Overview

Although I have discussed blockchain in the past, I wanted to further explain how it can both disrupt and transform various industries. Blockchain, defined as a decentralized, digitized, and public ledger generally used in cryptocurrency transactions, has a wide range of additional commercial applications. This technology can be implemented to verify transactions, digitize and share documents, and secure the transmissions of sensitive materials.

Per a previous post, I briefly explained how blockchain could be used to change voting methods. However, there are many more areas that can use its help for keeping up with the continuously growing necessity for enhanced and safer online transactions and data analytics.

Banking

While blockchain is most notable for its work with cryptocurrencies, its influence can provide many benefits for conventional banking. As a digitalized and tamper-proof ledger, blockchain can ensure that the financial ecosystem is both protected and cost-efficient. As many large banks are now experimenting with blockchain, they believe they could use it to expedite back-office functions/settlements, which cuts down middleman costs dramatically.

Messaging Apps

Offering greater privacy and the benefit of secure financial transactions, blockchain can revolutionize messaging apps. Telegram, a cloud-based, free, and robust messaging service, is developing its blockchain-based platform named TON (Telegram Open Network). This network allows the company to initiate file storage and censorship-proof browsers for its many users. TON will also make use of its in-house cryptocurrency, Gram.

Internet Identity

Contrary to popular belief, establishing your real identity on the Internet can be difficult. While Facebook, for example, can allow a user to sign on multiple websites using their Facebook login information, platforms such as uPort aim to return identity ownership to the individual. By registering an identity on Ethereum, sending and requesting credentials, securely managing keys and data, as well as signing transactions, a user’s identity can be verified and protected.

Education

With the growing rise in online colleges, those hard-earned and expensive credits need to have the security they need to ensure they are validated, easily transferable, and protected. By deploying blockchain solutions to education, companies such as Learning Machine are creating a complete system of official records that can be shared and verifiable anywhere in the world.

Photography

Digital image theft is currently as easy as a two-click operation; due to this, photographers are losing royalties for their work as their images do not have any set ownership. Thanks to blockchain, companies like Kodak are creating their own cryptocurrencies, such as KodakCoin. Backed by the image rights platform/blockchain ledger called KodakOne, photographers will be able to register both new and old work and obtain payments every time their image is used.

Streaming Videos

Per Ghat Devadutta, “video constitutes a staggering amount of internet data and by 2021, it is predicted to form 82% of all Internet traffic.” While we all love spending countless hours on YouTube and Netflix, blockchain could dramatically reduce the cost of video traffic by decentralizing storage, content distribution, and video encoding. For example, using a cloud video infrastructure, users could spend cryptocurrency coins to rent videos, with a company like VideoCoin. VideoCoin and companies like it could potentially disrupt the market of streaming services such as Netflix, making it easier for you, the user, to have access to all of the funny cat videos you could ever dream of.

Gaming

Today, all video games practically live and operate online. Additionally, due to their rising popularity, the gaming market needs to stay on par with current trends and emerging new technologies regarding security, accessibility, and lowering costs. While many video games are currently sold and downloaded online through merchant stores, blockchain can significantly reduce high transaction fees and make it so transactions are irreversible, thus eliminating chargebacks.

For the gamer specifically, what could blockchain do for you? Well, imagine earning items in a game, such as with Super Smash Brothers, and then using those online items or currencies in a different Nintendo game entirely; the confirmation process of blockchain would allow for that. Creating items or currency from playing a game that can be kept by the user would provide the user virtual-ownership of the items, making it much more enticing to obtain the rewards as they are bound to your virtual identity.

Summary

Blockchain has so many potential applications that can change the world as we know it. With the decline of net neutrality and the growing concern of user’s sensitive information being hacked, blockchain is the technology we need to safeguard and expand our internet capabilities now and into the future.

Sources:

Telegram. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://telegram.org/.

Uport. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://www.uport.me/.

Learning Machine. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://www.learningmachine.com/.

KodakCoin. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://www.kodak.com/kodakone/default.htm

KodakOne. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://kodakone.com/

Ghat, Devadutta. 07 Nov 2017. VideoCoin – A Decentralized Video Encoding,

Storage, and Content Distribution Network. Retrieved from https://storage.googleapis.com/videocoin-preico/VideoCoin-Whitepaper.pdf.

VideoCoin. 05 Dec 2018. Retrieved from https://www.videocoin.io/.