With several emerging technologies threatening to change the way that we look at the world, we live in a very exciting time. One of the most intriguing technologies is called blockchain. What was once looked upon as a technology that had no practical application is now beginning to be looked at as the answer to some of the most pressing security issues facing 21st-century technology users. Let’s take a look at blockchain.

What is Blockchain?

For those of you that don’t know exactly what blockchain is, you should know that it is being used by many organizations for many different purposes. It is a distributed, decentralized ledger system where, opposed to a centralized ledger, all transactions have their own specific and permanent block in the chain. Since any block that exists on a blockchain represents a change to the overlying information of the chain, any change to that data would break and effectively corrupt the entire chain, unless the change was made in its own specific block. This presents developers with plenty of potential uses in data security, smart contracts, and other digitally significant uses.

Blockchain is also the technology that makes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin possible, but over the past several years, some of the largest venture capitalist firms in the world have spent billions of dollars funding companies that are trying to find uses for the construct. This has led blockchain from being a base of a fringe alternative digital currency to one of the more researched technologies in recent memory. This research is leading to some big new ideas.

Innovative Uses for Blockchain

There are a lot of new ways people are trying to utilize blockchain technology. They include:

• Payment systems
• Smart contracts (including real estate and vehicle title transfers)
• Supply-chain management
• Loyalty rewards programs
• Authentication
• Medical record keeping
• Data sharing
• Wills and inheritances
• Intellectual property management
• Online voting
• Tax regulation and compliance
• Weapons and prescription drug tracking
• Labor rights management
• Internet of Things network management
• And more

Since there are plenty of uses for blockchain, many organizations are beginning to utilize the technology to solve their operational needs. This seemingly makes blockchain innovation one of the most crucial campaigns ongoing in the world of technology. It leads to the question: “How could I use blockchain to solve my business’ problems?” If you would like to talk about how blockchain-based solutions might be a benefit for your company down the road, or to see what solutions are currently available, reach out to the IT experts at Data Net today at (760) 466-1200.