The Avocado-explains how blockchain technology is changing the world in — 5 ways blockchain technology is changing the world beyond cryptocurrencies.
Over the coming ten years industries across banking, agriculture, supply chain management and data companies will leverage the blockchain to improve efficiency. Blockchain technology is advancing at an exponential pace. Tens of thousands of the world’s smartest minds are using the technology to decentralize industries from banking to agriculture.
These industries continue to suffer from the inefficiencies of a centralized architecture which results in higher fees, lower security and less efficiency. Since the genesis of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, blockchain has proved itself as a viable technology to decentralize every industry, resulting in micro fees, state-of-the-art security and lightning efficiency.
1. Banking
Banking could undergo a revolutionary change with this once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough in decentralised technology. By digitising, securing and tamper-proofing value transactions without a centralised authority, blockchain is revolutionizing banking.
OmiseGo — a blockchain start-up aims to provide affordable, scalable, secure banking to the world’s two billion unbanked.
Ripple — is a blockchain start-up aiming to provide a decentralized payment infrastructure for the world’s banks, payment providers, exchanges and corporations.
2. Raising capital
Raising capital has become significantly easier thanks to the ICO framework, which has brought unprecedented levels of accessibility to the process.
In the past, businesses were forced to undergo complex and bureaucratic processes to obtain financing from traditional lenders. A painfully slow process and harsh repayment terms resulted from the agents requiring start-ups to meet strict criteria and unrealistic collateral.
Businesses can crowdfund their projects from scratch with the ICO model, which is completely streamlined in comparison. As a result of their organic approach, founders can easily reach out to the online community, presenting their vision without spending a lot on marketing. Compared to traditional fundraising methods, this is a quicker, more seamless process that significantly lowers the barriers to entry for emerging businesses.
3. Agriculture
By providing a transparent way to identify, understand and record the origins and journey of produce, blockchain technology will continue to revolutionize agriculture. The implementation of blockchain benefits farmers, consumers, and retailers alike: farmers get fair payments, consumers know where their food comes from, and retailers get assurances of the legitimacy of their purchase.
In today’s blockchain-based ecosystems, every step of a product’s journey is immutably recorded, allowing us to instantly verify its price or origin at any point in the process. Products can no longer be misrepresented, and prices cannot be gouged.
With a variety of “smart farm technology” already creating superior infrastructure, blockchain will further revolutionize farming logistics itself. A few of the components that make farming infinitely more efficient and precise include SMS alerts, incorruptible weather data, and machinery protocols. The application of blockchain technology in agriculture is being realized by companies such as FarmShare, Filament, and Skuchain.
4. Supply chain management
Transparency and accessibility are fundamental for an efficient logistics process, but the industry’s current infrastructure suffers from both of these deficiencies. Shipments are frequently lost, delayed, and damaged, and the lack of transparency encourages corruption.
As a result of blockchain technology’s unalterable, incorruptible nature, supply chains become more transparent and traceable. Every activity will be updated in real-time on an immutable ledger, where all participants will be able to identify the status of an asset.
By automating this process, unnecessary paperwork can be eliminated, fraud is prevented, and errors can be detected more quickly. Blockchain-based supply chains are much more robust, efficient, and effective on a local and global scale. They scale more easily, are more transparent, and are more secure.
The benefits of this technology cannot be overlooked and have already been spotted by industry giants; IBM and Maersk just announced plans to use blockchain technology to create “digitised global trade.”
5. Artificial intelligence
Although blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are both at the cutting edge of technological innovation, the enormity of their intersection has just begun to be realized. As artificial intelligence becomes a part of our everyday lives, it is being used in agriculture, the medical industry, manufacturing, transportation, and virtually every other context.
While AI offers wide-ranging benefits, it comes with a number of risks, concerns, and limitations which have prevented AI from being widely adopted. The possibility that catastrophes could occur or human lives could be lost when things like cars, aeroplanes, weapons systems and medical devices are controlled by artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the functionality of AI is entirely dependent upon the system’s ability to access quality data.
Thus, blockchains are capable of providing more accurate data, models, and actions to AI as a result of their trustworthiness and security. This enhances artificial trust as bots communicate using safe, shared access to data- allowing them to reach consensus faster and make decisions more collaboratively. A smart contract can ensure that AI can only execute certain actions, thus reducing the chances of catastrophe greatly.
A protocol called AIDoctor proactively monitors, diagnoses and predicts a patient’s condition using blockchain data. Its effectiveness is entirely dependent on its access to highly accurate, unalterable, real-time medical data recorded on a tamper-proof blockchain.
A patient will now have unlimited access to their own highly effective, personalised digital doctor. There are countless examples of how these intersecting technologies will revolutionize human existence.
Even though AI and blockchain are still relatively unknown technologies, each can be used to augment the other infinitely, improving accuracy, trust, efficiency, accessibility, and transparency. In the future, AI will be trusted and valued, enhancing human life through blockchain.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is changing the world at a rapid pace. With its arrival in 2008 after the advent of Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper, the technology has been met with immense demand both for development and commercialization.
