Blockchain technology is quickly transforming many industries that were in sheer need for security and privacy above all. From banking sectors to smart contracts between companies, everything will be handled by this technology shortly. Have a look at our extensively researched compilation of the top 10 blockchain development companies in Vancouver.
What is Blockchain?
The blockchain is a decentralized data structure that is based on a concatenation of data blocks that can be expanded at all times. The blocks, in turn, record the transactions in chronological order and irreversible.
You can think that the information blocks of a blockchain are like the links in a chain that are permanently intertwined. This concatenation takes place thanks to cryptographic processes, which guarantee that new blocks can be added without the previous ones being replaced or modified. That is why over time the blockchain will be increasingly longer, making it impossible to modify the stored information.
Scope of Blockchain
The economy increasingly sees advances in blockchain technology. Solutions based on the blockchain are offered, above all, in those business processes that need decentralization, since they involve different actors, such as, for example, product manufacturing or logistics. Be it material or intangible assets (such as property rights), blockchain applications offer the possibility of transparently registering processes and changes of state for all parties involved.
Besides, blockchain technology keeps pace with advances in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is growing and with this growth, the number of connected devices also increases. It cannot be ruled out that in the future the exchange of data in IoT will be based on blockchain, a technology that can also be used to pay for services in this area.
With the blockchain, automated processes with a high degree of transparency are offered, although it does not convince everyone equally. Only some companies rely on the legal security of the blockchain, to which problems are attributed in some areas: the threat of loss of control, lack of data protection and uncertain legal status.
In the business field, blockchain technology begins to be applied, especially in pilot projects. Highlights those who resort to a private blockchain, that is, proprietary software developed specifically for their internal application. Unlike the public blockchain, such as bitcoin or Ethereum, the private one is only available for a closed circle of participants: employees, business partners or actors in the supply chain.
Unique Applications
The blockchain is used for the verification of data transactions and its use includes all those processes in which data must be protected, accredited or distributed. Also, blockchain-based applications do not require intermediary institutions. This is how, at least in theory, payment transactions, movements of capital markets, contracts, certifications, copyrights, patents and registrations (among others) can be managed without the intervention of banks, notaries, administrators or other state institutions.
Also, it is not only the banking sector in which a growing interest in the blockchain is concentrated: also in the real estate, health, and insurance sectors, the benefits of the blockchain are already contemplated. Likewise, those who bet on this technology find great potential for application in jurisprudence, the energy industry, and public administrations.
NGOs and Donations
The blockchain can bring a new, more secure and transparent form of donations to NGOs. Donors could track their contributions and find out how they are being used. And in a much fairer way, because there would be no intermediaries in the management who charged a percentage of that donated money. All anonymously and truthfully. Organizations such as Save the Children or Wikileaks have long started accepting financing cryptocurrencies, and the future of blockchain technology in this sector is very promising.
Electronic Voting
Public entities also have a very important asset of being digitized with the development of blockchain-based systems, since until now they are still unable to give integral answers to the demand of today’s society. Some countries are already exploring this technology in the registry of property titles, vehicles, licenses, subsidies, sanitary registrations … Electronic voting is also waiting for the opportunity to be viable thanks to the security of the blockchain, an achievement that would save a lot of time to the citizens, and money to the administration.
These are just a few examples of blockchain applications, but there is one clear thing: any industry that uses centralized databases that are powered by different sources will be a potential beneficiary of the advances of this fourth industrial revolution.
Smart Contracts
One of the motivations behind the development of the blockchain is the dissatisfaction of an increasingly centralized network since few companies determine the possibilities that all other actors in the Network of networks have. That is why the blockchain is intended to replace centralized service providers, intermediaries and control agencies with decentralized systems.
An example of this is the smart contracts or smart contracts, which allow the conclusion of contracts on the Internet without intermediaries: no recourse to notaries, lawyers or banks, but contracts are processed in a network of blockchain and presented in the Transaction course. These types of contracts can be applied to several services:
- Access to properties for rental or lending of vehicles through key management (for example, rental cars, homes, hotel rooms or lockers).
- Proof of copyright, trademark rights, rights to domains or licenses.
- Data documentation (for example, business files, GPS data, production data, medical records, etc.).
- Celebration and closing of deeds of trust.
- Notarial deeds without a notary (for example, for a property, rights of use, etc.).
- Financial instruments such as trade documents, loans, and derivatives.
- Direct granting of loans, rental of houses, provision of services, etc.
