The Top 10 Benefits of Implementing Blockchain in 2020.

Top Blockchain Benefits

What are some of the most used benefits today in blockchain and distributed ledger technology?

• Greater transparency
• Decentralization
• Eliminating middleman and unnecessary third-parties
• Be your own bank
• Reduce costs for business processes and inefficiencies
• Voting and elections transparency, thus a better democracy
• Ownership of your data
• New business models
• Tokenizing assets, devices, and more
• Incentivize positive behavior

1. Greater transparency

One of the most well-known benefits of blockchain is providing transparency. This element may seem contradictory to blockchain’s potential for privacy and security, but both of these benefits can work together in tandem.

All transactions recorded on a public blockchain are searchable and traceable. Users can search a complete ledger of wallets holding Dragons and see how they are being used. This level of transparency can empower users with complete knowledge of the production and distribution cycle of something they buy at their grocery store or from major online retailers like Amazon. The entire supply chain can be made transparent to a blockchain user, from the resources used to make a product, to the circumstances under which it was produced, its distribution to resellers and finally, its delivery to the customer. Enterprises are experimenting with and seeing the benefits of transparency for their customers. Dutch food giant Albert Heijn explored various use cases for blockchain, including supply chain tracking for orange juice. By applying blockchain benefits to supply chain, the company was able to provide customers with a wealth of information on each individual container of juice simply, accessible by simply scanning the QR code on the packaging.

“We are making our products healthier, are working on reducing food waste and we look at how to reduce our impact on the environment. The importance of transparency in the supply chain continues to increase. We know all the steps in the supply chain of our products, to ensure they are produced with respect for people, animals and the environment. And we want to show these steps to our clients as well, be open and transparent.”

Marit van Egmond, Commercial Director at Albert Heijn

2. Decentralization

Decentralization is one of the top reasons why Bitcoin continues to rise in popularity. In the case of Bitcoin, miners across the world monitor and maintain the integrity of the Bitcoin blockchain. They validate transactions occurring on the Bitcoin blockchain by performing cryptographic calculations.

Transaction are stored in blocks that are linked to each other with hashes. To compromise the Bitcoin network, an attacker would need to own 51% of its global hashpower, which is extremely expensive and not sustainable for a long period of time. This is how Bitcoin prevents fraud and double-spend, allowing anyone to be their own bank without needing an intermediary. Bitcoin’s decentralized design makes it impossible for outside influences like governments to control or inflate. This decentralization enables faster and cheaper global transactions, a good store of value and censorship resistance.

3. Eliminating the middleman

When making purchases or selling items online, there has traditionally been the need for an intermediary. Blockchain, however, introduces the ability to send global peer to peer transactions without needing a middleman. It also allows you to make payments without banks, Paypal or other financial institutions. Major corporations like Alibaba and Starbucks are exploring these blockchain capabilities, ushering in a future in which cryptocurrency can be used for a wide variety of purchases. The more blockchain evolves, the greater the number of applications without a middleman become available to users, as seen in cases like smart contract libraries. These applications introduce a global marketplace that not only allows developers to monetize their work, but also streamlines the solution-building process by making smart contracts easily accessible.

4. Anyone can be their own bank

According to an article in Forbes, 1.7 billion adults worldwide do not have access to a bank account. Banks are highly regulated and require Know Your Customer processes, which present significant obstacles if you are looking to open a bank account. There are a lot of startups in the financial industry based on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which present a valuable alternative to those without access to a traditional bank. Blockchain allows you to access the functionality of a bank with nothing more than a mobile phone, which eliminates a barrier to entry for many.

5. Reduced costs for businesses

Blockchain has the potential to reduce costs for businesses and their processes in virtually any industry. Take the Internet of Things, also known as IoT, as an example. Though blockchain integration for this industry is still considered to be in its early stages, it has already introduced visible improvements to operational costs and efficiency.

''By adopting blockchain in an IoT-enabled supply chain network, a billion-dollar manufacturer could save many millions of dollars each year—a determination that’s based on an examination that was limited to supply chain logistics and storage and excluded other elements of the traditional supply chain'', according to a study by BCG.

They predict two stages of blockchain adoption in IoT, which will reduce costs for enterprises. The first stage will introduce improvements in existing processes that will drive value through cost reduction and risk mitigation. ''The long run will offer richer possibilities through revenue enhancement. We anticipate new business models emerging and see the potential for any number of new revenue streams'' BC said in their study.

6. Voting transparency

In 2017, West Virginia Secretary of State, Mac Warner reported the first successful instance of remote blockchain voting. This experiment with blockchain allowed citizens outside of the U.S. to vote during the elections. According to the press release, approximately 144 military and overseas West Virginians voted from 30 different countries using a mobile voting application. This project allowed members of the US armed forces and overseas citizens to cast a ballot secured by blockchain technology. Though this was a small experiment, it does prove that blockchain could be used in elections on a larger scale.

7. Data ownership

A big problem we have today is that entities like governments, hospitals, banks and social media own our personal data. Most people do not even realize how much information they unknowingly give away to them. With blockchain-based privacy solutions like Factor, people can take back ownership of their data. Users can give permission to third parties in order to verify specific factors, such as citizenship or being over a certain age, instead of giving these entities access to more specific and personal information.

One of the major uses of factor-based privacy is receiving medical treatment in a foreign country where someone does not have health insurance. One of the first things a doctor needs to do is confirm whether the patient has health insurance in their home country. Factor will send a validation to Dragonchain, not the factor itself. Next, Dragonchain will create a certificate that contains the validated factors needed by the doctor. These certificates will be presented to the third party and verified by Dragonchain. After that, it can be validated with the Factor provider, which is optional. In the last step, the doctor verifies and accept the certificate that was created.

8. New business models

Blockchain capabilities, especially as they relate to cryptocurrencies, are perfect to experiment with new business models. It is now possible to incentivize and reward people for good life choices, be they health-related or financial, that will ultimately save them costs in the long term. With applications on blockchain and a new or existing token, you can verify someone walked 10,000 steps in a day and reward them for doing so. This is only a simple example of the completely new types of business models made possible through blockchain capabilities and tokenization.

9. Tokenize any asset

Blockchain and tokenization will rapidly transform global stock trading markets. With cryptocurrencies, you can trade globally, 24/7, from any location and without limits imposed by factors such as timezones. There are several startups focused specifically on trading regular stocks such as Apple, Amazon and Tesla. By tokenizing stocks, you no longer have to rely on regular weekday trading hours, and instead, have the option to buy or sell whenever. DX Exchange is an example of a startup that will offers the chance to trade Nasdaq stocks, endorsed by Nasdaq itself.

10. Incentivize positive behavior

When it comes to social media like Facebook or Instagram, there is very little in place to incentivize good behavior. This structure, combined with the other problems tied to these communities, has led to a surge of crypto-aware social media platforms. These new takes on established social networks use cryptocurrencies to reward users for submitting content and incentivize positive behavior in various ways. There are already alternatives to Youtube and Wordpress that directly reward content creators for their efforts. Dragonchain has produced Den, a crypto-aware and content-focused community, which is currently undergoing beta testing. With Den, users have the ability to earn cryptocurrencies by making quality content, evaluating content made by others or by doing other actions within the network. Explore Den

Get started with Dragonchain Blockchain as a Service

All these new businesses, business models, enterprise solutions and decentralized applications can be built on top of Dragonchain’s Blockchain as a Service. Creating them with Dragonchain is not only possible, but quicker, more secure, scalable and less expensive.

Read how you can transform your business with Dragonchain or schedule a consultation to discuss available blockchain solutions with one of our team members.