Blockchain is one of the most exciting business topics of the year. Beyond its origins as a platform for cryptocurrency, the distributed ledger technology has earned recognition and praise from major corporations in a wide range of industries. A November 2017 Bloomberg article even confirmed that powerful banking magnates such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have found the technology to be highly efficient and reliable for undertaking services such as equity swaps.
Although the banking and finance sectors are a natural match for technology originally designed to facilitate the transfer of cryptocurrency, they are far from the only areas poised to gain from all that blockchain has to offer. Following are four other areas that are also likely to benefit significantly from blockchain technology:
1. Government
In many countries, government processes are well-known for being long, muddled, and marked by the potential for corruption. However, blockchain may hold the key to significant improvements. One major benefit of blockchain is its ability to transform historically paper-based processes into a digital format, which could range from registering land to collecting taxes. The identity verification processes made possible through blockchain could expedite these transactions, along with many others. Countries such as Estonia and Dubai have already taken steps to using blockchain within their operations for the benefit of their citizens. Specifically, the government of Dubai is planning to move all of its documents to the blockchain within the next two years.
2. Voting
Another aspect of blockchain that could positively impact government operations is its potential to allow citizens of modernized countries to cast votes in political elections. In light of the accusations of voter fraud that have surfaced in the United States in the last year, blockchain may play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of voting systems in the United States and beyond. Voter registration, identity verification, and electronic vote counting can all be conducted and confirmed through blockchain, which could prevent the rigging of election results. Startups such as Follow My Vote, based out of Virginia, have already begun a movement designed to help introduce US citizens to blockchain-based online voting.
3. Charity
While many people find joy in the spirit of giving, they also do not like the idea that their donations may not be going directly to the people or causes that they intend to help. The rise in popularity of rating sites for nonprofits such as Charity Navigator are a testament to this idea. Blockchain provides the technology for donors to track the money that they contribute to charitable causes and ensure that it ends up in the hands of those who will use it for the cause for which it was intended. Through blockchain-based charitable initiatives that rely on cryptocurrency, such as BitGive, those who donate funds can closely monitor where their money is going after it has changed hands through a distributed ledger.
4. Retail
Buyers and sellers in the marketplace could both benefit from the reduced fees associated with retail purchases made through blockchain — the technology cuts out the intermediary between two parties, allowing buyers to purchase directly from sellers without the need for a private third party, such as a bank. In addition, it holds the potential to create value-add services, such as rewards points in the form of digital tokens that can be used at any retailer that also uses blockchain-based technology. For retailers, blockchain helps to efficiently collect and store customer data, and it creates personalized rewards programs designed to motivate customers to return.
