Just as there are tons of different ways to use blockchain, there are even more uses for the innovative technology that you may not know about yet! We’ve put together this list of the top 10 ways that people have been using blockchain technology in hopes of broadening your horizons and showing you just how useful this tech really is! See what we mean below!
1) Online Voting
Online voting is an idea that’s been around for a long time and has recently started to pick up steam. It could mean the difference between a representative democracy and a direct democracy, or even just make it easier for people to vote. The problem with online voting systems in the past was security and trust. How can you be sure that your vote was cast correctly? Who would you trust to keep your information safe? With blockchain technology, this problem goes away.
2) Personal Identity Security
One of the most popular use cases for blockchain is to provide a digital identity. This can be used as an alternative to government issued ID cards and passport, which are often not secure enough. With digital IDs on the blockchain, your personal information is stored securely and in a decentralized way so that it cannot be tampered with.
3) Supply Chain Tracking
Trust is a fundamental part of any transaction. And in today’s digital world, trust is more important than ever. Supply chain tracking has emerged as a way to provide transparency and bring trust back into business practices.
Blockchain ledgers are able to trace the movement of an item from its point of origin to the consumer’s hands, providing a complete history of where it has been and who handled it along the way.
4) Copyright Protection
You may have heard the buzzwords blockchain or cryptocurrency, but you’re still not sure what they are. These two words are often used interchangeably, but blockchain is a type of digital ledger technology and cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that can be used to buy things online. A blockchain consists of blocks, where each block contains information such as transaction data and timestamp.
5) Data Management
Blockchain is a type of digital ledger technology that records and stores data in a secure and decentralized way. This means that every participant in the blockchain has access to the whole record, and no single user controls or owns it. That’s why this technology is so exciting! It can be used for so many different things! Here are our top 10 favorite ways it’s been put to use
6) Smart Contracts
Smart contracts can be programmed to act like any traditional contract and automatically execute the terms without the need for a third party. The terms can be agreed upon in advance, which eliminates the need for trust between two parties. For example, if you wanted to buy a book from an online retailer and you agree to purchase it at a price of $30, your smart contract could automatically transfer $30 worth of Bitcoin or Ethereum to their digital wallet once they ship your order.
7) Bitcoin Mining
Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the blockchain, and also the means through which new bitcoin are released. Anyone with access to the internet and suitable hardware can participate in mining.
Mining is intentionally designed to be resource-intensive and difficult so that the number of blocks found each day by miners remains steady. Individual blocks must contain a proof-of-work to be considered valid.
8) Decentralized File Storage
Blockchain technology is more than just a new way to store money. In fact, blockchain offers many different ways to decentralize data and make it more secure. One such application is a decentralized file storage service. Imagine being able to upload your videos, photos, and other content to the cloud without having to rely on a third party like Dropbox or Google Drive. With blockchain, you can have full control over your files and they can be stored in an encrypted format that no one else has access too but you!
9) Decentralized DNS
A decentralized DNS is a system that’s not controlled by a single entity, like the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). That means there are no centralized systems that could be corrupted or attacked. This makes it difficult to censor websites or other internet content. It also means that we can rest assured that our information is safe from hackers because it would be too difficult to get access to all of the data in a decentralized system at one time.
10) Prediction Markets
Prediction markets are a way for people to bet on the outcome of an event, like predicting the winner in next year’s election. These markets have been around for centuries, but blockchain technology has made it possible to create decentralized prediction markets that aren’t controlled by a single individual or organization. This means there is no risk of having the market shut down because one person decides they don’t want it anymore.