When people think about blockchain, the first thing that comes to their minds are Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Well, that’s a well-deserved association, given that little was known about the virtual currency’s underlying technology, before the global crypto craze started.

While cryptocurrencies rise and fall, blockchain (also called DLT, or Distributed Ledger Technology) has been slowly establishing itself as something that can impact areas of life that many have not even considered. Below is a list of sectors where DLT is being pioneered outside the more common sectors of finance, banking, and insurance.

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1. Cyprus’ Blockchain Education

The application of blockchain has the potential to remove tons of paperwork when it comes to verifying academic credentials, facilitating the payment of tuition fees, and providing cheaper cloud sharing solutions. Apart from cutting costs and time, the use of blockchain also ensures better data integrity and can aid the crack down on fraudulent degrees, which our centralized world is not always good at spotting.

There are some pioneers who are already embracing blockchain in the education sphere, such as the University of Nicosia. It runs academic records and certificates on blockchain, accepts tuition fees in Bitcoin and tutors graduates on the subject of digital currencies.

2. Taiwan’s Blockchain Healthcare

Blockchain allows doctors and healthcare providers to access a patient’s health records securely and easily from any location at any time. This can save lives in case of an emergency, where every minute accessing illness history counts. It also provides for a more transparent claims system and facilitates payment.

Although this sounds like something far off, in reality, there have already been successful early adopters such as the Taipei Medical University Hospital, which has developed a blockchain-powered system for medical record keeping. Some 100 clinics can already request or share patients’ records, and the patients themselves have all their treatment history, lab exams and more accessible via an app.

3. Blockchain for the Wine Industry

With healthy, quality eating more and more in demand, blockchain offers food industry professionals an increased level of transparency, and thus credibility. In particular, blockchain based services have the ability to track the provenance of food (and its movement along the supply chain), serving true quality assurance certificates. No more counterfeit “Italian” pasta!

Seeking a practical example, one can think of French wine exports, a pillar of the country’s economy. According to findings of the French Wine & Spirits Commission, for every bottle of French wine in China alone there is at least one counterfeit one. Blockchain would reveal the truth, and protect the trademark holder’s profits.

4. US-Philippine Blockchain Wedding

The fight against intermediaries spreads across all spheres of life, and relationships are not an exception. The ability to record a wedding certificate on a distributed ledger, why not?

It has many benefits when compared to the classical wedding registration. There are no papers that can get lost, and no sluggish bureaucracy in the case of international marriages.

The example of Joyce from the Philippines and David from the U.S.A. proves that a blockchain wedding record is something that can help eliminate the burden of expensive paperwork, which takes months to be sorted out. Sweethearts can opt for other, more pleasant ways to spend this time.

5. Japan’s Blockchain Advertising

Blockchain brings a bunch of other advantages to the advertising industry.

Picture this: instead of middlemen like Google or Facebook’s ad arm, advertisers are now given the opportunity to showcase their goods on blockchain-based browsers.

In that way, users who opt-in tend to get fewer, but better-targeted ads without the possibility of being affected by malware.

Blockchain can also become a source of income for the consumers of these ads, with rewards motivating them to interact with promotional materials. A good example has already been set by a Japanese video platform c0ban.tv, which pays its users in cryptocurrency for watching ads.

6. Switzerland’s Blockchain Voting

One more noteworthy example of where to apply DLT is in elections. We all know that elections need the authentication of voters’ identities, secure record keeping to accurately track votes, and credible tallies to specify the winner.

By capturing votes as transactions through a blockchain, we are able to count on a verifiable trail, ensuring that no vote is manipulated, “lost” or no illegal votes have been added.

The Swiss city of Zug, widely known for its ambitions to become the blockchain capital of the world, has already tried blockchain-based voting. Although there are still issues to be tackled at later stages (e.g. anonymity vs. accountability), its introduction proved to be promising.

7. Sweden’s Blockchain Real Estate

Decentralization really has the potential to disrupt the real estate business, infamous for its lengthy processes and numerous intermediaries. A distributed online ledger could ideally list every single property and make it available for purchase or rent within a couple of clicks.

While many countries expressed interest in shifting land registries to blockchain, the Swedish Lantmäteriet took action by partnering with local banks and telecom providers in order to move residential property sales to DLT. When this goes live, formalizing a deal will take hours, not the months that we are accustomed to.

8. UK’s Blockchain Recruitment

Blockchain can become a real time saver in the area of recruitment and career development. It can make a whole document list (academic certifications, employment references etc.) easily accessible from any place in the world. Another important improvement can be seen in data verification, helping to uncover fabrications in one’s CV (some 58% of job seekers were found to have them, according to CareerBuilder).

This new blockchain-based approach to employment is already being implemented in the UK, where the APPII platform was launched for verifying academic qualifications, employment history, and other related experiences.

In this new reality, there may be no more need for template-structured CVs; verified accumulated proof of expertise will tell more than any text.

9. Curaçao’s Blockchain Gambling

Blockchain can become the key to ensuring transparency in the gambling business. Currently, casinos, which are run by single owners, may misuse users’ sensitive data, manipulate it, or even cancel cashouts at their own discretion. DLT removes all those weak points, ensuring an impartial playing experience and immediate payments.

A crucial milestone in this direction was achieved at the end of 2018 when the first blockchain-based casino was fully licensed and launched in Curaçao. Its players are already taking advantage of DLT advancements such as quick transaction settlement times and zero entry or cashout fees.

10. NASA’s Blockchain Aerospace

It is interesting to mention that even NASA plans to use blockchain for overcoming certain critical vulnerabilities and security risks pertinent to the aerospace management system. In particular, the distributed nature of blockchain can help protect air-traffic control systems from service attacks.

Is Everything Really so Perfect?

It is hard to deny that blockchain is indeed a promising technology with a universal application. However, it would be a lie to say that there are no potential risks associated with adopting it.

In particular, the 51% hacker attacks, which hit a couple of exchanges in January, showed that a decentralized ledger can still be vulnerable if one party manages to seize control of more than 50% of the network, thus gaining the power to falsify transactions.

Keep the Faith

Despite any kinks, it is strongly believed that technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain will create a better future for our world. The former will increase the efficiency and productivity of even the smallest private households, while the latter will ensure a more equal distribution of wealth among those who are used to bearing the burden of intermediaries’ services.

As to the security and credibility issues which DLT technology may encounter, they will most likely be resolved by developing smart protection algorithms and other automated solutions. In particular, ORS CryptoHound, an AI-powered blockchain analytics and investigative platform, is currently learning to hunt suspicious transactions, bark and even bite (whoever plans to sabotage crypto — you’d better not mess with it!).

By using this tool, one can verify the whole transaction and holding history of a certain address, thus pinpointing violations should they have occurred.

The CryptoHound can thus become one of the tools for early global blockchain adopters (universities, wine exporters, property owners etc.) who would like to establish high standards of compliance, protect themselves from fraud, and have valid proof of the transparency of their operations. In particular, its research team showed the potential of the platform for cracking down on suspicious activities in the $500 Million Worth of Hidden Ethereum case study.

Closing B̵l̵o̵c̵k̵c̵h̵a̵i̵n̵ Thoughts

Designed to facilitate, authorize, and log the transfer of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is making its way into our daily lives at great speed.

Education, food, relationships, work…

This technology is penetrating and seeking to revolutionize pretty much every sphere of life. Positive developments across different states prove that the decentralized future is here!

Like all new technology it has its challenges and risks, but also enthusiasm from DLT believers that any issue can be resolved.

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