Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S4W3 - Understanding Blockchain Technology In Business And Finance

Steem greetings to you all crypto lovers. I am here with my entry for the Steemit Engagement Challenge Season 4 Week 3 in the Steemit CryptoAcademy. Today, i shall be writing on a topic centered around blockchain technological interactions in the business and finance sector. I'll like to invite @liasteem, @alejos7ven, @fantvwiki, @pandora2010, @growwithme, @sahmie, @inspiracion, @fjjrg, @chant and @graceleon to come partake in this contest.

As defined in the Oxford Dictionary, "a blockchain refers to a system in which a record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network.

Blockchains can be seen as a developed technology that has greatly gained the attention of a significant percentage of the world's population today. It is an unchangeable ledger which is readily available to all, to help ease the tracing of assets and recording of transactions within a business network. Blockchains are considered to be consisting of intertwined nodes that work independently of each other such that a limitation in the performance of 1 node cannot influence the performance of the others within the whole peer to peer system. The name blockchain and be reasoned out to be "block" referring to the storage room for all data transactions since data is permanently saved in blocks, and "chain" referring to the high level of connectivity within the nodes, in a decentralized manner (peer to peer).
This technological system was first introduced by bitcoin (cryotocurrency), and today blockchains have become of great essence in the economic market, with bitcoin being thee most popular and oldest cryptocurrency with the largest capital in the world. All transactions validated on a blockchain are done in a decentralized manner.

You can agree with me that the blockchain technology initially emerged with the purpose of storing and executing transactions within the crypto world, in a more decentralized and secured fashion. Today, we can see the use of blockchain technology in much ways than just transacting cryotocurrencies as was initially speculated. Other than secured transactions made within a short time frame, it can be used for file storage, transfer of files, and much more. So many companies today have embraced the brilliant idea of bockchain usage within their financial and economic sectors, so as to attain a faster and limited risk era, with minimal or no form of data changes. Unauthorized access is much more difficult to execute, and data clear off is almost impossible. Blockchain technology has been introduced into so many companies today because of its marvelous facilities that it brings. The use of blockchain technology in companies bring about great improvements in transparency, security and time management (safes more time). I shall list and expatiate on the advantages that the adoption of blockchain technology in the world of business and finance brings to these entities.

^{Usage restriction is eliminated since the blockchain is readily available to all its users and the transactions performed are independent of a third party. As such, transactions can be carried out from any location at any time, as long as there is an internet connection available. All this is possible because blockchains are decentralized systems and need no third party to validate transactions.}

^{With the blockchain technology, access is available to all and as such, all transactions made can be revisited at anytime for transparency purpose. Also, the unique ability of not being able to change the data within the blockchain makes this easy to achieve. This also eases the process of auditing within establishments, as such it is right to conclude that an establishment that uses blockchain technology can easily attain high a level of transparency.}

^{All data for transactions performed within blockchains are safely stored in blocks. Upon transaction, data is disbursed onto the public ledger where it can be seen and verified by all, and saved in the blocks; ones a transaction is validated, it is saved on the blockchain (in blocks) and can not be changed. Its unique system that performs multiple block validations during each transaction, makes fraud very difficult to be achieved. As such, this would eventually lead to an increase in the level of security within these establishments.}

^{Personal information of user is anonymous since transactions made and stored on the public ledger are linked by nodes with addresses not linked to its user. This is achieved with the use of a Private and Public keys that governs the users account and conceals personal details.}

^{Establishments that use the blockchain technology as one of its payment methods for purchase, will eventually land much more clients from varying locations allover the world.}

The application of blockchain technology in businesses has grown so greatly. Various ways have been established, and i shall be explaining some of these applications below.

^{The voting aspect within a business over an idea's approval or appointment of electoral personnel can be achieved with the use of a blockchain technology. This is so because of the high level of transparency and readily accessibility of the system. Also, the fact that change of data that have been performed is impossible, makes it more reliable for such an event.}

^{It is worth noting that the oldest cryptocyrrency (Bitcoin) could be looked at today as a universal asset recognized and valued throughout the would. This eliminates the problem of differing currency and limitation in international sales since blockchains are readily accessible from anywhere at any time. Restrictions are limited, and payment is swift and in a decentralized fashion.}

^{We already know that any asset can be displayed within the blockchain and transactions for sales can be met with ease. The accessibility, swift, secured and decentralized nature of blockchain performance makes it much more preferred by many traders. An item/property could be tokenized such that it attains an identity to its owner alone. Its owner can now sell or exchange it with some other anonymous user and ownership is transferred once the transaction is approved on both ends (peer to peer). Fraud is greatly eliminated through this means.}

Cryptocurrencies are virtual assets that that can be used for purchase of real products over digital means. Transactions to validate such actions are carried out on a blockchain system. Effects of cryptocurrency in businesses are:

^{With cryptocurency, limitless transactions can be performed by clients. As such, there is enough accommodation for all their clients to keep them satisfied.}

^{With all businesses and their owners, security is of the essence and should never be taken lightly. It is very important for clients and investors to know that security is good enough. As such, cryptocurrency brings security to a whole new level with its secured nodes and the implementation of Keys usage.}

^{Remember i pointed out the fact that cryptocurrency is widely acknowledged and valued by many, and is seen as a universal asset. As such, limitation in international purchase can be bypassed via cryptovurrency payments since it is much more swift, reliable, secured, and accessible from all locations. The transaction fees are reasonable affordable too. As such, sale will increase.}

^{Payments with cryptocurrency via blockchains would greatly save time since the client need not wait for a third party approval from subsequent methods of payment. Payment can be performed from anywhere at anytime.}

^{Cryptocurrency generates better annual profit rates for hodling via staking. Their profit rates are better than the bank rates on fiat currencies.}

It is worth noting that no project can attain a 100% success. In this light, i can confidently say that the future of cryptocurrency is bright, however not all cryoto projects will be successful. The crypto world is greatly increasing each passing day, with more people adopting the idea and willing to gain information. The different economic and financial sectors of establishments have already adapted to the injection of blockchain transactions (crypto payments) amongst their payment methods. Countries have embraced the crypto project as it grows and gains a wider acceptance and recognition. Today, we see many people accessing their bank accounts from home, rendering the numerous account managers in banks useless. The fall of centralized systems is quite near, and the continuous excel of decentralized systems (such as the blockchain technology) is inevitable.

^{Smart Contract helps greatly in the reduction of cost and time required to validate a transaction. This is achieved flawlessly since blockchains are decentralized, and as such no third party is needed to validate peer to peer transactions.}

^{This form of crypto project is centers around digital art. Blockchain technology helps traders (buyers and sellers) to validate authentic transactions within the NFT market. On the Opensea software, sales are done in a decentralized manner. All NFT assets are safe since a unique code is associated with it, making it unavailable to thieves within the software. The permanent save of data in blocks is a huge advantage.}

^{With cryptocurrency, the price of crypto asset is highly volatile and subjected to price fluctuation. This is a huge opportunity for traders to buy and hodl when it is low priced, and sell out when the price goes up. This form of investment is quite good, however the use of strategies is advised if you wish to venture into such trade.}

^{Today, gamers are able to earn a proportion of crypto rewards as they participate in online gaming. The blockchain is associated with the game in such a way that rewards are readily sent to the recipient in a timely and decentralized manner.}