Blockchain technology is one of the most promising technologies in the world, and everyone expects it to have a major role in almost all fields within a few years, and this is because of the benefits and capabilities this technology can offer us.
A few years ago, no one had heard of this relatively new technology, but it began to gain traction with the rise of Bitcoin, which became very much present in the news and daily conversations.
Although digital currencies, led by Bitcoin, have changed and will change our reality, the impact of the blockchain technology will be much greater, and this was the reason why we wrote this article about the most prominent applications and uses of the blockchain.
In this article, we will talk about the 9 most prominent applications of blockchain technology, many of which are now used, whether this is in a government form, or especially by startups, giant companies, or even major universities in the world.
What is Blockchain Technology?
Blockchain technology is a very complex technology, but we can simplify it as a system consisting of a series of blocks connected to each other that act as ledgers to record any change or process that occurs.
When any operation or change is made to one of these blocks, the other blocks must confirm that the operation is correct, otherwise the operation will be considered rejected.
Let’s simplify things a little, assuming that you own 3 bitcoins in your digital wallet, and you want to transfer them to someone, in order to transfer to this person you use his Public Key to transfer the currencies, and then all the blocks must confirm the validity of your possession of these currencies in order for the transfer to take place.
After the transfer, the blocks will register these currencies that you transferred as the property of the other person who owns the key to the wallet to which you transferred the currencies, in this way the Blockchain becomes decentralized, that is, it does not need a third party such as a government, a bank or any other party, and it Be impervious to alteration, forgery or tampering.
Blockchain is a very secure technology, thanks to its strong encryption techniques, and this is what gives it immunity because if you want to hack it and change something, you have to hack all the blocks of the blockchain in all the chains, which are registered on thousands of devices around the world, which is considered Impossible.
I explained this technology through the simplest example, which is digital currencies, but the technology is used in many areas, which we will review in this article.
Top 9 applications of blockchain technology
Now we have come to the heart of the article, in which we will discuss 9 amazing uses or applications of Blockchain technology:
1. The use of blockchain in the field of digital currencies Cryptocurrencies
I hope you are not bored of mentioning digital currencies, but the first application in this article is for digital currencies. Cryptocurrencies are all based on Blockchain, and the difference between them lies in Hashing Algorithms only.
Today, digital currencies are a form of development in all aspects of our lives, and this is because of its many advantages that are not available in traditional currencies, as it gives us the freedom and privacy that we have always hoped for, which makes it the most suitable option for us for various financial transactions.
Conversions of these currencies are also very fast, they may be done in a jiffy, so they are suitable for the fast, flexible and often reckless spirit of the age, and this reinforced the familiarity that formed in just a decade, which has now made it a strong and competitive alternative to traditional currencies In almost every possible transaction.
Because of these currencies, our financial system has changed, and countries and large companies are trying their best to build a name for them in this field, and I do not mean here only Facebook’s Libra currency, but I mean the efforts of banks (even the oldest of them like JP Morgan), and countries to control the Digital currency market.
The new currency economy holds huge gains only for those who accept the challenge and take risks, and we have seen many people who have joined the billionaire club because of investing in these new currencies and their increasing popularity.
2. Using Blockchain in Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are one of the most important emerging applications of blockchain technology, and this is because of the many things that will make us able to do in various areas of life.
These contracts allow you to write a contract and put it in the blockchain, so that it implements itself automatically without any human intervention, without any chance of deception, manipulation or fraud, and without the slightest chance that you will be deceived.
In order for the concept of the smart contract to reach you, it is software codes designed in a way that allows it to be the intermediary between two or more parties, and to record their agreement on it so that it is executed automatically.
Ahmed and Hossam made a smart contract that states that he will transfer Ahmed to Hossam 0.5 bitcoin in the event that he designs a site for him, and in the event that Hossam does not design the site within a specified period of time, Ahmed will not transfer this amount to him.
After the smart contract is uploaded to the blockchain, the contract holds the 0.5 BTC in his possession until the specified date. If Hussam delivers the site, the amount is transferred to him, and if the deadline is exceeded, Ahmed will get his money back.
This example is just a simplified example to clarify, but this smart contract can be used in various ways, and it is written using programming conditional statements that do not allow for any confusion or any legal loopholes, and it does not require all the complexities necessary to conclude a legal contract.
These contracts may be used between individuals as in the example, or they may take place between companies and some of them or between companies and individuals, there are no limits to their use in any way that suits the nature of the agreement between the parties, and this is confirmed by the new uses that appear every day for this powerful technology.
They are used today in many areas, such as: preserving and using intellectual property, betting, real estate, medical experiments, banking, Internet of things, government services, insurance, and even supply chain management, and many more.
3. The use of blockchain in healthcare
Do not be surprised, the blockchain has many uses in the field of health, in fact some of these uses are becoming more and more necessary every day. From tracking medicine to medical records of individuals, the blockchain is used in modern countries and hospitals.
Let’s start talking about Medical Records. Medical records that carry data and history of patients are of great importance in the modern medical system, as they help the doctor, pharmacist and any member of the medical staff to properly assess the patient’s condition, and deal with him according to this assessment.
These records must be available and easily transmitted between medical staff and between different hospitals, and updates to them should be added automatically to all those who know them, this is usually done through cloud storage, but this is not the best option.
It is possible that this very private data can be stolen or hacked, which will result in a lot of problems, so we need a powerful technology that facilitates file sharing at the same time that it provides superior protection for this data, your answer is definitely correct. This technology is the Blockchain.
There are a lot of startups using blockchain to improve healthcare, including:
a) MedRec . project
It is a project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) used to confirm, document, and share medical records for individuals between medical care organizations and parties.
b) Gem . Company
It is a startup company that works with the CDC or the Center for Disease Control to put data on epidemic outbreaks, such as: Covid-19, in the blockchain so that it increases the effectiveness and efficiency of dealing with its consequences.
c) Medical Chain . platform
It is a platform built using blockchain technology, that protects patients’ identities and information, and includes a site called MyClinic; Which allows patients to book virtual appointments online with doctors, and pay them in exchange for their own cryptocurrency called MedTokens.
Blockchain technology is used in dozens of other uses, including tracking the transfer and use of drugs, assisting in several aspects of clinical trials, improving the process of storing pharmaceutical drugs in appropriate conditions, and preventing the presence of fraudulent drugs on the market without a license. .
4. Using Blockchain in Real Estate
The real estate field was also not spared from blockchain technology, as the technology is now used extensively in this field around the world, and it is one of the most famous digital transformation steps advocated by advanced countries and governments.
The technology helps to save papers and documents related to the ownership of real estate and land on the blockchain network, in addition to recording all the transactions that took place on the property or building, including buying and selling.
All known real estate problems are solved by Blockchain technologies, from the routine and lengthy procedures of real estate registration, sale and purchase, to the legal and financial transactions of real estate which will then take place automatically.
Converting the property into a digital asset such as digital currencies, will help speed transactions, for example, if Mansour wants to buy a house from Sharif, they will write a smart contract that states that when Mansour sends 10 Bitcoin to Sharif, the ownership of the house will automatically transfer to him Thus, the process ends as soon as the funds are sent.
The massive use of blockchain in this area will contribute to increasing transparency significantly, as it will reduce or eliminate additional expenses completely because there is no need for a third party of any kind, and will eliminate fraud, deception and manipulation in all its forms.
There are many blockchain startups in this field, examples of which are:
a) Ubiquity . Company
This highly promising startup is developing a blockchain-based system that tracks all real estate legal formalities, saving time as well as reducing friction in transactions.
b) BitofProperty
Is a company based in Singapore that aims to provide a platform for investors to be able to invest and finance in the field of real estate and get the profits of these investments on a monthly basis.
5. Using Blockchain to Voting
In recent years, many people have called for the need to implement the voting system through blockchain technology, especially after the successful Australian experiment that took place in 2019.
Conventional voting takes a lot of time, from queuing and having to record your vote in rudimentary paper form, to the days-long sorting and counting phase where millions of votes are manually counted, vote by vote and then all of these results are collected.
Regardless of the possibility of fraud or tampering during the traditional voting process, which takes place in a number of ways ranging from manipulation and falsification of results, to filling boxes with fake votes or other methods.
We will not address the cost of traditional elections, whether through the increases for observers, judges, and people who count, in addition to the cost of the paper itself and the ink used, transportation costs, transportation allowances, and many others that burden countries.
Voting through Blockchain technology solves all these problems, it saves time as you can vote from your home, just using your ID card in addition to a laptop or computer with a camera to make sure that you are the real person who is voting.
The sorting and counting process will also take place immediately, making sure that the results are correct, as it is impossible to hack this mechanism or tamper and forge the data stored on the blockchain.
This technology also provides two additional features, which are the ability to change votes until voting closes, and tracking and verifying the vote after voting.
6. Using Blockchain to Protect Intellectual Property Rights Copy Rights
Blockchain technology has become a very big role in the fields of arts and creativity, as it has become the most supportive technology for creators, in several ways, and of which we are interested in this article, is that it preserves the intellectual property rights of their various works, whether they are in the form of text, painting or design, audio, video, or any other format possible.
This is the reason why artists raise their works on the Blockchain network, through the various platforms that exist today, and this is because it guarantees them the profits of ownership, and allows them to fund their productions and their upcoming work, the simplest example of this, is the NFT or non-fungible tokens that we talked about About it in a previous article.
The development of smart contracts led to a boom in artists and creators using blockchain technology to sell their work, as smart contracts provided them with the control and flexibility they wanted.
There are now many blockchain-based platforms that are widely used by artists in order to preserve the intellectual property rights of their works, including: Binded and Pixsy.
7. Using Blockchain in Crowdfunding
CrowdFunding is one of the areas that Blockchain technology has broken into forcefully, with the advent of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies in addition to smart contracts, Blockchain platforms and companies are the perfect choice.
Crowdfunding is based on the creators and idea owners asking for money from people and groups, with the aim of achieving their idea or project and transferring it to reality, in exchange for pledges or even symbolic or in-kind gifts from the owner of the idea.
This idea has increased in popularity with the development of smart contracts that allow different parties to sign an agreement concluded that cannot be avoided, and thus the donor pays his funding, and he is 100% guaranteed that he will get what he promised to the owner of the idea.
There have become many platforms specialized in crowdfunding via the Blockchain, which in turn have contributed to transforming dozens and hundreds of ideas into real and successful projects, and even contributed to many creative works, such as: the BRAID movie.
8. Using Blockchain for Charity
Now this is something surprising, but dear reader as I told you Blockchain is now used in all areas of life, and therefore this technology is sure to be used in the field of Charity.
Through the blockchain, you can keep track of the donations you have paid and know where it was spent or reached by whom, in addition to all the details about it from the time it came out of your wallet until it reached the hand of the beneficiary.
The transparency that blockchain technology gives in this field is unparalleled, as it is able to completely prevent fraud or manipulation by bad people, expose the inefficiency of bad charities, and even ensure that these funds and services reach the people who deserve them most.
One of the most famous charitable organizations that use blockchain in its work is BitGive, which was established in 2013, to be the first charitable and non-profit use of blockchain and Bitcoin.
9. The use of blockchain in everyday life
Blockchain technology can also be used in many aspects of our daily lives, such as interpersonal transactions and regular assurances, or even government transactions that we need to do on a regular basis.
For example, blockchain technology can help you with government identification papers, such as identity cards, passports, marriage and birth papers, and other papers, and there are some countries that want to take real, tangible steps to use the blockchain in this area.
For example, to protect our privacy and information, it is possible to create an identity using a blockchain that does not allow companies to use and transfer our information to other companies, whether to personalize ads, analyze our personalities, or influence our various decisions (such as Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal).
Blockchain technology will be a very valuable step in preserving our privacy by encrypting data and showing it only to those who are authorized to see it, and preventing anyone else from seeing or accessing it even if it has been shared.
The same applies to passports, and there is even a project published on Github in 2014 that allows its users to identify their identities and information whether they are online or not, by storing this data on the blockchain network, and allowing it to be confirmed using a public key Just.
This is also the case with birth, marriage and death certificates, and UNESCO has recently been seeking to use the blockchain to register these important papers, especially in poor areas or where many of their residents have not yet issued them for one reason or another.
Conclusion
At the end of the article, I would like to emphasize that the applications and uses of the Blockchain are endless. Every day, dozens of large and emerging companies are trying to use this breakthrough technology to solve a new problem.
Thus, gradually, this technology will invade our lives, and it will be present in every aspect of it. Through this article, I would like to urge you, dear reader, to participate in this technology boom, as investing or subscribing in this area will bring you huge profits.
We here at Winners are very concerned that our readers benefit and “win”, that is our brand and our motto, so we always encourage you to make winning bets, and as we saw a few days ago 203 Swvl employees have become millionaires, and this is because they put their time and effort into something they know is It will be profitable years later.
You too can do the same by learning or investing in this nascent technology that is still in its infancy, especially in our Arab world, whose treasure is still buried and needs someone to excavate. So why can’t you be that person?
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