CryptoTalk - How blockchain is going to change the way we operate

Hi fellow Steemians! I have been talking about cryptocurrencies for some time. But today, I am going to take a step back and talk about the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies. Note that I am not going to talk about specific coins and debate on which one is better, faster or more scaleable. I am going to talk about blockchain in general and help everyone appreciate how this technology might potentially change the way we operate.

So what exactly is a blockchain? I will like to make this easy for any layman to understand. Below is a video which I thought provided an easily digestible overview on the concept of blockchain. Do watch it before continuing as it is only 2 and a half minutes long:

I have many not so tech savvy friends who had asked me what is a blockchain. I will always relate to something which they are familiar with. In Singapore, most people have bank accounts, so I will usually use a bank account to explain the idea of blockchain. A bank account is basically a ledger or a series of transactions from the point you opened the account, till the day you close it. The bank is keeping this ledger on your behalf and you can check your balance and previous transactions at the bank when you need to.

A blockchain is just a different mode of storage. Instead of relying on the bank's centralized system, you can rely on the blockchain to store this ledger in a distributed manner. So instead of relying on 1 party (the bank in this case) to store your transactions, you rely on yourself, your friends and millions of others forming the blockchain network, to store these transaction data. What these meant is that,

• We no longer have to trust one party who has complete control over your transaction data (therefore your money)
• Every transaction is open and transparent and there is no need for audit on the book-keeping
• The store is more robust and there is not a single point of failure
• There is much lesser operational overheads

At this stage, most of them would have been blown away, because it is such a simple yet revolutionary idea. This can vastly improve the efficiency of our existing systems (in the above example, our banking system). For those who still do not get how big this idea can potentially be, I will continue with more areas which the blockchain technology can be used to improve.

Suppy Chain Management

Ask yourself a question, won't it be nice if you can be sure that the branded bag you bought, the baby formula on the shelf, the car you are test driving and the phone you are using have not been tampered with? Currently, it is impossible for us to be 100% sure. In fact, we may not be even 50% sure for most of the times. The reason is there is no one global system to keep track of where each component/part of a product or the product itself had been through. Today, this global system might be made possible through blockchain technology. The common blockchain shared by all parties in the supply chain will be able to reduce the paperwork and operational inefficiencies if they were to implement multiple centralized systems on their own.

Charity

Today, when we donate to organizations, we really do not know how many "middlemen" did the funds gone through and how much is left for the ones that really need the donation. Through a blockchain, we will be able to track where the donations are being transferred to in a transparent manner. This will again help to reduce inefficiencies and more importantly, corruptions, in charity.

Healthcare

Traditional healthcare systems do not allow for collaboration and sharing among the healthcare industry. This hinder the speed of diagnosis and also leads to duplicated work and inefficiencies. The blockchain will allow different healthcare providers, patients and insurance companies to securely and privately share information. This can potentially lead to better healthcare for everyone.

There are many other use cases for blockchain and if you have the time, you can check out this 10 minutes video below:

It provides quite a good summary of how blockchain can change the way we operate. The video uses the term "disrupt", which is not the term I like to use. I think blockchain can coexist with current companies. It is not meant to replace them and should be seen as a tool for better efficiency.

Thanks for reading and I hope this short post helped to shed some light on blockchain. Understanding the concept behind blockchain can also help you make important investing decisions in the cryptocurrencies market.