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Since its inception, blockchain has proved to be a dynamic and innovative technology for individuals and businesses. This is because of its potential benefits in payments, security, verification of people and processes, and transactional value. Today, the technology can be applied in many industries such as healthcare, supply chain, eCommerce and retail, oil and gas, transport, and logistics industries.
Blockchain developers are working around the clock to create applications fit for any business. With blockchain, business owners enjoy better protection of sensitive data because of the nature of blockchain that is secured by cryptography and operates on a distributed ledger. In this article, you’ll see the various ways to apply blockchain and how it improves operations.
What is a blockchain use case?
Use cases simply mean a way to apply something as a solution to a problem. It shows how one thing helps to solve a person, organization, or industry issue to get meaningful results. In the case of blockchain use cases, we’ll look at the various ways you can apply it in a real-world situation to solve simple and difficult issues.
The main elements that make blockchain usable and a fit solution in many areas include the following:
- Decentralization
- Distributed ledgers
- Immutability
- Better security
- Transaction speed and:
- Trustlessness
Here are common uses and applications of blockchain technology in various industries and how they help overcome the challenges facing these sectors.
Money transfer
Sending and receiving payments are processes that normal people deal with in everyday life. Whether you’re buying products and services, or supporting a friend financially halfway across the globe, you need an effective means to transfer money. Traditionally, you had to go through an intermediary such as the bank, merchant, or agent to fulfill this process.
As effective as people consider this method to be, some issues sometimes lead to payment delays or losses. Traditional money transfer methods are also quite costly, especially if you have more than one intermediary. Further, they’re slow and dependent on the processes of the intermediary. But you can now rely on blockchain applications to do the job at better speeds, higher security, and transparency as they operate in a decentralized and trustless space.
You can eliminate third parties and enjoy quicker, cost-effective money transfers at any time and from anywhere.
Managing the supply chain
Every industry depends on proper supply chain management to fulfill its work. However, supply chains can be complicated and time-wasting considering the processes and parties goods have to go through to reach the end user. They also take massive human hours trying to consolidate data from different points. This becomes even more complex if the chain spans different countries requiring border clearance and payment.
But with blockchain, now it’s easy to trace and track goods along the chain with higher transparency as every player can see the process and receive transaction blocks of changes in the blockchain. When you eliminate poor transparency and manual processes of tracing goods, the process is quicker. The vendor and the end user are satisfied.
Document sharing and management
Another practical use case of this technology is in storing and sharing records. This is significant considering that data has become a marketable asset in the real world and even the black market. You want to have your documents stored in the safest way possible to keep them away from the prying eyes of cybercriminals. However, the legacy data storage systems and applications leave room for exploitation either by willing participants or through honest mistakes by data handlers.
Now, you can store and share data more securely if you use blockchain applications. Since blockchain encrypts data and only the owners or people with access have the keys to unlock it, you can be able to share records securely. This applies to areas like healthcare and legal industries where confidentiality is crucial.
Anti-money laundering and fraud
Money laundering is a menace for many governments today. Some methods the perpetrators use to transfer illegal money are very hard to catch. Governments and organizations struggle every day to stop funds embezzlement and money scams that can cripple them. The problem is serious and widespread with consumers losing $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021. This was a 70% increase from the previous year.
With those numbers in mind, governments, businesses, financial entities, and individuals need to welcome any solution that might help reduce these cases. Fortunately, blockchain is handy in providing better verification and records of transactions at different stages. This is because every transaction on the blockchain creates a record that can’t be altered.
Moreover, transactions on blockchain use smart contracts and if a person doesn’t fulfill all the conditions, it terminates. Some of the things a user is required to provide include, currency type, departure and destination wallet, and amount. If this information isn’t provided, the transaction aborts. In addition, blockchain anti-fraud and money laundering apps analyze and report an entire transaction and not just the entry or exit points.
Copyright protection
Rules on ownership and copyright are getting more stringent and you need them to protect your content such as music, podcasts, film, and all other things that demand one to have ownership rights. With blockchain, these rules become easier to apply. Further, a content creator gets the raw data on their royalty distribution eliminating any doubts and claims of bias. For example, any use of a content creator’s work like music or video downloads becomes transparent and traceable. The creator then gets their fair royalty share.
Final thoughts
From the above, you can see there are many reasons to consider applying blockchain to help reduce some bottlenecks that some other technologies and systems are unable to eliminate. If you want fast and effective money transfer, copyright and royalty protection, eliminate money fraud, or store and share your documents securely, you can find a solution in the blockchain. Not to say that the technology is fool-proof, but it sure has better solutions that other technologies don’t offer. Find a reliable blockchain developer and get to know ways you can apply blockchain to your explicit needs.
