The popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has shifted attention to blockchain, the distributed ledger technology (DLT) that underpins them.

The fundamentals of blockchain technology are straightforward. The technology is implemented as an encrypted and decentralized database that is shared amongst users.

An analogy with a strongly encrypted and validated shared Google Doc, where each cell’s value is dependent on the values of its predecessors and is accepted by the entire network, is helpful.

Blockchain technology is the backbone of Bitcoin, but it has far reaching possibilities beyond monetary applications. We’ve described some of its potential uses in banking, business, and government below. Get in touch with the top Blockchain Development company in USA if you’re interested in their development services.

Blockchain Applications in the Financial Sector

International Payments

Blockchain technology allows for the efficient and unalterable recording of transactions that before would not have been possible. This makes it a great option for sending money abroad.

For instance, in April of 2018, Banco Santander introduced the first ever money transfer service that utilized blockchain technology. The service, dubbed “Santander One Pay FX,” utilizes Ripple’s xCurrent to facilitate instantaneous and next-day cross-border wire transactions.

Santander has automated the entire process on the blockchain, eliminating the need for many of the middlemen who are usually involved in such deals.

Santander is a major commercial bank, thus it serves many consumers who may use more convenient and affordable payment options, especially for international wire transfers. By eliminating the need for banks to manually settle transactions, blockchain technology can be utilized to reduce the cost of such payments.

Stock Exchanges

Financial markets are another area that could benefit from blockchain-based systems. Some of the advantages that blockchain technology bring to the financial sector are listed in a McKinsey research. 

Accelerated settlement and clearing 

Combined records for auditing

Enhanced operations

Commercial Banking and Financing

Traditional approaches to trade financing have caused significant difficulties for firms due to their time-consuming nature and their negative impact on the management of liquidity. There are many factors to consider when sending information, such as place of origin and product specifics, in international trade, and a great deal of paperwork is produced as a result of these dealings. 

Blockchain technology can facilitate international trade financing transactions with greater efficiency and less bureaucracy. Companies can conduct business with one another regardless of distance or location. 

Auditing for Rules and Regulations

Blockchain’s high level of security makes it a promising tool for auditors and accountants, as it eliminates room for error and guarantees the authenticity of records. Furthermore, once the account records are locked in using blockchain technology, not even the account owners may change them. The blockchain technology may eventually eradicate jobs and the need for auditors.

Money Laundering Protection

Blockchain’s built-in encryption is a huge boon in the fight against money laundering. Know Your Customer (KYC) refers to a company’s procedure for establishing and verifying the identities of its customers, and the underlying technology enables record keeping to facilitate this procedure.

Insurance

Smart contracts are arguably the most useful blockchain insurance application. 

Customers and insurers may both rest easy knowing their claim information is safe and secure thanks to these contracts. Since the blockchain would reject numerous claims on the same accident, invalid claims would be eliminated if all contracts and claims were stored there and approved by the network. 

For instance, the openIDL network developed by IBM and the American Association of Insurance Services streamlines compliance procedures and automates insurance regulatory reporting.

Peer-to-Peer Transactions

Peer-to-peer (P2P) payment platforms like Venmo are useful, yet they have their drawbacks. There are geographical limitations on the availability of certain services. Some of them have costs associated with them. Customers are understandably wary of exposing their financial data on sites that are prone to hacking. The aforementioned drawbacks may be overcome with the use of blockchain technology.

Blockchain Applications in Business

Supply Chain Management

The unchangeable ledger that blockchain provides is ideal for tasks like monitoring inventory in real time as it is transferred between warehouses. Many more choices become available to enterprises shipping these items when they adopt blockchain technology. Blockchain entries can be used to schedule supply chain events, such as assigning freshly received products to shipping containers. Blockchain introduces a fresh and adaptable approach to managing and making use of data for tracking 

purposes. 

Healthcare

Information like age, gender, and possibly elementary health records like immunization or vital sign data is ideal for blockchain. This data can be stored on a public blockchain where many people can access it without raising privacy concerns because none of it can be used to identify a single patient.

Blockchain has the potential to streamline the process by which specialized connected medical devices are integrated with an individual’s health data. The data collected by these devices can be stored on a healthcare blockchain and appended to individual health records. Data generated by connected medical equipment is now siloed, but blockchain has the potential to solve this problem.

Real Estate

Homeowners often sell their properties every five to seven years, and the typical person will change residence roughly a dozen times throughout the course of their lives. The real estate sector is highly mobile, suggesting that blockchain technology could be useful. Quickly authenticating financial information, the use of encryption to cut down on fraud, and providing full transparency will all speed up the home-selling process.

Media

Blockchain technology is already being adopted by the media industry to combat fraud, cut costs, and safeguard the IP rights of material like music records. MarketWatch predicts that by 2024, the worldwide market for blockchain applications in the media and entertainment industry would have grown to $1.54 billion.

Eluvio, Inc. is one platform that has emerged as a leader in using blockchain technology to the media industry. Eluvio Content Fabric, a blockchain-based solution formally released in 2019, allows content creators to manage and distribute high-quality video to end users and industry partners without the need for content delivery networks. 

Energy

Recent months have also seen media behemoth MGM Studios using the service for “global streaming to web, mobile, and TV everywhere audiences of ‘certain properties.'”

According to PWC, blockchain technology has the potential to not only facilitate energy supply transactions, but also serve as the backbone for related metering, invoicing, and clearing procedures. Possibile uses extend beyond just proof of ownership to include asset management, origin assurances, emission credits, and renewable energy certificates.

Blockchain Technology in Government

Record Management

Individuals’ vital statistics, including their birth and death dates, marital status, and property transfers, are the responsibility of national, state, and local governments. Still, it’s not always easy to keep track of all of this information, and some of it still exists only in paper form. It can be inconvenient, time-consuming, and even frustrating for residents to have to travel to their local government offices to make changes in person. Using blockchain technology could streamline this record-keeping process while also 

significantly boosting data security.

Controlling Your Identity

If enough data were stored in a distributed ledger, advocates of this method of identity management argue, only the most basic identifying information (such as a date of birth) would be required to verify a person’s identity.

Voting

When used to the voting process, blockchain technology has the potential to increase accessibility while also bolstering security. Even if a hacker gained access to the terminal, their actions would have no effect on the other nodes in the network. Government authorities would have an easier time tallying ballots if they could assign each vote to a unique ID and fraudulent IDs were impossible to produce. 

Taxes

With enough data recorded on the blockchain, the time-consuming and error-prone process of filing taxes might be greatly streamlined.

Volunteer Organizations

The escalating anti-trust issues faced by charity may be resolved by blockchain’s capacity to demonstrate to donors that their contributions are being used appropriately. The efficiency, transparency, and accountability afforded by blockchain technology could also aid these nonprofits in appropriately allocating the monies they receive.

Compliance/Regulatory Oversight

Recordkeeping is the backbone of compliance and regulatory oversight, but the repercussions of not doing so are far more severe. As a result, organizations have little choice but to ensure compliance. Regulators and enterprises can benefit from blockchain’s real-time record updates, which reduces lag time and facilitates the early detection of red flags and discrepancies.

Blockchain Applications in Other Industries

Accounting and Management Finance

Customers worried about financial fraud might be tempted by the blockchain if it really is as secure as it has shown itself to be in recent years.

Data Maintenance

Since blockchain’s central encryption feature eliminates the possibility of double or fraudulent entries, it’s a great tool for record keeping.

Cybersecurity

In terms of cyber security, blockchain’s primary benefit is that it eliminates the possibility of a single point of failure. Privacy and security can be maintained from beginning to end with blockchain technology.

“Big Data”

Blockchain is a great tool for storing large amounts of data since its records cannot be altered and their veracity is constantly checked by all of the computers connected to the network.

When it comes to storing information, the same rules that apply to “big data” also hold true.

IoT

Several IoT industries stand to benefit from the use of blockchain technology.

Asset tracking: keeping tabs on tools and equipment to record use and output in lieu of cloud-based solutions; supply chain monitoring to keep commodities in the right temperature and humidity ranges while in transit.

Despite these significant opportunities, IoT technology is currently reliant on startups.