Beyond Bitcoin & first generation decentralized applications

  Bitcoin is one of the few exciting and revolutionary technology that has become famous in the previous couple of years. Bitcoin is primarily based on a decentralized architecture powered with the useful resource of a sturdy technology called the blockchain.  

 What next after Bitcoin?   Blockchain generation is emerging as a business focus for lot of corporations in lots of industries. Consumer products, manufacturing, technology, banks, media, and telecommunications are the sectors most likely to have already got blockchain projects in production, whereas healthcare and lifestyles sciences lead all sectors are in plans to deploy blockchain projects this year, according to a survey by of  Deloitte. 

A new survey by IBM found that 1/3 of C-level executives are thinking about adopting blockchain solutions in their companies.80% of the 3000 executives surveyed indicated that are either using or considering using the technology to expand new enterprise models or in response to a financial shift within the enterprise. Also 71% of commercial enterprise leaders who are actively using blockchain believe it plays a key function in advancing the technology, suggesting sizeable support for industry standards.  

 The blockchain is a disruptive solution that promises to change the way we use the Internet and also revolutionizing the worldwide economy. By allowing the digitization of assets, blockchain is enabling a big shift from the internet of facts, where we can instantly view, exchange and speak information to the Internet of value, where we can exchange assets right away. It disrupts lot of industries that rely upon intermediaries, consisting of banking, finance, real estate, insurance, legal, healthcare and many others.      

Image Source:letstalkpayments.com    

 Blockchain technology facts & figures   Looking at stats we see that blockchain technology is something you need to be aware of, it is a tech trend, which impacts different industries and companies around the world extremely fast. The following forecast shows statistics for blockchain adoption in immediate future and why companies actually plan to implement blockchain technology.  

 Blockchain potential for reducing bank infrastructure costs – 30% · Annual savings potential for banks using blockchain technology – $8-12 billion · Amount the global blockchain market is expected to be worth in 2024 – $20 billion · Average investment in blockchain projects in 2017 – $1 million · Amount that IBM is investing in blockchain-powered IOT – $200 million · Number of employees IBM is dedicating to blockchain powered IOT projects – 1,000 employees · Percentage of major North American and European banks that are exploring blockchain – 90% · 9 out of 10 agree that Blockchain is a banking disrupter   

Let’s look at some interesting examples of blockchain technology application:  

 1. Smart contracts Samsung and IBM are using blockchain technology for a new concept called ADEPT. It will create a large pool of decentralized network of IOT devices just like a public ledger. This will in turn eliminate the need for a central location to handle communications between devices, and they can directly update software, manage bugs, and monitor energy usage with internal communication.    

2. Shared Digital identity Blockchain has the potential to cut out the middlemen and provide every company, connected in the network, access to the same source of information.  
Through Blockchain's identity management property, users can choose how they would identify themselves and with whom their identity is shared once their registration is done on the blockchain . Later on they don't need a new registration for every service provider.  
Tracking and managing digital identities become both secure and efficient, resulting in seamless sign-on and reduced fraud.    

3. Cross-border payments The transfer of value has always been an expensive and slow process. This is particularly true for cross-border payments. The blockchain speeds up and simplifies this process ,also significantly cutting out many of the traditional middlemen leading to cost benefits. For example, if a person wants to transfer money from Canada to their family in Russia, who have an account with a local bank, it takes a number of banks and currencies before the money can be collected. According to a study by Deloitte, blockchain reduces the costs to 2-3% of the total amount and provides guaranteed, real-time transactions across borders.    

4. Share trading As blockchain is a decentralized and secure ledger, every party has a say in the validation of a transaction. This speeds up the settlement process, allows for greater trade accuracy, and can cut out middlemen    

5. Loyalty and rewards Blockchain offers many benefits, like, transparency and traceability of transactions. Now companies can create a lucrative loyalty and rewards program that fit 24/7 performance management and enhances engagement.   

 6. Intellectual Property An automatic go-to registry is a property of blockchain, for checking ownership and maintenance status for the things within the Internet of Things. For example, there can be several programs that run on the blockchain that could check who owns it.    

7. Property records It is easier for prospective buyers to quickly and easily verify the owner of a house , if the owner has his property records uploaded on blockchain. At present, this is a paper based manual process where there is a greater chance of errors, which could add to costs.   

 8. Securities Blockchain is used for clearing and settlement of cash securities, specifically, equities and leveraged loans. In this way the industry could save around $11 – $12 billion in fees, capital charges, etc.  

  9.Distributed cloud storage In current scenario of centralized cloud storage services, users have to place trust in a single central authority which controls all of their online assets. Here, Blockchain can improve security and decrease dependency through its decentralized architecture. Users can also rent out their excess storage capacity, Airbnb-style, creating new marketplaces.   

1. Digital voting system Blockchains can act as the medium for casting, tracking and counting votes so that there is never a question of voter-fraud, lost records, etc.    

11. Defence For most countries, defence infrastructure and computer systems are distributed across different locations. As the blockchain nodes are distributed across multiple data centres,security is ensured against attacks on important network and hardware equipments. Modification is restricted to consensus based access of the network.   

13. Government Blockchain technology offers a sturdy option to permit the digital collaboration among authorities, companies and residents by linking the data between all of them. This ensures data is released in real time, when both the departments and the citizen agree on sharing data .Dubai, for example, is aiming to place all its authorities documents at the blockchain via 2020.  

 14. Energy With the invent of energy solutions such as home power generation and community solar power , the gaps in power supply across the world is being filled. Smart meters can register produced and consumed electricity in a blockchain, which allows for consumption of the surplus energy in a different location, providing credits or currency to the original producer. The credits can then be redeemed against the grid when the micro-generator needs additional electricity from the grid.   

Summary : The blockchain represents one of the most important advacements in computer science in the last couple of years. Just like Bitcoin, we must anticipate to see greater systems in the enterprise software developed space powered by using the blockchain.