Along with the Internet of Things and artificial
intelligence, blockchain represents one of the three technology megatrends of
2018. Based on the heavy focus that many presenters put on the technology at the
Consumer Electronics Show in January 2018 to the World Economic Forum’s
decision to establish a council exploring its potential, interest in
blockchain’s versatility continues to grow in both the business community and the
general population on a daily basis. While there are many ways that blockchain
can be implemented across industries, one of its most universally useful
features is its ability to tender immutable smart contracts.
Blockchain-based smart
contracts are automated programs that execute a series of actions based on
conditions outlined in agreements between multiple parties. The real-world
benefit of smart contracts for the general population is that they have the
ability to significantly simplify processes that people conduct every day in
business, reducing the amount of time that individuals spend completing
transactions, reducing costs, and doing away with unnecessary intermediaries in
the process. While they exist in a form outside of the blockchain, integrating
them with the decentralized ledger technology endows them with a strength that
far surpasses that of a smart contract in any other form.
While blockchain is beneficial
to smart contracts in that it vastly improves their security (and therefore
their efficiency), the partnership between these two technologies presents what
is arguably blockchain’s best opportunity to transition from a tool that is primarily
beneficial to financial institutions into one that can benefit a company in any
industry. As an example, the following use cases for blockchain-based smart
contracts demonstrate the potential for this combination to disrupt
conventional business practices and establish new operational models that
increase efficiency, reduce risk, and help companies embrace the digital age.
Health Care
Blockchain-based smart
contracts could be the answer to some of the most pressing issues facing
members of the health care community, such as comprehensive patient care.
Through smart contracts, medical records can be quickly and easily transferred
between providers, which would allow medical professionals to secure a more complete
picture of each patient’s health. Additionally, it could create an avenue for
thoroughly tracking patients’ health via IoT-connected devices. This could also
inspire better personal care in patients by generating rewards when their
IoT-connected health devices indicate that they have reached a milestone as
outlined in the smart contract.
Energy
Smart contracts could
revolutionize the way that people pay for power through peer-to-peer energy
systems. Using a smart contract, individuals equipped to generate power (for
example, through solar panels) could store energy not used to power their homes
and sell it directly to those who need the utility. Smart contracts could be set
up through a protocol in which power is sent directly from suppliers’ energy
stores to consumers without the need for an intermediary.
Voting
Through blockchain, smart
contracts could even secure the way that votes are legitimized and tallied in
political elections, a topic that has been hotly debated over the last two
years. Voters could authenticate their identity through the blockchain, then
cast their votes. A smart contract between each individual voter would then
ensure that the vote could not be undone. No further votes linked to an
individual’s identity could be cast, ensuring the legitimacy of “one person,
one vote.”
In a digital business
economy that considers speed and accuracy to be the most valuable currency,
blockchain and smart contracts are a winning combination.
