Blockchain Applications

Cryptocurrencies were the first popularised applications of Blockchain technology, but today it is evident that there are many other applications as well that can derive value from the features that a Blockchain solution offers.

However, especially given that it is a new and evolving paradigm and technology, Blockchain may not be the best solution for every business application. There are some guidelines, which you can follow to decide whether or not you should use Blockchain for a specific application.

Some of the considerations include:

• How many participants will be involved in transactions made on the system? If the number is small, traditional solutions may have less overhead.

• Are all participants at an equal level of maturity in terms of their technology and processes? Since a Blockchain solution relies on well-defined interaction between multiple participant systems, any system falling short could compromise the entire network.

• Is rapid transaction processing required? Is the volume of transactions high, or is there a demand for a high throughput? Blockchain solutions are still slower than traditional systems due to the newness of the technology and the process itself, which needs consensus building across multiple participants.

• Is there a need for a high level of transparency? One of the main reasons to consider a decentralized solution is the transparency it offers. Almost all business transactions need to be open and honest, but in some cases, due to competition and other market forces, some participants may not want to be completely transparent about some aspects of the transactions, except with regulators.

With these considerations, there are likely to be many applications that can benefit from a Blockchain solution, we will look at three of the more common ones:

• Cryptocurrencies
• Banking and Financial Services
• Supply Chain Management