7 Real-World Apps Powered by the Blockchain
With all the hype about blockchain, we sometimes forget that its application goes beyond just in the cryptocurrency space.
Today, let’s look at seven real-world apps built on the blockchain, and how they are changing the landscape of the industry they are in. Of course, Steemit is one of them, but let's put the biased love aside and look at other verticals, shall we?
###1. Medrec
Ask any patient who had to shift across different healthcare providers, and they will be the first to tell you how they wished they had a centralized platform where their doctors could access their medical records, without them having to repeat them again and again. This age-old problem is common for them, sometimes resulting in loss of medical data and causing them having to retake tests, which was time-consuming. That’s the problem that MIT’s own Medrec seeks to solve, ensuring data consistency of the patients in the blockchain. With Medrec, the patients’ history of medical conditions, past treatments and medications are already on the public ledger, giving doctor instant access to treat the patient immediately, rather than wasting time repeating tests.
###2. Storj.io
If you look at your hard disk right now (yes, let’s talk about the ones in your existing laptops and desktops. Portable drives excluded), you will notice that you have unused space lying around. Sure, those are for emergencies, but let’s be honest, how often do you use these “emergency” spaces? How about renting them out? That’s what Storj.io is doing, allowing users like to you earn coins when you rent out your hard disk space. Powered by the blockchain, rest assure that your data is tightly encrypted, and only you have access to it. Decentralised storage also meant faster download speeds, reducing the need to extract your data from one central location.
####3. Givetrack by Bitgive
Ever wonder if the money you donated actually reached the causes you supported? We’ve all heard of issues where the funds were stuck in bank accounts, or worse, gone into the hands of corrupted officials. Givetrack leverages on the power of the blockchain to track your donations around the world, so you can have the peace of mind that your contribute creates the impact it is supposed to.
####4. Ubiquity
Recording and tracking property information can be troublesome to say the least. With multiple parties recording entries, not only will it results in duplication, but worse, inconsistencies and disputes over data. Furthermore, by introducing lawyers into the process, we are also unnecessarily increasing the cost of the transaction, because of the “middle-man” fees. Uniquity aimed to solve that, and because every transaction is recorded on the blockchain in an organized manner, not only does this ensure data consistently across all properties, but also at a shorter time, improving the effectiveness of the overall process.
####5. Arcade City
Ever want to more control over your Uber, Lyft, Grab or any ride-sharing driver? As a driver, do you want that option, that freedom to choose your rider as well? Enter Arcade City, the ride-sharing taking the world by storm, which utilizes the trust component that blockchain provides, ensuring a better experience for both drivers and riders. Due to it’s peer-to-peer nature as well, drivers get to form “guilds”, which are operated by the drivers themselves. The service, since launched in August 2017, is already servicing customers in over 155 countries. Drivers are free to set their own rates, build their own recurring customer base, and offer additional services like deliveries or roadside assistance. Riders can review driver profiles in advance and choose the driver they prefer.
####6. Ujo Music
If you talk to enough musicians, you will know they hardly make much, and that their music is more a passion project, rather than a profit one. It’s not because they do not want to make money from their works, but it’s just between the publishers, producers, studios and platform fees, in the end, there’s nothing much left for them to take from. Enter Ujo Music, one of the first few webstore for musician powered by the Ethereum blockchain. Dance artist RAC, aka André Anjos, launched his album EGO on Ujo Music, and said he actually made more money from tips than from album sales.
####7. Open Bazaar
In the days of the old, barter trades are common. It’s decentralized, usually done without currency, and peer-to-peer exchange in it’s purest form. Of course, as time goes by, a central payment system came about, together with the introduction of currencies, and also transaction fees for these centralized service providers. The Openbaazar project aims to use the blockchain to turn back time, so that it’s possible to for us to use a barter system agreement, where both buyers and sellers would come to an agreement prior to the transaction, without the need of any platform fees.
These are just a few of the exciting companies out there leveraging on the blockchain to solve age-old problems. And because of the potential of the technology, it has enabled many companies to scale their products and services to heights previously unachievable with conventional techs. Xenchain.io is one of those companies who is combining personal digital identification with the blockchain, so any parties can seek the users’ permission before accessing the most updated, validated personal data. Adding a social scoring to the element simple improves upon the existing means of personal identification, such as facial recognition and documentations.
A little known fact is that the Global Identity & Access Management is valued at USD8 billion, with expectations to reach over USD20 billion by the year 2022. If you want a stake in that market, join the Xenchain private sale now. Visit www.xenchain.io for more info.
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I mostly blog about Steemit Success Strategies, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology, community and random thoughts.
Talking about Steemit Success Strategies, if you want to 10x your results on this platform, perhaps some of these guides will be able to help you.
- How to generate at least 365 post ideas for your Steemit Life (and possibly never run out of ideas again!)
- The 4 Big Cs of Steemit Success
- 8 Content Strategies to Excite & Engage your Steemit Followers
- 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 1)
- 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 2)
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles
- Steemit Success Strategies #1 - The Law of Requisite Variety
- Steemit Success Strategies #2 - Batching + Parkinson's Law
- Four + Four Free Tools to get more exposure for your Steemit Projects
- How to apply the 80/20 rule to your Steemit Life
- Steemit Experiment Report: 21 days, 21 minutes, 21 posts later, PLUS an 8-Step Guide on How to Write a Steemit Post every day under 30 minutes
- Case Study on Bid Botting - A Steemit Bootcamp follow-up module, a cheatsheet and why I probably won't use it
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Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?
Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD5, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:
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Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!
The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!
Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome
Thank you for sharing these @maverickfoo.
I find all these 7 examples simply amazing!
I love the fact that these are blockchains that are solving real world problems and have a clear utility.
yeah, I love to see more coming out from the local scene though. In Malaysia, we are more into the cryptos and trading, rather than the technology powering them.
This was a great post! The first point alone was enough to draw me in. I was recently diagnosed with cancer and referred to a specialist in a different city who has privileges at the hospital there and not the one in the city where I live. Having to keep all of my medical records straight between the two disparate care networks has been a pain. Having a central place to view all of the information would be amazing!
Sorry to hear about your cancer. Hope it's ok now? Truth be told, cancer cases are getting more and more common, and yet, the technology and medicine is still catching up. Throw in conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical companies not wanting to work on the cure, man...
Yeah it is crazy. My wife thinks there is a cure but only the very rich have access to it. Who knows...
Upvoted! Interesting blog, following. I found this post on #teamgirlpowa.
[I have an Oracle blog where I do Tarot readings for people. I often do free readings for SteemIt folk on #tarottuesday.]
Hey thanks.
Man as I was reading your article, and see the name and picture of Arcade City, I thought it was a videogame of some sort haha, that was the impression it gave me at first sight.
All those projects looks nice, and its cool to see blockchain technology covering several types of services.
Cheers!
Haha, yeah! It does sound like a game, no?
But then again, to a certain degree, it is a gamification, but in the real life!
Very interesting article @maverickfoo. It got me thinking about how some of these work alongside/outside legislation. For example the taxi type one.
Taxis are heavily regulated in the UK so couldn't a service such as this be shut down by the regulators?
Just thinking out loud . . . 😊
Yeah, the regulators can be seen as putting up unnecessary red tapes around innovation, but as long as a service needs to be operated in the country, I guess the governemnt still have jurisdiction, eh?
I would think so @maverickfoo. Especially with something like taxis which, in the UK at least, you have to have a license for in order to legally operate.
We are living in very interesting times though! 😊
Hey, really interesting article. I had heard of a lot of the other apps but Givetrack was one I hadn't heard of, thanks for the knowledge. I think too many people focus on the coin trading side of crypto and forget that it's an emerging tech with new companies that could end up being the next apple etc. I personally just look at something based on the concept and then if they start to not deliver on roadmap goals I think about selling my coins. Much better investment strategy to my mind.
Yes, a lot of people are focusing on cryptos, which is just one small application of the blockchain. The technology itself can be applied in so many areas and frankly, solve a lot of problems if we just let it.
@maverickfoo you made my day with the Ujo Music review..
Kinda cool, eh? I am looking to do a comparison between Ujo and musicoin.org.
Yeah that would be dope..
There are lots of benefits you could get by using blockchains for a development project but i am hoping that the other countries have an open mind to use it.
Well, for countries to work on total transparency, it's gonna take some time. Too much of bad habits to fixed, I would say.
Those are some very interesting Blockchain developments,it ia incredible how quickly the technology is evolving and how decentralization occurs. thank you for sharing
The blockchain trend now is like how the internet and mobile phone were like say 10 years ago. Look at us today!
@maverickfoo, it's really an eye opener. Never knew the other part of block chain could do so much.
Oh, we're only at the beginning part of the wave~~~!
@maverickfoo, wonder how could we join and participate along with the wave.
Volunteer in some of the projects, because I always believed that learning is in the doing. :)
Thanks @maverickfoo for the information. How do you guys source these projects then?
There are a couple of blockchain and ICO meetups in town. That's a good place to start making the connections.
Thanks for the sharing @maverickfoo. Will try to look for one.