Satoshi Nakamoto introduced a revolutionary thing back in 2009, which he called Bitcoin. Now we know many popular cryptocurrencies, which have frequent ups and downs in this highly volatile market. People are now even looking at bitcoin even as a transactional currency which had endless possibilities. Considering the way how it works at the forefront, there is a public ledger that records all bitcoin transactions called the blockchain.
Blockchain came up as an existing alternative to traditional currency and transactional methods. Now, it changes how financial transactions are being handled, but it also serves as an alternative that may change the world in the future. Blockchain technology focuses on a distributed ledger that maintains a constantly growing list of transactions across each network distributed over thousands of different computers. This complexity makes it impossible to hack or change the way how transactions are being done.
In every possibility, we can expect that it will change the way how businesses are run in the future. Let us further explore different applications of blockchain technology in business, which are gaining momentum.
Cloud-based data storage
Considering various blockchain applications, cloud storage is one thing that businesses can take big advantage of. As a real-time example, you can consider Storj, which is still in the beta testing phase, as a company that offers secured cloud storage by decreasing dependency challenges. By utilizing the excess hard drive space, Storj users will be able to store 300 times over the traditional cloud. It can be seen as you rent out your home on Airbnb. Looking at the fact that there is $22 billion spent on cloud storage globally, blockchain-based selling out of storage space will set open a new revenue stream for any individual user while reducing the cost of data storage to enterprises and professional users.
Smart contract
A smart contract is a concept initiated in the early ’90s, but it has become more meaningful now only after the release of the Ethereum Project in 2013. It works as a decentralized platform that can run smart contracts or applications that follow the same programmed pattern without causing downtime, fraudulence, censorship, or interference of third parties. Smart contracts work as automated programs which can carry out terms in any given contract. In a nutshell, it acts as escrow-type financial security protected by a network that is automatically routed to the recipients based on the accomplishment of future events. Businesses can use these smart contracts to sidestep the conventional regulations and thereby lower the incurred costs.
These contracts also stay unbreakable with high relevance at any given point in time. A real-time example of smart contract management is Slock, which is an IoT platform working on Ethereum technology. This application works for bicycle rentals where the users can unlock smart locks on the bicycles after both parties agree on the common set of terms in the rental contract RemoteDBA.com is a reliable provider capable of supporting backend databases for blockchain applications.
Paying for work
As the fundamentals of blockchain are rooted in cryptocurrency, it is fully meaningful as being used as an application for employee compensation. On Entrepreneur, Geoff quoted it as if a company pays wages to international workers regularly; then it will be a major cost saver to incorporate Bitcoin into their payroll process. A real-time example of this utility is Bitwage, which is acclaimed as the first of its kind Bitcoin payroll service.
The major advantage of Bitwage is that it circumvents the heavy fees on international money transfer and also cut the time taken for such funds to move through the system. Bitcoin payments save time and money for the creditor as well as the recipients. With a comprehensive ledger of transactions available for review, you will be able to see exactly where your money is through the Bitwage platform. For payments to local contractors and employees, crypto is one mode many big companies are starting to bet on lately.
Communications in the supply chain
Most of the items we get out there are not made as a single entity but are the effective collaboration of various manufacturers who produce different components. A company assembles all these supplies and releases them as a final product to the market. The primary problem with this supply chain mechanism is that if any of one these components fail, then the product fails as a whole. Here also, effective use of blockchain technology will help provide auditable and reliable records, showing the stakeholders the state of the product development at each step of value addition.
Electronic voting
BitShares serves as a globally distributed database and uses DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake), which is considered the most efficient, decentralized, and flexible model for electronic voting. DPOS has the power of factoring in the stakeholder approval voting, which will democratically resolve any consensus issues. Elected delegates can tune all network parameters ranging from block intervals, fee schedules, and transaction size. The transactions can be confirmed in a fraction of a second, and most importantly, they can be designed in a consensus manner to protect all the voters against any unfair regulatory interference.
Those mentioned above are some of the major sectors where blockchain is now used very effectively. In fact, there are hundreds of other sectors, too, where the application of blockchain technologies is now growing at a fast pace. Compared to all conventional technologies, blockchain is more secure and faster alongside being cheaper compared to others.
There is still a bit of hesitancy among the users and entrepreneurs to adopt blockchain technologies as many adversities are also associated with the cryptocurrency-based financial market. But, when we look at the positive side of it, there are benefits and drawbacks for every technology that came out in the past, and when it comes to blockchain, the advantages outweigh the adversities.
In a nutshell, blockchain’s future is expected to be bright and fast-growing in the future. Hundreds of patents related to blockchain-based technologies are being filed every month, and there are a lot of new players coming into this field lately.
