What Are Blockchain Applications (Explained with Example)

Last Updated on June 22, 2022

Well, the uses of blockchain go far beyond the cryptocurrencies and bitcoin. With its ability to generate more transparency and accountability while also protecting the company’s time and money, the software impacts a number of industries in ways that vary from how contracts are implemented to more efficient government work.

Today, for this realistic and innovative technology, we have rounded up many examples of real-world blockchain use cases. It’s far from being an exhaustive list, but the way we do business is already changing. Let’s have a look:

Blockchain Application Examples

Smart Contract Applications

Smart contracts are like standard contracts except that the contract rules are implemented on a blockchain in real-time, removing the middleman and adding transparency rates to all parties involved in a way that is not possible for conventional contracts. This all in all saves both businesses time and money while assuring that everyone involved complies with it. 

Contracts that are based on Blockchain are becoming increasingly popular as the benefits are discovered by sectors such as finance, healthcare, and real estate. Here are some examples of how blockchain companies use to make contracts more efficient.

BURSTIQ

Industry: Healthcare

Location: Denver, Colorado.

How It Works: Big data blockchain contracts from BurstIQ help securely transfer sensitive medical information to patients and doctors. The smart contracts set the terms of what data can be distributed with each patient and even display details of individual health plans.

MEDIACHAIN

Industry: Music

Location: New York

How It Works: Mediachain is efficiently using smart contracts to get the money that musicians deserve. Through signing a decentralized open agreement, artists can agree to greater royalties and actually receive full and timely compensation. In April 2017, Mediachain was acquired by the streaming company Spotify.

Money Transfer Applications

Cryptocurrency transfer apps, pioneered by Bitcoin, are now exploding in popularity. For the money and time, it can save financial companies of all sizes, Blockchain is particularly popular in this niche.

Blockchain can save the largest of banks $8-$12 billion a year by eradicating bureaucratic red tape, making ledger systems to work in real-time and decreasing third-party fees, according to a recent ComputerWorld article. In order to get a better understanding of money transfer using Blockchain, we will take a deeper dive into some companies which are doing so.

OPSKINS

Industry: Gaming, FinTech, Cryptocurrency

Location: Santa Monica, California

How It Works: At the OPSkins online marketplace, gamers who are looking to buy rare skins, accessories and even emots can use Bitcoin as the method of payment Within their virtual wallet, sellers obtain the bitcoin and either choose to retain the cryptocurrency or trade it for money. More than two million electronic transactions are handled by OPSkins every week.

CIRCLE

Industry: FinTech, Cryptocurrency

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

How It Works: Boston-based Circle handles payments and exchanges between friends, which sums up more than $2 billion a month in the form of cryptocurrency. The investment and money transfer service of Circle currently includes seven separate cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Monero and Zcash. 

IoT Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) in the blockchain industry is the next logical boom. IoT has over a million applications and many security issues, and a rise in IoT devices means better opportunities for hackers to access their data from an Amazon Alexa to a smart thermostat.

Blockchain-infused IoT adds a much greater degree of security to limit data breaches by using the technology’s transparency and virtual incorruptibility to keep things “smart.” Below are some US companies that use blockchain to make the IoT a lot safer and smarter.

FILAMENT

Industry: Internet of Things, Hardware, Software

Location: Reno, Nevada

How It Works: Filament produces hardware for software and microchips that enables connected devices to operate on the blockchain. Products from the Reno-based company encrypt ledger data, distribute real-time information to other blockchain-connected machines, and allow those machines to be monetized based on timestamps.

HYPR

Industry: Internet of Things, Cybersecurity

Location: NYC

How It Works: With its distributed certificate solutions, HYPR undermines cybersecurity threats in IoT phones. The company makes IoT apps completely unhackable by eliminating passwords from a centralized database while using biometric and password-free solutions.

Personal Identity Security Applications

It’s scary that more than 16 million Americans filed a complaint about identity fraud and theft in the year 2017 alone, with identity being hijacked every two seconds. From fake documents to spoofing into personal files, fraud can occur on any scale.

The government might see a significant drop in identity fraud simply by retaining social security numbers, birth dates, birth certificates and other sensitive data on a decentralized blockchain ledger. A few blockchain-based companies are at the forefront of the protection of identity.

CIVIC

Industry: Identity Security, FinTech

Location: Palo alto, California

How It Works: Civic is an ecosystem based on blockchain that provides an insight into who has their information to individuals. Users of the company enter into smart contracts where they determine who and how much they will share their personal data. If the agreement is violated or an unauthorized source attempts to access private data, the individual will be alerted immediately.

EVERNYM

Industry: IT, Software

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

How It Works: Evernym’s Sovrin identity ecosystem allows individuals to use distributed ledger technology to manage their identities across the web. Sovrin safely secures private data, acts as a means of interaction between individuals and entities seeking private information, and in real-time verifies information as true.

Logistics Applications

The pioneering study claims that by exposing a single source of truth, blockchain allows information transparency. Blockchain could create greater confidence within the industry by identifying data sources. Blockchain can also make the entire process leaner and simplify the distribution system, possibly saving the industry billions of dollars a year. Blockchain is not only a safe solution for the logistics industry but a cost-effective one as well. Here are some of the state-of-the-art logistics blockchain technology companies.

DHL

Industry: Logistics, Supply Chain

Location: Plantation, Florida

How It Works: Shipping giant DHL is a leader in blockchain-backed logistics, using it to maintain a digital shipment ledger and transaction integrity. DHL has a major US presence and is one of blockchain’s largest shipping companies.

BLOCK ARRAY

Industry: Logistics, Supply Chain

Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee

How It Works: The first “Bill of Lading” to run on blockchain was introduced by Block Array. The operating platform for logistics supports businesses control the progress of their shipped goods securely, house driver and material information, and manage payments. Block Array also includes intelligent contract computation and secure document management.

Media Applications

Many of the media’s current issues address data privacy, royalty fees, and intellectual property piracy. The digitization of media has caused widespread sharing of content that infringes copyright, according to a study by Deloitte. Deloitte claims that blockchain can provide a far-needed facelift to the industry in terms of data rights, piracy and payments.

Blockchain’s strength in the media industry is its ability to prevent a digital asset, such as an mp3 file, from existing in multiple places. It can be shared and distributed while also preserving ownership, making piracy virtually impossible through a transparent ledger system. Additionally, blockchain can maintain data integrity, allowing advertising agencies to target the right customers, and musicians to receive proper royalties for original works. The following US-based companies are helping grow the popularity of blockchain in our media.

MADHIVE

Industry: Digital Media

Location: NYC

How It Works: MadHive is a marketing and information solution based on blockchain, created especially for digital marketers. The software monitors, stores, and produces customer behaviour reports, saving all information to a private blockchain. Targeted audience reports from MadHive and real-time monitoring of data provide marketers with outstanding insights into their potential customers without compromising data privacy.

STEEM

Industry: Social Media

Location: Austin, Texas

How It Works: Steem is a blockchain-supported social media platform. Tokens are used as rewards on its “Proof-of-Brain” community, prompting people to create new engaging original content. The allocation of tokens is determined by the number of upvotes obtained by each post. Steem has compensated developers more than $40 million in tokens.

Do check our extensive blog comparing top blockchain app developers.