Blockchain Trends and Uses to Know in 2023

We know that blockchain is the innovative technology that powers cryptocurrencies and applications. It's an exciting groundbreaking technology with worldwide spending on blockchain solutions projected to reach 19 billion dollars (about $58 per person in the US) by 2024, up from 950 million in 2017⁽¹⁾. Blockchain technology is a reliable way to store information in a database without relying on central entities and institutions, like regulators and accounting firms. Furthermore, blockchain supplies a straightforward way for parties to trust one another.

Blockchain Trends

Here are some exciting blockchain trends that can impact our lives and help shape integration trends, shape future architectures and research directions:

Blockchain-Supported Social Media Networks

New possibilities for decentralized trust in social networks exist thanks to blockchain tech. The technology works alongside social media and solves social media challenges like user identity, verified vendors and marketplace verification.

Blockchain in Retail Logistics and the Global Supply Chain

Blockchain in the worldwide supply chain market is expected to increase exponentially and rapidly. It will improve business for stakeholders with enhanced traceability, enabling digitization. International supply chain management success centers on controlling four flows: product, process, information, and cash.

Blockchain solves supply chain challenges with event tracking, cargo integrity assurance, dispute resolution, compliance, digitalization, trust enablement and securing the chain of custody. An irreversible, comprehensive audit trail with blockchain increases product authenticity and quality confidence.

Green Energy Models

We will likely see efforts to "green" blockchain since it uses significant computing power and creates elevated levels of carbon emissions. A shift to lower energy-intensive blockchain technology models and renewable energy will enable the blockchain industry to be green. Tax incentives and legal regulations play an integral role in creating renewable energy alternatives.

NFT's Art and Copyright Protection

Awareness of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) rose dramatically over the last couple of years, most notably due to NFTs in digital content transactions. These transactions include artwork that often sells for exorbitant amounts. NFTs were big news in the blockchain world in 2021 when music artists like Kings of Leon released music in NFT format.

NFTs are created for many types of content, like digital art, physical art connected to the digital token, videos, and memes. Open marketplaces enable NFT trading associated with any object or kind of work. Yet, NFT's rapid growth magnifies copyright enforcement challenges.

National Cryptocurrencies

This year we will see central banks create their own coins so users can conduct transactions and manage custody while keeping control of the circulating supply. National cryptocurrencies will see growth in 2022 that will work alongside traditional currencies.

The UK plans to release a government backed Britcoin in the next couple of years⁽⁶⁾. Additionally, more nations plan to do so, such as Japan, Russia, Sweden, and Estonia. At the same time, countries like Singapore, China, Tunisia, and Ecuador already have their own national cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain: Beyond Crypto

Blockchain's Societal Benefits

Blockchain goes beyond cryptocurrency in several ways:

• Immutability and trust

  Blockchain technology is trustworthy because the data it holds is unchangeable; no person nor company should be able to change or alter transaction history

• Banking and payments

  Looped in with immutability and trust, blockchain's decentralized ledger technology supplies a secure peer-to-peer mechanism for authenticating information.

• Emerging economies

  Developing countries are learning a widening array of blockchain applications, including innovative uses in banking and financial services, supply chains, agriculture and land titling in countries like India, Kenya, and other East African nations.

In eastern Africa, for example, blockchain's application in lending benefits small businesses that don't have a solid record of business ownership and operations or conventional credit histories. In 2018, vendors in a Nairobi, Kenya microfinance project helped build credit as they repaid micro-loans, then became eligible for larger ones⁽²⁾.

Pharmaceutical applications help society, too, by watching the storage temperature of medicines and ensuring prompt delivery. In pharmaceutical applications, sensors ensure storage temperatures of delivery trucks and deliveries are paid for if the drugs are delivered on time if the supply chain is logged in the blockchain⁽²⁾.

Blockchain Uses

Blockchain's business benefits include payments and trust, just like they benefit society. Consider the following use cases and benefits of blockchain:

Internet of Things (IoT)

The IoT industry grows exponentially with billions of connected devices. Some estimates claim there will be 50 billion devices in use globally by 2030⁽⁵⁾. As numbers grow, so do vulnerabilities, as hackers can easily breach data through a single connected device. Integrating blockchain technology into IoT devices reduces the possibility of data breaches.

• Cybersecurity

  One of the examples of next-level cybersecurity is smartphone platforms. Using a highly secure FIDO token is the secret behind correct passwordless authentication; decentralized credential solutions and biometric authentication make IoT devices almost tamper-proof.

• Marketing

  Blockchain creates a sea change for marketers by transforming customer targeting, tracking customer data, and securing consumer information.

• Applications for energy, transportation and manufacturing

  Blockchain-based cybersecurity platforms for energy, transportation, manufacturing, etc., have billions of connected devices. Blockchain extends zero trust identity, data security and local/remote access for physical and digital operations in OT, IT and the cloud.

• Cryptography

  Blockchain technology applies to cryptographic keys to ensure users' security, confidentiality, privacy and shared data. There are two types of keys, public and private, and each user has one of each.

The public key is the address or its hashed (shortened) version. A user can only access their wallet – a public key – and move cryptocurrency with a private key. The public and the private key combination creates that individual's digital signature, thus allowing them to perform transactions on a blockchain. The digital signature distinguishes a user in the network and adds an added layer of security to protect the data.

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are blockchain-based contracts in real-time. These contracts are agreements between two or more parties without an intermediary; the contract exists across a decentralized and distributed blockchain network. Smart contracts are now basic in healthcare, real estate and government agencies.

• Healthcare

  Big Data-based smart contracts ease the transfer of sensitive medical data between patients and doctors. The contracts specify outlines and parameters for data sharing; they hold personalized health plans and other valuable information for individual patients.

• Real estate

  Real estate platforms can use blockchain-based title registries that automate transactions for brokers, realtors and their clients. Blockchain technology makes title issuance instantaneous and allows buying and selling properties with cryptocurrency.

• Retail

  Online retailers often face several challenges in the payment process involved with ecommerce. For example, there's the "abandoned cart" issue and consumer distrust over data security (consider all the data breaches in the news). Blockchain technology may be the innovation online retailers need.

Money Transfer

Payment processing and money transfers are the best blockchain technology use cases; blockchain tech enables high-speed, real-time transactions. The BFSI sector is eternally transformed since it saves time and lowers costs by cutting bank/financial institution transaction fees.

• FinTech

  Fintech platforms, such as those that help people internet businesses, may offer several cryptocurrencies (Ethereum, Bitcoin, Monero, etc.) to process billions in cryptocurrency investments and exchanges.

• FinTech/Cybersecurity

  Some platforms deliver blockchain data and analysis to entities like financial institutions and exchanges

V2Soft Use Case: Therapoid

About Open Therapeutics

Biotechnology firm Open Therapeutics™ is dedicated to global, open-source pharmaceutical research by crowdsourcing scientists. According to its LinkedIn page, it's "an agnostic web portal service aimed at reducing the cost and risks of developing and deploying therapeutics" to enhance the availability of affordable lifesaving medications to underserved populations.

The Mission

Medical device, diagnostic and pharmaceutical costs are out of range for many people, especially in developing countries with underserved populations. Open Therapeutics' offers an interdisciplinary open approach parallel to the profit-driven model, not a replacement. The multidisciplinary approach brings the public, students, scientists, clinicians and citizen scientists together to positively affect research.

Project: The Therapoid Platform

To promote its mission of helping therapeutic (pharma, medical devices, and diagnostics) developments, Open Therapeutics™ needed a robust open platform for STEM researchers globally to collaborate on research. Scientists would be awarded ScienceCoins (a cryptocurrency) as a reward based on activities on the Therapoid platform.

For this project, the following aspects of scope needed to be considered:

• Build a collaboration platform for researchers
• Identification of blockchain
• Issue tokens to users
• Integration with user wallets
• In the future, the ability to trade ScienceCoins with other FIAT or Cryptocurrencies

The project included building the platform, using a public blockchain, the underlying architecture to award cryptocurrency and the APIs to integrate ScienceCoins into Therapoid.

According to Open Therapeutic's Website:

Therapoid is an "open science platform that gives students and researchers free tools, intellectual properties, services, and awards ScienceCoins tokens (similar to cryptocurrency)" 3 for research and development that advances scientific knowledge.

It's important to note that Therapoid is not limited to the research community. In fact, for-profit businesses are welcome to join Therapoid too.

Business Benefits

Therapoid delivers value to Open Therapeutics™ with:

• Finding mechanisms to reduce gas fees⁽⁴⁾ incurred for Ethereum blockchain transactions
• Security architecture on the smart contracts to prevent ScienceCoins loss, including:
• Integrating pre-print server capability for scientists to obtain feedback before publication
• Ensuring ADA compliance
• Finding a better discussion forum

Value to the Research Community

To help create positive health and environmental outcomes worldwide, Therapoid's collaborative environment lowers research and development costs (R & D) and reduces risks. COVID-19 treatments and vaccines are excellent examples of open science.

The Therapoid platform enables researchers to receive governmental, business, institutional, nonprofit and public recognitions; this recognition leads to speaking engagements, employment, consulting and promotion opportunities.

Therapoid Freely Offers:

• Grants
• Equipment
• Intellectual properties
• A manuscripts server
• Career opportunities
• Discussion forums
• ScienceCoins tokens

ScienceCoins

ScienceCoins (like cryptocurrency) are especially helpful to economically challenged students and researchers who collaborate. ScienceCoins convert to cryptocurrency exchanges to buy books, pay for open access charges (APC), journal subscriptions, supplies and pay a colleague to translate papers.

The Final Word

Blockchain's benefits are removing the human factor in transaction processing, recording and management. In ending human involvement and relying on the computing power of millions of networks, blockchain's information accuracy continues to improve.

Once the blocks in a chain are confirmed and linked, the information contained within is immutable; this permanence of the data prevents fraud; trust is no longer fleeting nor variable. Blockchain's nature as a ledger keeps permanent, immutable and verifiable transactions, thereby making the trust of other parties redundant.

V2Soft's blockchain services help build the foundation for secure, trustworthy, scalable and decentralized next-generation applications. Our experience creating Ethereum and Hyperledger-based smart contracts ensures process integrity every time since each contract fits within existing systems. This blockchain technology meets future demands with implementation, third-party integration and custom coding.

Our Suite of Services Include:

• Smart contract development
• dApp development
• Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)
• Cryptocurrency development
• Blockchain app development
• High performance distributed ledger
• NFT token development

V2Soft's blockchain consulting can help you find answers to blockchain questions, like:

• Which blockchain is best for my business?
• Can someone build a proof of concept before investing in a total blockchain solution?

Reach out to V2Soft and chat with an expert to learn how blockchain will benefit your business.