#205 – Blockchain’s New Opportunities

To most observers, bitcoin is synonymous with blockchain. But blockchain is much more than just bitcoin, and the unique traits of blockchain are driving its adoption by surprising organizations for surprising reasons. At the heart of these uses, say its advocates, is that the decentralized ledger technology of blockchains helps build and sustain trust. This architecture makes it useful for protecting data, streamlining service delivery, clarifying outcomes, and providing accountability, and will soon be able to perform functions it couldn’t just a few years ago. Most encouragingly, blockchain is being applied to create new favorable humanitarian opportunities offering benefits beyond commerce.

 

This report looks at the new ways in which blockchain is being used and examines industry expert opinions on how businesses should approach this technology. By profiling blockchain, Webrain provides a view of a future wherein applications build trust and reduce costs, securely transmit ownership of assets of any kind in transactions of any size, and address social problems. The costs and savings incurred through blockchain are explored and consumer reactions discussed. As more and more data are needed securely in atypical circumstances, organizations, led by those performing humanitarian work, are finding in ways to use blockchain that may have never before been considered. Is it possible that blockchains will help save humanity – and in turn, that efficiency and security might also serve to profit commercial enterprises as well?