I am delighted to write again for the crypto Academy contest organized for Steemit engagement challenge season 2, week 3. In this week, we are expected to discuss the role of blockchain in our lives. Ofcourse, we cannot deny the positive things that have happened because of how blockchain has gained ground few years back and until now. So let us look at how this technology has touched lives in our local communities, countries and the world at large.

Blockchain is changing lives everyday - Take a look

No one would deny that our lives have been changed forever because of blockchain technology. From autonomous driving cars and health sector, to social media and identity management, we cannot deny the very existence of blockchain in our lives. I will briefly talk about the impact of blockchain in 3 major areas of human endeavor:

A. Blockchain in social Media: If I do not start from where the Steem blockchain has touched lives, I would feel bad. Traditional social media platforms stamp on freedom of speech. They are heavily censored and centralized. If your content is not what the platforms owners want, you will be silenced quickly. Today, the Steem blockchain has facilitated total freedom of speech by powering a decentralized social media platform which gives users a right to their voice. You can publish whatever you wish to educate your audience without being censored or limited because your views are different.

Beyond free speech, blockchain in social media has given back rewards to content writers. Your voice counts. Other social media exploit your content and fail to reward you for creating original content. But the Steem Blockchain in particular, rewards content creators for producing original work. Again, we see here that blockchain in social media has given people across all works of life income opportunity, which is sadly missing in traditional social media

Finally, blockchain in social media has given us data security. Unlike traditional social media where your data is either easily stolen by hackers or manipulated by platform owners, blockchain ensures that your data and content is secure and cannot be altered. The Steem blockchain has withstood attacks that would have not it out were it not built on a blockchain. We can only feel confident to share our data on Steemit because we are sure it will never be ccompromised.

B. Blockchain in payment processing: Blockchain has changed the way we store, send and receive money. Blockchain based payments are easy, secure and anonymous. Today, the banks, which are typical example of traditional money management systems, exploit your funds. To begin, you are not in full control of your funds. Second, a middleman stands in-between transacting parties, and there are heavy changes.

Blockchain based payments enable the sender and receiver to transact directly. The sender is in full control of their funds. Blockchain payments are super fast and is not limited by location. Mr John at Lagos can send money to Miss Ghen in China in a matter of seconds. So we can see that blockchain has changed how we move, store and manage money.

C. Blockchain in Digital Record-Keeping: Before now, we store important documents in places like banks and other secure locations. Sometimes, our documents are changed, edited or even stolen. Today, blockchain technology has changed how we store important digital documents. Because it is a decenbtralized ledger, blockchains can be used to store digital documents in a secure manner, such that it cannot be altered.

Beyond being a secure store of digital files, bblockchain has been used in keep transaction records secure and immutable. Important transactions and documents like bank statements, birth certficates, will and others are no being secured stored on the blockchain, giving us all peace of mind.

Main Advantages of blockchain in everyday life

1. Data Security: When we adopt blockchain in everyday life, our data will be more secure. Hacking of traditional systems happen everyday. The blockchain is designed to withstand attacks that traditional systems cant.

2. Privacy: Blockchain transactions are anonymous, unlike what we see in tradional systems where information about transacting parties are fully made public. If you want to make a bank deposit, both the sender and receiver are known. Blockchains secure the identity of transacting parties. So privacy is guranteed.

3.Speed: It would take you hours to process sending money to your friend in another country using our banks. Delays are common and we painfully live with them. Blockchain payments are super fast. Most times, it happens in seconds. In a fast-paced world, we can benefit from the speed of blockchain transactions.

4. Control: Blockchain technology is decentralized. You own your data or funds and remain in full control of it. Traditional systems today, for example, in social media are censored. Your content is hidden if it does not confirm with the views of the platform owners. But on blockchain, you are free to air your views without censorship. This is a big advantage of blockchain over traditional systems.

Main Disadvantages of blockchain in everyday life

1. Scalability: This has been a big challange of blockchains. When it comes to handling large amount of transactions in record time, traditional systems still fare better. For example, traditional payment processors like VISA are still about to handle thousands of transactions within few seconds. Blockchain still lags behind here. This has really be a hurdle towards its large-scale adoption.

2. Energy Consumption: Blockchains consume a very high amount of energy. This is the reason many countries today have banned Bitcoin mining. They cannot afford the amount of energy it consumes. Besides, this high energy use is detrimental to the environment. Developing countries with less steady energy supply will not be able to fully adopt blockchain technology.

3. Lack of Regulation: Blockchain is decentralized. So no one is fully in control of it. Because of lack of regulation, anyone can be exposed to risk or losses because no one is actually following any rules. Little wonder, many organizations are still sceptical about blockchain adoption because in a case of foul play, there are no rules followed, no charges can be pressed.

4. Blockchain Scams: Anonymous transactions make blockchains beautiful, but theives have taken advantage of this to commit crimes and hide their identity. Today, unsuspecting users have invested in shit projects and lost live-time savings. No one can be held responsible because every transaction is anonymous. That is a problem.

The Future of blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has come to stay. It is true that blockchain has lots of challenges like many other technologies, but, current events and stats support the fact that the future of blockchains is bright. For example, the development of NFTs and its use and trading has increased. Besides that, the number of blockchain wallet users have dramatically increased from around 3 million in 2015 to more than 65 million in February 2021 according to a reputable source. Compare the chart below:

From financesonline

Still on how bright the future of blockchain is, we have a clue from the number of DApps users globally in the first quater of 2022. Here is a section of a report from dappradar:

2.4 million daily active users of dapps, despite unfavorable global events and blockchain security concerns. Source

This increase in the number of daily users of dapps is a clear indication that blockchain technology is increasing by the day. So many new projects are springing up and attempting to solve known blockchain issues such as scalability, energy consumption and scam projects. The Metaverse is another interesting project which in recent times have brought in whole new users like estate managers and even sports athletes. I cannot say much further than this, but there is overwhelming evidence that the future of blockchain technology is bright, solid and very much assured.

Blockchain technology has really disrupted long established traditional systems. We have seen a switch to decentralized social media, use of blockchain in identity management, blockchain technology is replacing traditional patient data management systems, and of course, blockchain in insurance, education, sports, the list just endless. This technology has really impacted the world in ways we have never seen before.

Implementation of Blockchain in health Sector

The health sector is one area that blockchain technology has seen huge implementation, and so far it is so good. In no industry have we seen the diversified implementation of blockchain with a huge record of success. I would not say that the healthcare sector has lacked in anyway in the use of blockchain to provide solutions. For example, here are 3 different ways we have seen blockchain use cases in health:

• A unified and decentralized Patient data management system: Current traditional systems of managing patient health record has too many challenges. Today, each healthcare organization has its own tools and technologies used in creating and storing patient health records. Each system is different and not integrated with the next. So if there is a need to transfer a patient from one facility to another, there is no way to accurately share patient health records. This have lead to insufficient or inefficient healthcare procedures and treatment. Today blockchain has provided a way to store and transmit health records in a way that is transparent and puts the patient in full control of their data.

• Tracking of healthcare supply chain: Todays traditional healthcare supply chain is filled with manipulations. There are counterfeit drugs and imitation equipment's which enter the supply chain and cause harm to healthcare providers and patients as well. Blockchain has introduced a way to track supply chain. Blockchain is now used to record and track drug production from the factor to the end user, ensuring that the whole process is transparent, immutable and secure.

• Patient remote monitoring systems: Patient monitoring systems are no built on the blockchain to ensure data storage and transmission in a transparent and immutable manner. Iot devices are used to capture patient health situation in real time and transmitted remotely through the blockchain to healthcare providers for interpretation. This ensures that healthcare is provided instantly as at when due to prevent further damages or worsening of the situation. For example, using a blockchain powered Iot device to track and care for a heart disease patient.

Medicalchain - decentralized patient data management system

Source

Medicalchain has transformed how patient data is created, stored and transmitted. There are too many inconsistences that arise in use of traditional healthcare record systems which has caused patient data to be unnecessarily duplicated, poorly updated and inefficiently transmitted.

Medicalchain uses blockchain technology to create a single and unified patient data, which is entirely managed by the patient. In essence, it puts healthcare records in the hand of the owners - the patient. Using blockchain technology to manage patient health records through Medicalchain provides a lot of benefits as follows:

• Data Control: Medicalchain ensures that the patient has full control of their health records. They can choose to give access to parts or all of their health records to any healthcare agent they wish. Additionally, each patient is aware of any changes made in their record as they give full authorization for such.

• Accurate source of patient records: Medicalchain uses blockchain technology to create and share patient healthcare records. As such, each patient record is accurate, updated and free from any unauthorized manipulations because of the immutable nature of blockchains.

• Monetize health records: Medicalchain gives patients the opportunity to get involved in research and development and get rewarded too. By sharing sensitive health data with research and development teams, patients have the opportunity to get rewarded in many ways through the blockchain.

• Collaboration among healthcare providers: Using the blockchain to manage patient data by Medicalchain has solved the issue of data redundancy in the healthcare sector. Healthcare teams can now tap into the same patient record stored on the blockchain. As a result, it becomes easy for healthcare providers anywhere to access patient data and easily collaborate.

There are many other benefits which Medicalchain has offered to the healthcare industry. Looking at other use
cases of blockchain in the healthcare sector, I can confidently say that its implementation has been so positive, a welcome development. What we will now work hard towards, is to make sure there is largescale adoption of blockchain in healthcare. It will save cost, lives and improve healthcare methods and procedures.

Conclusion

From the above, you will agree that blockchain technology has impacted our lives positively than any other sector. The use of blockchain in finance, insurance, health, sports and many other sectors of human endeavor has opened up limitless opportunities. With the way its progress has gone, it is a matter of little time from now, and our lives would be fully built on blockchain technology.