blockchain

Barely a day passes when the highs and lows of cryptocurrencies don’t hit the headlines of leading publications. Initially, the exponential gains in cryptocurrency overshadow the driving force behind it. Later, as the tragic downfall seen in the cryptocurrencies, the things have got changed. The blockchain technology underpinning the digital currencies like bitcoin is the rave.

The complex technology with a simple idea is considered as the powerful tech that can change the next decade of the business. With the massive growth in technology, its global market worth is projected to climb to more than $23.3 billion by 2023. That’s interesting!

Source: surrey-research-park.com

It raises a question- why the world is going blockchain way? What’s so special about it? 

The answer lies in the definition of blockchain itself. The blockchain is a decentralized ledger that runs on millions of computers wherein any record or form of data can be moved and stored securely with no intermediaries in between. In this way, no central server, no owner, no geographic boundary, no middlemen, and no administrator ensure the integrity, trust, and security of the digital ecosystem.

All these things together are creating a big impact on businesses and taking the offerings to a new level.  Mostly, the business use cases move around the 4 advantages of blockchain technology, which are:

A high degree of security

The decentralized nature, records immutability, automatic traceability, and no third-party involvement are the plus points of the new digital technology that makes it impossible to put a dent in the security of the system.

A greater degree of transparency

The public blockchains are not black-boxed as every transaction can be viewed by the users anytime. The millions of the copies of every record are stored in a decentralized way which means the information won’t lose in any way.

Low transaction fees

With middlemen involvement, the time and cost involved with transactions get nearly doubled. Blockchain has eliminated the need of third-party that enables transaction execution at speed and the reduced cost.

Digital and physical world integration

Not just information, but anything of value (tangible or intangible) can be moved and stored on the blockchain. Be it money, music, votes, intellectual property, deeds, titles, or scientific discoveries. The ownership of the assets can be separately found anytime with zero likelihood of deception.

The social implications

The impact of blockchain that has gone beyond financial services (It means the second generation of the internet that’s increasing its footprint across various industry verticals such as music, education, government, logistics, and healthcare), it’s now finding the place in a social world.

Yes, the social organizations have started kicking off the wheels of blockchain technology and around 200 projects using the tech for social good. The technology is surprisingly appearing as a good fit for the social impact efforts where it’s helping in making supply chains more transparent, improving health record-keeping, combatting with climate change, and increasing access to the financial system.

Take a sneak peek inside at how blockchain is helping social organizations positively:

  • Resolve the lack of trust issue

Many social organizations are working and launching aid campaigns in the geographies where the facilities are poor and corruption is widespread. That’s where blockchain helps organizations to find genuine means to address the corruption aspect through zero dependence or involvement of third-party and smart contracts.

  • Govern money circulation

The middlemen can trick the system, but the smart contract can’t. It’s because the contractual conditions defined in the smart contract needs to be met to trigger the desired function. The new clauses can be added in the agreements which determine that obligations are met when defined results are achieved.

  • Maintaining transparency

Blockchain’s foundation is laid on transparency and accountability where all network members can see the records. Choco4Peace organization leverages this feature to connect Colombian farmers with potential buyers and investors to make the farmers grow cocoa crops instead of illicit drugs. The transactional records help the social group keep an eye on what the farmers are doing and help them accordingly.

  • Reducing overheads

The middlemen such as banks involvement increase the transaction fees and for non-profit organizations, every buck on overhead is one that can’t be spent on needy people. UNW food program takes the blockchain initiative by partnering with a Blockchain development company where spending accounts’ processing of the food aid recipients is switched to the blockchain that has resulted in processing fee reduction by 98%. The saved fee is transferred to the humanitarian aids.

It’s not enough. There are numerous charitable and non-profit organizations using the technology in different ways for social good such as to extend loans to micro-businesses, allowing homeowners to buy and sell solar energy, farm-to-fork tracking of crops by the farmers, tracking food in the supply chain, and pretty more.

On the flip side, all the blockchain innovations for social cause won’t translate into genuine use cases and drive extra benefits. According to Stanford University study, only 20% of the blockchain use cases provide a solution that performs better than the alternatives as it requires technical expertise.

Conclusively, blockchain has brought significant difference to only some of the communities with potential applications and still, the technology is in the nascent stage. So, before making a big investment, it’s better to see how technology can be successfully used and implemented.      

Patel Nasrullah is a co-founder at one of the best mobile app development company where he leads a team of expert mobile app developers, Peerbits. He devotes his time in inspiring young leaders to take the leap of faith. With the experience of 10 years in Web and App development, he now gives full attention to the enterprise by offering mobility solutions about the strategic planning and execution.

Blockchain stock photo by Peshkova/Shutterstock