Perception: The view that blockchain = cryptocurrencies remains strong, and most people have only heard about this aspect.
The Road Ahead
However, the rewards of blockchain technology are too large to overlook. With other industries starting to understand its potential, we may well be on the cusp of seeing Blockchain become a fundamental part of how most things in our digital economy are done.
Conclusion
Blockchain is no longer just a buzzword; it is transforming industries worldwide. Blockchain Applications: Real-World Examples From Supply Chain Management to Voting Systems Show Promise of Transparency, Security & Efficiency Blockchain holds the promise of becoming an important part of the new digital economy, which is also why we decided to call it Back to the future. These are just a few examples of what Blockchain can do, and the applications for this technology are endless.
