What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a distributed database that holds records of digital data or events in a way that makes them tamper-resistant. While many users may access, inspect, or add to the data, they can’t change or delete it. The original information stays put, leaving a permanent and public information trail, or chain, of transactions.
Think of it like this: If the entire Blockchain were the history of banking transactions, an individual bank statement would be a single “block” in the chain. Unlike most banking systems, however, there is no single organization that controls these transactions. It can only be updated through the consensus of a majority of participants in the system.
In short, Blockchain is a record-keeping mechanism that makes it easier and safer for businesses to work together over the Internet.
Governance
To impute transparency, tamper free and trust in public services, many government, administrative and political organizations are opting Blockchain solutions to convert and deliver existing services through Blockchain.
Finance
From instant transfer to total ownership of funds and without having need for any intermediary for sending and receiving funds has been fundamental change Blockchain has brought to the Finance Industry. Most recently, products like insurance, mortgage, loans and fund raising projects have emerged to disrupt conventional banking system.
Insurance
By moving insurance claims onto an immutable ledger, blockchain can help eliminate common sources of fraud in the insurance industry. A shared ledger and insurance policies executed through smart contracts can bring an order of magnitude improvement in efficiency to property and casualty insurance. By securing reinsurance contracts on the blockchain through smart contracts, the blockchain can simplify the flow of information and payments between insurers and reinsurers.
Supply Chain
Every time a product changes hands, the transaction could be documented, creating a permanent history of a product, from manufacture to sale. This could dramatically reduce time delays, added costs, and human error that plague transactions today. Supply Chain Blockchain can remedy distrust with a shared, permissioned record of ownership, location and movement of parts and goods. That shared record can increase efficiency, transparency and trust for any business.
Telecom
Implementation of blockchain within the telco environment will likely have the greatest impact on a telco’s core management systems (OSS/BSS), providing cost reduction through efficiency gains in areas like Identity Management, IoT connectivity, Fraud Management, Data management, 5G Enablement, Roaming, Instantaneous Connectivity and Transaction
Health Care
As blockchain is treated as a distributed ledger to store health care–related data for sharing, exchanging, analyzing, recording, and validating purposes among stakeholders. Termed as Health Information Exchange (HIE), or health transactions between patients, providers, payers, and other relevant parties to improve medical record management, Enhanced insurance claim process, and Accelerated clinical/biomedical researches.
Travel
The travel industry relies upon different companies passing information between one another. For example, travel agents need to pass customer details on to flight companies and hotels, while the personal belongings of travellers are often passed between companies and tracked too. Blockchain can make accessing and storing important information easier and more reliable, because responsibility for storing it is shared across the whole network. Of course, financial transactions are a vital part of the travel industry too, and blockchain technology has the capacity to not only simplify, but also secure payments. This is especially true when dealing with overseas payments. As a consequence of this, blockchain has the potential to improve the level of trust among all parties.