Blockchain Use Cases (As a System of Records or as a Platform)
Blockchain Use Cases (As a System of Records or as a Platform)
Anurag Jain
Last Updated on September 8, 2022
Whenever we talk about an innovative technology that could potentially change our way of living, blockchain is a concept that’s frequently brought up. And blockchain technology, for good reason, aims to radically improve the way we live in a multitude of fields. The transformative impact that blockchain can have on our lives can often be difficult to visualize, hence we have decided to compile a list of potential blockchain use cases.
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We hope this list will give you a deeper insight into this piece of technology’s potential.
What is Blockchain?
Before we dive deeper into the amazing use cases of Blockchain, let us first understand what Blockchain exactly is.
Blockchain technology can be described as a database that keeps track of several types of economic transactions. Blockchain is made up of multiple groups of transactions referred to as Blocks, where each Block is combined with other blocks in a chronological manner to form a blockchain. Each block on the chain contains the previous block’s cryptographic hash or timestamp and batched transactions. The cryptographic hash used in a block solidifies the previously used block’s integrity, making the design of the blockchain highly efficient and stable. A blockchain has certain features that make it a fascinating piece of software.
To start with, the data stored on the blockchain is made publically accessible, so a copy of the blockchain is accessible to everyone on the peer-to-peer network. This also means that all the transactions that ever took place or will take place in the future, will be properly recorded and will be made accessible to every person.
Because Blockchain is so distributed, this quality makes it extremely safe, as there is not a single failure point.
Now, what are the possible use cases of Blockchain?
As a System of Record
- Digital entity
Cryptographic keys in people’s hands encourage new ownership rights and grounds for creating interesting digital relationships. The Blockchain places a brand new and reliable way of managing identity in the digital world that prevents users from being exposed to sharing too much vulnerable personal information. This happens simply because Blockchain is not based on accounts and any account-related permissions, because it is a push transaction, and because ownership of private keys is ownership of the digital asset, this creates
- Tokenization
The objects are combined with a corresponding digital token to authenticate a unique physical object. It basically means connecting the physical and digital realms by using tokens. Such electronic tokens are beneficial for the management of supply chain, intellectual property, and identification of counterfeiting and fraud.
- For Governments
Governments are basically interested in all three major aspects of blockchain technology components.
First, there are ownership rights encircling the ownership, revocation, generation, replacement or loss of the cryptographic key.
They are also interested in who can function as part of a network of blockchain.
And they have are keen about the blockchain protocols because they allow transactions, as governments also control transaction approval by enforcement regimes (e.g. stock market regulators approve market exchange trading format) This is why many blockchain developers inspect regulatory compliance as a profitable business opportunity.
- For Audit Trails
Most of the banks these days spend billions of dollars on keeping information secure, primarily through the use of client-server infrastructure, the system is simply asking companies to do the same. After all, we share the same data with these companies as we do with the banks. However, companies are under attack, get hacked, often resulting in the disclosure of intimate financial details of customers. Know how blockchain is helping the finance industry.
The super secure Blockchain technology provides a means of automatically maintaining a database of who has viewed data or documents and setting limits on permissions for accessing information.
As a Platform
- For Automated Governance
Bitcoin itself is an outstanding representation of automated governance, or a DAO (distributed autonomous organization). It along with other related projects remain governance experiments, and there is a lot of lack of research on this topic.
- For Markets
Another way of thinking about cryptocurrency is as a bond for digital bearers.
It essentially means setting up a digitally unique identity for code control keys that can convey specific rights of ownership. Such tokens express that ownership of code may make up a stock, a physical object, or any other property.
A blockchain protocol can be used to code the rules on how these instruments can be transacted.
- For Streamlining and Clearing of Settlements
The term ‘T+3’ is really popular in the field of stock trading. It means that a trade (T) occurs three days before the approval (settlement) of the trade There are various non-blockchain ways to bring the number down, but not without compromising safety and risk.
Nevertheless, exchange if the settlement is with blockchain technology, there is a T+0 formula available.
- For Automating Regulatory Compliance
In addition to being a trustworthy data repository, blockchain technology can allow regulatory compliance in code form – in other words, how blocks are authenticated could be a translation of government legal prose into digital code.
Hence we can say that Blockchain allows people to start and maintain secure digital relationships now, which was not possible at all previously. Blockchain has certainly emerged as a blessing for most of the businesses involved in digital transactions!
