Whether a technology can ultimately survive is determined by many factors, but the key is whether it can find suitable application scenarios. In order to find a suitable application scenario for a blockchain project, it still needs to be analyzed from its own characteristics. Without the introduction of third-party intermediaries, blockchain can provide features such as decentralization, non-tampering, security and reliability. Therefore, the blockchain is not omnipotent. Many enterprise applications do not need to use the blockchain at all. Only by directly or indirectly relying on the activities of third-party guarantee and trust institutions can they benefit from the blockchain technology. After consulting a number of articles and books, I summarized and recorded several scenarios that the blockchain is suitable for.
1. Financial services: The application of blockchain is mainly to reduce transaction costs and reduce cross-organizational transaction risks.
Blockchain technology can provide reliable proof of ownership and a strong intermediary guarantee mechanism for financial services. The areas involved in financial services include currency, securities, insurance, donations, etc. Reasonable intermediary guarantees ensure the normal operation of transactions and improve the efficiency of economic activities. However, the existing third-party intermediary mechanisms have disadvantages such as high cost, long time period, complex process and error-prone. Officially because of these, financial services have become one of the hottest application areas of the blockchain. Blockchain applications in this field will mature the fastest, and banks and financial trading institutions will be the main drivers.
Sensitive core data, important summary data, and log verification data can selectively use blockchain. For example, the general ledger of financial assets can be used to record as blockchain technology. Blockchain technology records with high authority and strikes a balance between system performance and robustness.
2. Credit reporting and ownership management: At present, there are still insufficient data sources, reliable platform support, and effective data analysis and management, which are the dreams of large social platforms and insurance companies.
The blockchain has inherently unchangeable and non-repudiation properties. At the same time, the blockchain may provide highly relevant data on an unprecedented scale, which can be accurately located in time and space and strictly related to users. Therefore, based on the data provided by the blockchain for credit management, the accuracy of credit evaluation is greatly improved, and the cost of evaluation is reduced.
At present, there are still the following problems in the application of credit problems in the blockchain:
- The amount of data is insufficient to generate effective value.
- Privacy is highly sensitive, users do not want to expose too much data to third parties, and the core data has fewer effective components.
- The user data obtained by enterprises is often outdated or even false information, which interferes with the credibility of relevant analysis.
3. Resource sharing: companies represented by airbnb will welcome such applications and greatly reduce management costs. Entrepreneurial thresholds in this field are low and the themes are concentrated, which will be popular with investment.
The current problems of resource sharing mainly include the following aspects:
- The sharing process is costly;
- Difficulty scoring user identity;
- Difficulty managing shared services
Take big data analysis as an example to describe the possibility of blockchain in big data analysis. The most popular in recent years is big data and blockchain. In big data, the value comes from data mining. The more dimensions and volume of data, the higher the potential value. For a long time, how to evaluate the value of data, how to use data to exchange and trade, and how to prevent data from leaking out in violation of permission has always been a headache. Blockchain technology provides potential possibilities. Using the unified ledger formed by the blockchain, the flow of data between multiple parties will be tracked and managed, and the management cost of the data sharing process can be effectively reduced through the management of access rights.
4. Investment management: Whether it is a public offering or a private equity fund, blockchain technology can be applied to reduce management costs and control risks.
Blockchain can provide a common ledger for L/C transaction participants, allowing banks and other parties to have a confirmed record of common transactions and perform their contracts accordingly, reducing risk and cost. Blockchain technology can avoid complicated systems and create a more direct payment process between the payer and the payee. Whether it is domestic transfer or cross-border transfer, this method has the characteristics of low price, rapidity, and no need Intermediate fee.
Digital currency establishes digital currency transaction credit under the endorsement of sovereign currency. The larger the transaction volume, the more frequent the transaction, and the stronger the digital currency transaction credit foundation. Once the blockchain credit system is realized on a global scale, digital currency will become a global universal payment credit similar to gold.
5. The Internet of Things and supply chain: The Internet of Things is a very suitable field, and a large number of applications will appear in the short term, especially in specific scenarios such as leasing and logistics. However, the development limitations of the Internet of Things itself will make it difficult to achieve large-scale applications in the short term.
The supply chain industry often involves many entities, including logistics, capital flow, information flow, etc. There is a lot of complex collaboration and communication between these entities. Under the traditional model, different entities keep their own supply chain information, which seriously lacks transparency, resulting in high time and money costs, and it is difficult to trace and deal with problems (false claims, counterfeit goods, etc.).
Through the blockchain, all parties can obtain a transparent and reliable unified information platform, which can check the status in real time, reduce logistics costs, and trace the entire process of production and delivery of items, thereby improving the efficiency of supply chain management. When disputes arise, it becomes clearer and easier to present evidence and trace.
6. There are some other application scenarios:
- Blockchain-based secure and reliable communication systems such as BitMessage.
- For the security management of medical data, cooperation agreements have been signed with many companies in the medical industry, such as GemHealth.
- Secure data distributed storage services based on the Bitcoin blockchain, such as Storj.
- Ensure data security records such as Tierion.
- Decentralized "microblogging" systems such as Twister.
References in this article are as follows:
1. Blockchain Technology Guide
2. In the future of finance, where will the blockchain be used?