Born in Satoshi Nakamoto’s mind, blockchain technology allows peer-to-peer networks to be created, without the use of a third-party centralized coordinators. Creating a decentralized digital ledger that records data over time, which cannot be deleted and is publicly available, can change the world we live in as we know it. Here are some of the biggest industries that blockchain technology will disrupt in the coming years.
7. Education
Plagiarism and fraud haunt academia, as more often than not it’s easier to take shortcuts than to do the whole thing. Once again, blockchain technology can prevent people from saying they did something they did not, whether we’re talking about a simple assignment, or a whole degree.
There are cases where top ranking politicians have claimed to have a degree they never really got, and a blockchain where everything is transparent will stop them, and others, from doing so. It would also help save time and money in manual checks.
6. Elections
The use a blockchain for voter registration and electronic vote counting can mean democratic elections will always be as safe and fair as possible. By authenticating voters’ identities, keeping track of votes and keeping everything available for the public, while allowing people to verify no votes were altered, this type of technology could create a remarkably reliable online voting system.
5. Telecommunications
Last year, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on a domain name system (DNS) provider Dyn took down some of the internet’s biggest websites, such as Twitter, Reddit, and Amazon. The attack was reportedly caused by an angry gamer who paid to have access to a botnet, so pretty much anyone with a few thousand dollars could’ve been able to do it.
Blockchain technology can help prevent these attacks due to its decentralized nature, by allowing us to build a more robust and secure internet. As a matter of fact, there are already startups working on solutions. Nebulis, for example, is developing a blockchain-based DNS on the ethereum blockchain.
4. Healthcare
Cybercriminals have been known to specifically target hospitals and other healthcare facilities with ransomware. Because these are healthcare facilities, they must pay the ransom in order to access patient data and keep on saving lives. Their data is extremely valuable, but their tech infrastructure often lacks sturdiness.
Blockchain technology won’t just keep cybercriminals away. It will also improve data accessibility and protection., By creating a type of library, it will help healthcare professionals deliver faster and more accurate diagnoses.
3. Online music
The internet wasn’t the best thing that happened to the music industry. People can now easily avoid paying for music, and that significantly reduces an artists’ income. Licensing issues and third-party distributors can also be a huge problem for some artists, and blockchain technology can provide a solution: it can provide artists a way to distribute their music directly to their fans, and smart contracts can be used to solve licensing problems. Several startups, such as Ujo Music, are already trying to bring blockchain technology to the online music industry.
2. Auto Insurance
Auto insurance can benefit hugely from integrating blockchain into their business. There are hundreds of files and records that need to be kept, and due to human error many are lost. However, by storing their data on the immutable, decentralized, and secure ledger all necessary data can be kept safe. Furthermore, peer to peer auto insurance may become a possibility in the coming years.
The way it would work, is a pool of policyholders would pay premiums on the same policy. As the shared policy ages and gains reputation, outside investors have the option of investing in that particular pool. This way generating both profit for themselves and lowering the policyholders’ premiums.
1. Finance
Financial institutions can significantly reduce costs and substantially reduce fraud with the use of blockchain tech as it creates a way to certify ownership and clear transactions much more efficiently than the current centralized system. The implementation of the ledger can actually affect pretty much every financial instrument out there, ranging from bonds to stocks.
Moreover, the peer-to-peer, decentralized nature of the technology can allow financial identities, which allow the widening of banking and makes tax collection a breeze. According to Forbes, the disruption is likely going to start by simply allowing blockchain-baked transactions, but it just may soon evolve into products we haven’t even begun to think of yet.
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