Blockchain for 12 years: Which fields has it been applied to?

People have talked countless times about the application scenarios and timing of blockchain. But in reality, blindly bundling blockchain with all business activities is very foolish and absurd.

If you hype the term “blockchain” (rather than the technology behind it) for speculation, the result will ultimately be empty. But if used properly, blockchain can indeed promote the development of certain economic sectors.

To achieve this goal, we need to take it step by step. Gartner’s experts believe that blockchain is currently on the verge of “breaking free from illusions.” At this stage, its technical shortcomings are fully exposed, and most media hold a critical attitude.

So, are there truly good products based on blockchain? If so, in which fields?

Financial Services

Blockchain 12 Years: Applications in Which Fields?

First, financial services are a good choice, as many traditional intermediary institutions face issues of low transparency and high commissions. Currently, many large banks are researching and testing decentralized solutions. So, what options are available in the market now?

Netting settlement is a good example. It is based on Hyperledger Fabric and can offset multiple positions or payment fees caused by transactions between two or more parties. It is often used to determine which party should receive compensation in multi-party agreements. As a general concept, netting has many more specific uses in financial markets (securities trading).

In addition, discussions about blockchain bonds, mortgages, and bank guarantees are also emerging. Almost all major banks, including Islamic banks, are trying this approach.

Hyperledger Fabric and Corda blockchain technologies are also often applied in other use cases, but their prospects require ongoing tracking and observation to draw final conclusions.

Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of China, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia achieved good results in 2019. Moreover, in the banking industry, cross-border financial transactions are often mentioned, with some even aiming to move away from SWIFT.

Copyright Protection

Some believe that blockchain technology has great potential for copyright protection and combating data falsification. For example, startups like Sputnik DLT have developed Depositor services on the Waves platform for copyright protection purposes.

Similarly, Emernotar is a solution based on Emercoin, using the SHA-512 algorithm. According to developers, enterprises and lawyers can use Emernotar to sign contracts, collect user permissions via online services, and creators in the creative industry can use it to confirm copyrights.

The democracynotary.org platform, based on Emercoin technology, aims to protect important information related to elections. Although blockchain cannot guarantee the anonymity of votes during elections, it can at least ensure the authenticity of votes.

Recently, the effectiveness of this platform was tested in a national referendum in North Macedonia: the referendum concerned whether to approve a treaty with Greece—requiring a change of the country’s name to “North Macedonia.” The platform notarized the public report during the referendum process, thereby blocking the spread of false information.

Real Estate Industry

Blockchain 12 Years: Applications in Which Fields?

Blockchain use cases in real estate transaction registration have great development prospects. Last year, some attempted to use smart contracts on Ethereum blockchain for such purchase/sale transactions within jurisdictions. Although not all legislative bodies understand what lawyers are doing, there have been and will be attempts.

For example, the most famous case involved a sale of 10 acres of land through California’s decentralized Propy marketplace, with the entire transaction conducted in Bitcoin and registered on the blockchain. Subsequently, the EU also completed its first blockchain real estate sale.

In December 2018, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority approved the business model of blockchain company “Blockimmo Real Estate.” Currently, the Blockimmo platform is in the testing phase and available to residents of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The company plans to expand into other European markets.

Wholesale and Logistics Industry

Blockchain 12 Years: Applications in Which Fields?

Some experts are very optimistic about blockchain’s application prospects in wholesale and logistics; however, others believe it has no role in this field. Nevertheless, as consumers, we should recognize the successes already achieved in the industry.

In late autumn 2018, oil giants BP and Shell, along with large banks and companies, launched the Vakt blockchain platform to optimize commodity trading processes—including converting paper documents into smart contracts.

Meanwhile, the UAE also adopted blockchain technology in this field—Maqta Gateway LLC launched the first blockchain logistics solution in Abu Dhabi. The company’s Silsal blockchain technology can improve logistics and freight efficiency. Maqta Gateway aims to reduce paperwork, facilitate real-time status updates, and accelerate information sharing through DLT technology.

Last fall, IBM Food Trust blockchain platform was also launched—based on Hyperledger Fabric, it aims to regulate the food supply chain. Well-known companies such as Carrefour, Nestlé, Dole Food, Tyson Foods, Kroger, Unilever, and Walmart are members of this platform. IBM’s blockchain service costs between $100 and $10,000 per month, which explains why these industry giants are willing to invest.

Transportation Industry

Blockchain 12 Years: Applications in Which Fields?

In fall 2017, the decentralized Shelf.Network auction protocol was launched. Car dealers can conduct car sales and leasing transactions through this platform.

A year later, the platform received investment from Japan’s IT giant Broadleaf. Broadleaf also obtained licensing to use Shelf.Network technology to establish a trade network for car and parts sales in Southeast Asian countries—including Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Australia, India, and Singapore.

By the end of 2018, 60,000 cars from the US had joined the service network. Shelf.Network also integrated with Carfax web services, providing vehicle history reports to individuals and businesses. For example, startup Auto1 Group GmbH recorded loans and insurance products on the blockchain when purchasing cars in Germany, greatly speeding up transactions (which would otherwise take two weeks with traditional paperwork).

A survey by IBM Institute for Business Value shows that by 2021, blockchain will play a key role in the automotive industry, and it will also be applied in aviation. For example, S7 Airlines and Alfa Bank (Russia) have used smart contracts on Hyperledger blockchain platforms to enable real-time payment of aircraft fuel costs.

Industry insiders believe that DLT technology can simplify and accelerate mutual settlement processes, eliminate various financial risks, and automate workflows. Like in wholesale logistics, this technology also has significant applications in transportation.

Public Sector

Blockchain technology is gradually penetrating the public sector and is widely used in document certification processes. For example, Proofstack service can archive documents with the owner’s personal signature, date, and timestamp, then write the hash of the archive into the blockchain. Users can also select the country affecting the timestamp type and the storage location (computer, cloud) needed to generate the archive. People can verify when and by whom the document was archived through the created archive. Meanwhile, blockchain applications in the judicial system are also increasing. For example, ServeManager and Integra have applied blockchain technology to track the delivery of subpoenas.

In China, government-supported blockchain solutions are developing rapidly. Its judicial blockchain system “Tianping Chain” collected about 1 million online evidence data just three months after launch. All submitted materials on the platform are certified via DLT, totaling 190,000 documents. The platform’s electronic evidence system was jointly developed by Beijing Internet Court, China Industrial Control System Emergency Response Team (CICS-CERT), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Research Center, Baidu Internet Group, and TrustDo blockchain startup. Based on Baidu’s Hyperlink infrastructure, it optimized evidence collection and storage processes, ensuring data authenticity via blockchain. Additionally, it reduces litigation costs related to the internet, saving time and resources.

Insurance and Fintech

As a global leader in container shipping, Maersk began using the Insurwave blockchain solution last spring. Developed jointly by consulting firm EY and Guardtime, it is based on Microsoft Azure cloud technology. In its first year of cooperation with Insurwave, Maersk plans to insure 1,000 ocean-going vessels, with over 500,000 digital transactions.

Current platform users include Willis Towers Watson, XL Catlin, and MS Amlin. Developers are working to expand Insurwave’s capabilities to include insurance in aviation and energy sectors.

UK fintech company Calastone, specializing in investment flow management, announced that all calculations will be transferred to blockchain. The company expects this technology to help cut billions of dollars in costs in the global settlement sector. Calastone provides risk assessment management services, IT infrastructure, and payment solutions for over 1,700 companies, including JPMorgan Asset Management, Schroders, and Invesco.

If a company’s goal is to improve transparency of transaction and DLT registry input data, blockchain will create excellent application scenarios; however, if the goal is to maintain anonymity or “trace” financial transactions, blockchain has no room to play.

Energy and Telecommunications Industry

Blockchain 12 Years: Applications in Which Fields?

Singapore Power Group launched a blockchain trading platform for renewable energy (REC) certificates. Its representatives stated that this “internally developed” platform aims to improve the security, reliability, and traceability of such certificate trading.

REC certificates are proof of the amount of electricity generated by solar panels, sold by Cleantech Solar Asia and LYS Energy Solutions. Interested buyers like City Developments Limited and DBS Bank are very interested in the platform. Katoen Natie Singapore has also joined the platform and plans to soon start renewable power generation capacity.

Korea’s largest telecom company, KT Corporation, also launched its own blockchain network, involving distributed registration technology for user authentication and improving international roaming services. KT can securely transmit customer data to partners using this network. The bandwidth can handle 100,000 transactions per second.

Time will tell whether these initiatives will be recognized by the mass market. Similarly, blockchain applications in power, data, user identification, accounts/records/transactions are all well-known topics.

Education Industry

At the end of 2017, MIT issued digital diplomas for over a hundred graduates using Blockcerts wallets (which can issue “verifiable, tamper-proof” certificates) via Bitcoin blockchain.

Supported by software company Learning Machine, which had participated in the development of Blockcerts with Media Lab, the project aims to make students the true owners of their records. CEO Chris Jagers said that even if the institution ceases to exist someday, people can still extract important official information stored there.

Tbilisi University of Business and Technology also used a similar approach: collaborating with Emercoin, it adopted a blockchain platform called Trusted Diploma. This platform can restore registration data (courses studied, training quality, and scores) via blockchain. Looking ahead, blockchain may have a role in further promoting digital learning methods.

Although current blockchain use cases across various fields are not numerous, I firmly believe that its future is far beyond what we can currently imagine.