How Blockchain is Shaping the Future
Most people are learning about cryptocurrency and bitcoin from the daily news, and now, another system, “Blockchain,” is becoming a huge buzzword within the tech community and beyond. Blockchain technology is exciting as it is transforming the way that business is done, making it a whole lot smarter, and much less expensive. Moreover, there is no longer any need for third parties and middle men. Basically, it supports cryptocurrencies, and most importantly, guarantees that all transactions are properly conducted and recorded. These are just some of the reasons why the WELL platform chose it as its underlying structure. In addition to this, it does not solely store monetary units, it actually boasts many other uses, states Ameer Rosic, entrepreneur and blockchain evangelist. All kinds of applications will be able to support this revolutionary high tech phenomenon. These include:
Distributed Cloud Storage
It is believed that within 3 to 5 years, blockchain data storage will be an enormous disruptor. At the moment, the services operating cloud storage services are centralized, so this means that people are forced to have faith in just one sole storage provider. These providers have total domination of every online asset we have. Conversely, Blockchain automatically decentralizes our assets. Information is far more secured when it is in numerous different locations. After our information is encrypted, it is transferred to a network with basic metadata which is simple to track.
Digital Identity
Wouldn’t be fantastic if you never had to be concerned about your digital security? A 2017 Distil Networks report indicates that this huge problem may cost the industry over $18 Billion every year. This is where the wonders of blockchain can really make a difference, as it renders the management and tracking of digital identities efficient and secured, thereby reducing fraud, and allowing consistent sign-on. So whether it is healthcare as with WELL, online retailing, national security or banking, identity authorization and authentication is an inherent procedure which needs such protection.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are on the way, but what do they offer? Firstly, these programmable digitized contracts are added to the blockchain, and are legally binding. In place of having to trust one sole central authority, developers can apply legal contracts as statements and variables which are able to release funds as a third party executor via the bitcoin network. By enabling computers to control contracts, companies and organizations such as the WELL platform can make the business process far more cost-effective.
Decentralized Notary
One very important aspect of blockchain, is its timestamp property. Basically, the entire network confirms the status of a wrapped piece of information (known as a hash), at a specific time. Essentially, as a trust-less decentralized network, it is able to confirm something’s existence at a declared time. This can be used for various legal purposes.
In summary, while the majority of these applications are in development and still have a long way to go, the offerings and benefits made possible by blockchain are a huge asset to society that will save us all a great deal of time and money, and very crucially, protect our digital assets and security.