Blockchain technology is software technology that is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding). Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, reducing risk and cutting costs for all involved. But are there real-world use cases?
Because it's all about data management, there are multiple use cases. Let's look at one such use case, exchange-traded funds(ETFs).
Blockchain technology can revolutionize how equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are issued, traded, and settled. Here are a few ways in which blockchain could be used in the context of equity ETFs:
Issuance: Blockchain can be used to streamline the process of issuing equity ETFs, by automating the creation of new units and the tracking of ownership. This could reduce the need for intermediaries and make it easier for issuers to bring new products to market.
Trading: Blockchain could be used to facilitate the buying and selling of equity ETFs on a decentralized exchange. This could reduce the need for traditional intermediaries such as stock exchanges, and make it easier for investors to trade these products.
Settlement: Blockchain can automate the settlement process for equity ETFs, by enabling the transfer of ownership and the recording of transactions on a distributed ledger. This could make the settlement process faster, cheaper, and more secure.
Overall, the use of blockchain in the context of equity ETFs has the potential to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve transparency in the market.
Has blockchain become overhyped? Does blockchain have any other use cases besides cryptos? Blockchain solves everything?: this is obviously not the correct answer, but blockchain software will see immense growth over the next 10 years and is believed to be growing at a 75% annual rate.
Blockchain software creates a transparent ledger for data and assets to be safely stored and accessed in a community or organization. The software can be programmed to be public, private, or on a permission basis, making it a flexible tool for many businesses. It's a valuable tool when data and information are combined with the internet.
So here are 17 blockchain use cases:
1) Banking: remittances, security clearing: Bitcoin has a layer2 software known as the lightning network that can move efficiently and cheaply across the internet. Stablecoins are like money market funds where the token is equal to 1$ and can be transferred across the internet at a low cost. Blockchain can provide an immutable record of security ownership and transactions.
2) Cyber Security: The cybersecurity industry benefits from blockchain’s unique features that create a practically impenetrable wall between the hacker and the system. The inherently decentralized, cryptographic principles and consensuses-based nature of blockchain make it impossible for data to be tampered with.
3) Supply Chain Management: Using blockchain in the supply chain has the potential to improve supply chain transparency and traceability as well as reduce administrative costs. A blockchain supply chain can help participants record price, date, location, quality, certification, and other relevant information to manage the supply chain. IBM and Hyper-Ledger, an open-source blockchain have been active in this space.
4) Forecasting: Prediction Markets: According to Augur, binary Blockchain-based prediction markets may be strong enough to counterbalance the spread of incorrect information on social media. They give people a financial incentive to seek the truth and then protect them with the twin shields of pseudonymity and decentralization.
5) Networks:
The Internet of Things that connects devices and collects data will be invaluable and efficient. Adding blockchain protocol will ensure the integrity of the data.
6) Insurance: Oracles and smart contracts will automatically execute while insuring data integrity, payments, and collateral.
7) Private Transportation: Ridesharing with peer-to-peer transactions could be validated on a blockchain reducing the cost of middlemen like Uber.
8) Cloud Storage: Protocol Labs has developed a decentralized network of computing power. Using Filecoin tokens, the network rewards users for sharing their computing power. Decentralization also provides more security by not having a single point of failure. The cloud computing industry has been calculated as a $350 bln dollar market.
9) Charity: By utilizing blockchain technology, charities and donors can track donations from the time they are deposited to when they are spent.
10) Voting: Blockchain technology provides a permission-based network for securing identity, signatures, and votes while giving voters confidence in their votes. Blockchain can secure identity, signatures, and votes on a permission network which also gives the voter certainty in the ballot cast.
11) Government: The distributed ledger format can be leveraged to support an array of government and public sector applications, including digital currency/payments, land registration, identity management, supply chain traceability, health care, corporate registration, taxation, voting (elections and proxy), and legal entities management.
12) Public Benefits: Social security and welfare can be distributed over a blockchain allowing for greater efficiency while preventing fraud and
repetitive disbursements.
13) Healthcare: Personel HIPPA-regulated records can be kept securely on the blockchain. Access to records can then be granted to appropriate healthcare personnel with permission. The drug approval process for the FDA can be put on a permission blockchain to validate test results while speeding the results to approval.
14) Music and Art: The Ethereum and Solana Network have developed technology for Non-Fungible tokens which allows for digital art. Music and literature can be copyrighted on a blockchain and royalties can be paid forward in a consistent manner.
15) Energy Management: Blockchain software can help control the peak load demands and to improve the demand side management. It can also enable power-sharing technologies, electricity tariffs, scheduling, incentives, and policies. In addition, this technology also helps to enable decentralization in terms of energy consumption and supply through microgrids.
16) Retail Shopping: Smart contracts can improve supply chain efficiency as well as validate product authenticity.
17) Real Estate: Blockchain reduces paperwork for mortgages and deeds and ensures titles are accurate. Tokenization of real estate could provide fractionalization of the asset class allowing for a deeper pool of investors. Financial records are more accessible due to the transparency provided by the blockchain. The global real estate market is valued at 3.7 Trillion and a large part of this could be tokenized.
From enabling efficiency to being transformative, blockchain software will deliver a wide range of benefits across many industries. The World Economic Forum believes that the blockchain token market will grow to 15Trl $ by 2025.
Perhaps blockchain companies will become a large part technology index or even become the 12th sector of the S&P500.
POWER OF A NETWORK
The network effect was first proposed by Robert Metcalfe in 1980. He derived that a network's value is measured in exponential growth, as opposed to linear growth. Rather than measuring users, he proposed measuring compatible communication devices like telephones or fax machines (it was the 80s after all). Only later after the rise of the internet was Metcalfe's law attributed to ethernet connections. Facebook or LinkedIn are two examples where the more people that participate, the more valuable the network becomes. The math works like this: N^2= network value, so if use 10^2 the network value =100. In the case of adding one more participant, node, or telephone, the network value jumps to 121 as we calculate 11^2 because there are more combinations for connection. This is how networks become more dynamic and resilient with each and every participant.
Open software projects
Blockchain is software that allows parties to share information in a way that is transparent, secure, and immutable. It is a distributed ledger that can be used to facilitate transactions and track assets in a business network. So is there a way to tell how much participation is on a blockchain software network? How many new projects? How many developers working on the blockchain? The chart below gives a window into the development of blockchain projects. If we are to apply Metcalfe's Law in evaluating projects, there is invaluable information when looking at the effort to build networks.
*source electric capital, github, artemis
**Notes
Kusama is a beta chain for Polkadot
Truffle is an ethereum-based project
Near is an ethereum-based project
Lightning is a layer 2 for Bitcoin
