17 blockchain disruptive use cases
Blockchain technology, when specifically and appropriately applied, may hold significant potential for the transformation and innovation of public policies and services. The OECD paper contains an overview of where we stand with this technology. Juho Lindman started by summarizing some of the highlights from the report. Despite the hype there is a clear lack of success in terms of real use cases with actual users.
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17 blockchain disruptive use cases
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Content:
- Blockchain Technology Symposium (BTS' 18) - from Hype to Reality
- Disruptive Blockchain Technology Use Cases 2021
- User Control of Personal mHealth Data Using a Mobile Blockchain App: Design Science Perspective
- Blockchain: The Next Breakthrough in the Rapid Progress of AI
- Blockchain Technology’s Applications in the Retail Industry
- The Truth About Blockchain
- Blockchain Technology To Revolutionize Traditional Banking
- The impact of blockchain technology on business models – a taxonomy and archetypal patterns
Blockchain Technology Symposium (BTS' 18) - from Hype to Reality
Metrics details. Blockchain solutions are currently being explored for: 1 securing patient and provider identities; 2 managing pharmaceutical and medical device supply chains; 3 clinical research and data monetisation; 4 medical fraud detection; 5 public health surveillance; 6 enabling truly public and open geo-tagged data; 7 powering many Internet of Things-connected autonomous devices, wearables, drones and vehicles, via the distributed peer-to-peer apps they run, to deliver the full vision of smart healthy cities and regions; and 8 blockchain-enabled augmented reality in crisis mapping and recovery scenarios, including mechanisms for validating, crediting and rewarding crowdsourced geo-tagged data, among other emerging use cases.
Geospatially-enabled blockchain solutions exist today that use a crypto-spatial coordinate system to add an immutable spatial context that regular blockchains lack. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology face similar challenges as any other technology threatening to disintermediate legacy processes and commercial interests, namely the challenges of blockchain interoperability, security and privacy, as well as the need to find suitable and sustainable business models of implementation.
Nevertheless, we expect blockchain technologies to get increasingly powerful and robust, as they become coupled with artificial intelligence AI in various real-word healthcare solutions involving AI-mediated data exchange on blockchains. In order to understand the utility and disruptive potential that blockchain technology offers, one must first review the fundamentals of the technology itself. Blockchain is a decentralised, immutable, and cryptographically secure distributed ledger technology DLT , broadly used to eliminate the need for trust in data transfer, and well known for powering the Bitcoin cryptocurrency [ 1 ].
Our goal with this article is to review recent, state-of-the-art blockchain uses in healthcare, particularly uses involving a geospatial component. To achieve this goal, we first need to examine the properties of blockchains more closely to learn why they are vital and what the technology aims to accomplish.
The distribution element of blockchain as a distributed ledger refers to the design of the system on which the blockchain is running i. DLTs are built on consensus utilising algorithms to find agreement among participants [e. Decentralisation is a subset of distribution concerning ownership and control of the data on the system and decisions about the system itself [ 2 ].
Decentralisation allows for resistance to system failure, attacks and manipulation, and participant collusion. Put simply, increasing the number of participants i.
If one computer is storing all data and that computer fails or is hacked, the system cannot recover. Decentralisation largely prevents this from occurring.
Two forms of cryptography commonly employed with blockchains are one-way hashing functions, such as SHA Secure Hashing Algorithm , and asymmetric encryption i. Each of these tools has a role in securing and proving ownership and preventing non-consensus driven modifications to the ledger.
Let us look at an example of each to understand how they work and what exactly they are doing when used for blockchain transactions. It is important to recognise that while initial blockchain transactions were financial in nature and applied exclusively to cryptocurrencies, blockchain transactions can refer to transfer of any digital asset—including data. In the case of a one-way hashing function e. In many cases, the software developers will provide hash sums to double-check for this specific purpose.
Small changes can lead to huge differences in the hash sum, which are easy to identify. Asymmetric encryption, known as public key encryption, is a two-way cryptographic function.
It will begin with data and encrypt or scramble them using a key pair, rendering them the data useless if they ended up in the possession of anyone not in possession of the requisite key. These encrypted data, however, can be decrypted by the receiving party if they possess the correct key. Imagine a document containing sensitive information while examining two use cases for asymmetric encryption [ 5 ]. Hashing and asymmetric encryption are excellent tools used in many different applications, and now that we know how they work, we will explore how they are implemented in blockchain technology.
The two cryptographic functions that we have discussed can be combined in this case. Imagine Bill has a word document containing sensitive information that he eventually wants to send to Susan; one technique to prove ownership is by first making a one-way hash of the document and then encrypting that hash. Encryption of the actual document can also be completed if warranted. The hash can only be decrypted through possession of the correct key, and then the unencrypted hash can be compared to a generated hash of the received document [ 5 ] see Figs.
The final property of blockchain technology is immutability. Immutability implies some data, in this case a record of some type of transaction, cannot be tampered with or changed, only appended.
Immutability is conferred from both the distributed nature and the cryptographic tools used for the blockchain. Notably, blockchains do not always have perfect immutability.
Rather, through correct implementation and decentralisation, ensuring no party owns or controls the majority of the nodes in the blockchain network, is immutability able to be relied upon.
Immutability is the by-product of cryptographic security and decentralisation. When considering immutability, one must be sure to recognise how it is generated from cryptography and decentralisation.
To understand how immutability confers security, we first need to examine a simplified anatomy of a block in the blockchain. A block is basically a container for some data spread across several nodes. In PoW, transaction fees are paid to miners to keep these nodes open, which in turn keeps the blockchain secure [ 1 , 3 ]. Each block is numbered and possesses a hash and nonce value [ 1 ] Fig.
The hash value links each block to the next, and the nonce is a variable value that ensures the correct hash is achieved in a PoW system i. The hash is one layer of protection leading to immutability. Since each block is linked to the next based on its hash, we know that any change that occurs in the data will drastically change the hash value [ 6 ].
Every block in the chain that comes after the adulterated block will be invalid Fig. This means that in order to change one block and re-mine its value to validate it, all blocks coming after will also need to be re-mined. This is a very high cost barrier to overcome for robust networks [ 7 , 8 ].
Suppose that an attack here was successful though; our next layer of protection leading to immutability is the distribution and decentralisation. This raises the cost of an attack even more, and demonstrates why, if implemented and maintained correctly, immutability is very reliable. A glossary of blockchain and distributed ledger technology terms is presented in Table 1. With a better understanding of the fundamentals of blockchain technology, we will now examine some of the current state-of-the-art uses of blockchain in healthcare, as well as some proof of concepts PoCs.
Public perception of this technology seems to be largely divided, with one group praising its abilities and implementation and another claiming that it is all hype and empty promises [ 10 ]. As with any emerging technology in healthcare, the benefits of blockchain implementation are accompanied by its own set of challenges. Difficulties arise due to maintaining truly distributed patient data, the overwhelming amount of generated clinical data, and changes in consensus causing blockchains to fork.
Many blockchain applications for storing patient data actually take a hybrid approach and store rules and references to data stored in a protected, centrally owned system or by utilising a private blockchain [ 13 , 14 ]. This can appear to defeat the purpose of distribution altogether, as it is only one-step away from centralised ownership; however, implementation is key.
Securing patient data for storage, patient access, and health system interoperability is a challenge for blockchain implementation due to its largely open nature. As said earlier, one solution to this is using a hybrid approach, but the issue of interoperability is still present using these models [ 14 ]. Each block is signed by the entity inserting the information into the datablock, which could be a healthcare professional, the patient, a caretaker, or a medical device [ 15 ].
Securing provider identities and credentials is another area of focus. Piper Jaffray, a US investment bank and asset-managing firm, noted in a research report they published on blockchain in healthcare 28 pages; available by purchase from [ 16 ] , that data including education, licenses, and other credentials can be stored and updated in an immutable, verifiable way.
By utilising a blockchain-based ledger to store medical credentials and licensures, sharing and verification of these licensures will become more efficient. The ledger can be viewed as the sole source of truth for existing credentials, allowing multiple parties to interact with this data in a much more streamlined manor [ 18 ].
Supply chain management is necessary in any industry moving materials and goods in any way; however, pharmaceutical supply chain management is especially important to track the materials sourced for manufacturing, the manufacturing process itself, and distribution of the manufactured goods. Delivering substandard or counterfeit medications can have incredibly adverse effects on the people the medications were meant to help.
Ensuring medication authenticity is vital for patient health and outcomes. Substandard, falsified, and counterfeit medications are often seen in developing countries, or those with low-income markets.
The amount of medication importation also plays a role in the verifiable authenticity of the product, especially with a weak or nonexistent supply chain management system. However, the United States has also been on the receiving end of fraudulent medications. Key requirements for supply chain management technologies compliant to DSCSA are product identification, product tracing, product verification, detection and response to non-standard medications, notification upon identifying a non-standard medication, and the ability to store relevant information including licensures, verification, and product information [ 24 ].
While pharmaceutical supply chain management and integrity are incredibly important, safety and security of medical devices and supplies can also be improved through blockchain implementation. Devices including implanted cardiac pacemakers and medication pumps can be compromised and controlled.
Blockchain technology can be implemented in this field by holding unique device identifiers for each medical device a requirement by the US FDA Food and Drug Administration and the EU and by keeping track and issuing firmware updates by utilising smart contracts. A partnership between Edinburgh Napier University, NHS National Health Service Scotland, and Spiritus Development is leading an effort to use blockchain technology to track medical devices through their lifecycle [ 24 , 25 ].
This device tracking has the potential to improve safety and efficiency of medical devices through more responsive device recalls and issued notices [ 24 , 25 ]. Blockchain-based medical device tracking also can utilise immutability to prevent device loss, theft, or any other sort of malicious tampering. A major benefit of blockchain technology is moving data ownership from institutions and corporations into the hands of the people who generated said data.
This gives them control over who can see or interact with their data in any way. Not only does blockchain protect their data ownership, it also makes it easier to share data in a secure way while receiving benefits or payouts [ 27 ].
Health data can be used for clinical trial recruiting, can be monetised for research purposes, and shared with other healthcare professionals and EHRs Electronic Health records as needed for appropriate levels of care [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. As he explained, full nodes act as the MedRec data server and maintain the blockchain.
These nodes are themselves maintained by the entities generating data medical professionals and institutions. Patient wallets are how individuals interface with the blockchain. The wallets contain keys that provide access to the appropriate data [ 13 , 14 , 25 ]. MedRec does not put any actual health data onto the blockchain; Health data stays with the organisation that generated the data.
This institution or organisation now acts as a data holder or repository when running the full node. When running the node, the organisation agrees to 1 be the repository of the smart contracts stored on the blockchain and the generated data, and 2 that they will obey instructions in the smart contracts to make the data available where needed and permissioned [ 13 , 14 , 25 ].
The MedRec blockchain sits somewhere in between the Bitcoin blockchain and a tradition database. In the Bitcoin blockchain, anyone can join and take part, which greatly increases complexity and expense to keep the chain running.
MedRec restricts who can join the blockchain to medical providers and organisations. They run the full nodes, they maintain the data, and they keep the blockchain secure in a more efficient way than the Bitcoin blockchain could. The MedRec blockchain used to be maintained by medical researchers. As payment for maintaining the blockchain, they would gain access to random, anonymised health data for epidemiological research purposes. At the time of writing, MedRec has moved further to a proof of stake model.
There are no transaction fees to move data around or use contracts. There is no coin that needs to be mined for transactions. It is maintained by the group of stakeholders made up by the healthcare organisations that take part in the MedRec blockchain.
Disruptive Blockchain Technology Use Cases 2021
Blockchain technology enables new ways of organizing economic activities, reduces costs and time associated with intermediaries, and strengthens the trust in an ecosystem of actors. The impact of this seminal technology is reflected by an upcoming research stream and various firms that examine the potential uses of blockchain technology. While there are promising use cases of this new technology, research and practice are still in their infancy about altering existing and creating new business models. We develop a taxonomy of blockchain business models based on 99 blockchain ventures to explore the impact of blockchain technology on business models. As a result, we identify five archetypal patterns, which enhance our understanding of how blockchain technology affects existing and creates new business models. We propose to use these results to discover further patterns fueled by blockchain technology and illustrate how firms can use blockchain technology to innovate their business models. Blockchain is a contemporary technology with the potential to build a foundation for creating unprecedented business models Iansiti and Lakhani
User Control of Personal mHealth Data Using a Mobile Blockchain App: Design Science Perspective
This research is based on the scope that the disruptive technology known as Blockchain has to face corruption in different phases and spheres of government. This technological method is increasing its acceptance in various socio-economic aspects in recent years, the paper's emphasis is placed on Mexico, and nevertheless it practically can be used to reduce corruption in all countries around the world. The materials and method carried out for this research was a literature review in diverse databases with the most recent literature where some applications, uses and hypothetical cases of the implementation of Blockchain within the government framework in order to reduce corruption were highlighted. Blockchain technology ; reduce corruption ; bidding ; funds embezzlement ; procurement. Click here to choose a searching target image or drag and drop a searching target image. Article Info. Abstract This research is based on the scope that the disruptive technology known as Blockchain has to face corruption in different phases and spheres of government.
Blockchain: The Next Breakthrough in the Rapid Progress of AI
Home » Guides » Blockchain for Business. Matthew Baggetta. Have you ever been infected with E. Did you know that there are insurance companies that insure other insurance companies?
Blockchain Technology’s Applications in the Retail Industry
Metrics details. Blockchain solutions are currently being explored for: 1 securing patient and provider identities; 2 managing pharmaceutical and medical device supply chains; 3 clinical research and data monetisation; 4 medical fraud detection; 5 public health surveillance; 6 enabling truly public and open geo-tagged data; 7 powering many Internet of Things-connected autonomous devices, wearables, drones and vehicles, via the distributed peer-to-peer apps they run, to deliver the full vision of smart healthy cities and regions; and 8 blockchain-enabled augmented reality in crisis mapping and recovery scenarios, including mechanisms for validating, crediting and rewarding crowdsourced geo-tagged data, among other emerging use cases. Geospatially-enabled blockchain solutions exist today that use a crypto-spatial coordinate system to add an immutable spatial context that regular blockchains lack. Blockchain and distributed ledger technology face similar challenges as any other technology threatening to disintermediate legacy processes and commercial interests, namely the challenges of blockchain interoperability, security and privacy, as well as the need to find suitable and sustainable business models of implementation. Nevertheless, we expect blockchain technologies to get increasingly powerful and robust, as they become coupled with artificial intelligence AI in various real-word healthcare solutions involving AI-mediated data exchange on blockchains. In order to understand the utility and disruptive potential that blockchain technology offers, one must first review the fundamentals of the technology itself.
The Truth About Blockchain
A blockchain is a growing list of records , called blocks , that are linked together using cryptography. The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published in order to get into its hash. As blocks each contain information about the block previous to it, they form a chain, with each additional block reinforcing the ones before it. Therefore, blockchains are resistant to modification of their data because once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks. Blockchains are typically managed by a peer-to-peer network for use as a publicly distributed ledger , where nodes collectively adhere to a protocol to communicate and validate new blocks.
Blockchain Technology To Revolutionize Traditional Banking
While the accounting profession determines the possible future impacts of blockchain, universities will need to prepare students for a career using the disruptive technology. This necessitates hands-on training to teach the basics of modeling a blockchain network. Hyperledger Composer is a specific Hyperledger project that provides a framework and necessary tools to facilitate new blockchain development.
The impact of blockchain technology on business models – a taxonomy and archetypal patterns
Blockchain, IoT, and AI are key technologies driving the next wave of the digital transformation. We argue that these technologies will converge and will allow for new business models: Autonomous agents i. We further argue that this convergence will drive the development of such autonomous business models and, with it, the digital transformation of industrial corporations. Today, blockchain technology, internet of things IoT , and artificial intelligence AI are recognized as innovations that have the potential to improve current business processes, create new business models, and disrupt whole industries. Blockchain, for example, can increase trust, transparency, security, and privacy of business processes by providing a shared and decentralized distributed ledger. A blockchain, or generally a distributed ledger, can store all kinds of assets similar to a register Diedrich,
BTS is a joint event of Ryerson University and the Fields Institute which will bring together experts and practitioners in the blockchain space from academia, government and business from around the world to discuss the state of blockchain technology, the major use cases, and its potential disruptive impact on business, government and society. It is a great opportunity to hear from international experts and real-world practitioners and participate in a dialog about the evolution of this very important technology and its applicability to solving business problems and opening up new opportunities. You could attend the entire week, one day, one session or just the session s that are of particular interesting to you. Blockchain technology has solved a fundamental problem of how one can prove, and effectively manage, the ownership of an asset in an environment where everything can be copied or modified. With this problem solved, the Internet can be used as the foundation to build out large-scale transaction processing platforms. This fundamental breakthrough has created a lot of interest and investment in both academia and industry. Due to the great potential in revolutionizing many industry applications, there is a lot of hype and enthusiasm in the industry about blockchain technology.
One of the biggest threats to the banking sector today is technology. Whether it is coming from large technology firms such as Google Inc. EBAY or Amazon. AMZN , or from new financial technology FinTech start-ups, traditional banks are beginning to taking notice.
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