The term “blockchain” gained fame with the advent of bitcoin but has since found applications in a variety of industries. In simple terms, a blockchain is a decentralised ledger that records information about a digital asset.
Blockchain development makes it versatile enough to be used in several industries in today’s times, thanks to features like efficiency, encryption and decentralised governance. Here are a few industries that benefit the most from blockchain development.
With limited working hours, banks and financial institutions benefit a lot from using blockchain to speed up transaction processes. You can use blockchain to speed up transit processes when exchanging funds between banks and also settlement and clearing processes in stock trading (could save around $10 billion for banks a year). Around 45% of financial intermediaries like stock exchanges and money transfer services are likely to get hit by financial crimes because of centralises systems, where hackers just need to break into one main computer to get full access.
40% of healthcare executives view blockchain as a ‘top 5’ strategic priority. This is an important step since 9 out of 10 drugs fail to make it to clinical trial because pharma companies are not getting exact patient data. Medical records of patients are crucial pieces of information for the patients and the hospitals/doctors. If you enter the patient’s information in a blockchain instead of a regular ledger, this gives the patient the satisfaction that the data is safe and private, so better data collection is possible now.
The graph below for healthcare is a representation of the forecast for global blockchain in healthcare before the COVID-19 outbreak. In fact, blockchain finds application in healthcare, especially during a pandemic because the entire database of all affected and recovered patients can be stored in a decentralised ledger for all medical fraternities to access.
If you are involved in the supply chain of any industry, you can immediately understand the need for proper record-keeping. From the point of manufacture to the point of delivery to the customer, every step of the path must be traceable to account for the authenticity and safety of the product.
By using blockchain in the supply chain and improving traceability, companies can cut a lot of expenses and avoid a lot of confusion. Inventory records are always a source of errors because the exact location of a good needs to be updated in everyone’s records simultaneously (or as this EY report says, “the core logic of blockchains means that no piece of inventory can exist in the same place twice”).
Blockchain development is going to be a key part of any technological development in the future. The examples given above describe the applications in a few industries, but potentially several others, including real estate, insurance etc. can also benefit a lot from blockchain technology.