Most people who have heard the term think that the “blockchain” is only something to do with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, litecoin, doguecoin and others. It’s the technology that underpins digital currencies and ensures that all transactions are properly conducted and recorded. But what is stored on the blockchain need not be just a currency unit – it can be put to all manner of other interesting uses.
The blockchain is defined as a system that’s secure without a higher authority, distributed across many strangers’ computers, yet tamper-proof, and promises a mechanism for trust mediated directly between individuals. Essentially, by providing a distributed means to guarantee and verify transactions, the blockchain offers the ultimate opportunity to cut out the middleman.
A key aspect is the programmable smart contract: code stored on the blockchain that automatically executes when certain conditions have been met. In uses that involve a financial transaction, it makes sense to use bitcoin or some other digital currency for the same reason – by doing so, transactions can be automated and guaranteed without recourse to third parties, such as a bank.
Blockchain technology is not just useful for creating digital currencies such as Bitcoin or developing new financial technologies.
Blockchains can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as tracking ownership or the provenance of documents, digital assets, physical assets or voting rights.
Blockchain technology was popularised by the Bitcoin digital currency system. But, essentially, a blockchain is just a special kind of database. The Bitcoin blockchain stores cryptographically signed records of financial transfers, but blockchain systems can store any kind of data. Blockchains can also store and run computer code called smart contracts.
What makes a blockchain system special is that it doesn’t run on just one computer like a regular database. Rather, many distributed processing nodes collaborate to run it. There can be a full copy of the database on every node, and the system encourages all those nodes to establish a consensus about its contents.
This boosts our confidence in the database and its contents. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to meddle with the database without others finding out and correcting it. The global consensus among the nodes about the integrity and contents of the distributed database is why it’s often called a distributed ledger.
Here are few things that blockchain can be use for apart from bitcoin;
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts can be built on top of a ledger and operate as decentralised applications. These programs can run functions which are becoming more sophisticated and may diminish the need for standard legal contracts.
Smart contracts can carry value, and can conditionally transfer that value according to complex business conditions based on the latest state of the distributed ledger.
This means blockchain systems can do more than store information about commercial transactions; they can also process commercial transactions too. This greatly expands the opportunities for using blockchain systems.
Although smart contracts are often thought of as standing for self-executing legal contracts, they are written in a general purpose programming language and can be used to implement a wide range of business logic.
Proof Of Owner
If someone steals your car in most countries of the world, there’s a reasonable chance it will be traced or recovered. Most governments operate some kind of registration scheme based on licence plate and/or chassis number. But what if your stolen possession is a bike? A jetski? A luxury handbag? A drone? Such high-value portable assets are easy to steal and also to remove from a particular geographic area where they may have been registered
Decentralised Internet
Programmers are currently working on decentralised internet platforms to distribute all the functions of the internet over distributed nodes which will increase the resiliency of the world wide web.
Authenticated Voting.
The idea that we are still voting with pens and paper in 2016 is an anomaly. But electronic voting whether at local or national government level, or in the context of corporations is justifiably regarded with suspicion as the results seem open to manipulation without the relevant oversights. Because of the transparency offered by public blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, proponents of open government are vocal about the advantages of blockchain-based voting.
While digital voting can be susceptible to tampering, blockchain voting technology is verifiable and would allow anybody to audit the blockchain to confirm votes are time stamped and legitimate.
Distributed Cloud Storage
Distributed cloud storage avoids the need to place faith in large centralised companies where personal data is vulnerable and pricing may escalate to cover the expanding number of data servers.
Register music copyright
Channelling income from music to the artist who created it is a huge global challenge. Often, the administrative costs of recovering royalties exceed the amount due. Friction caused by cumbersome payment processes mean that fans who would otherwise be prepared to pay to consume music end up illegally downloading content, just because it’s easier.
Singer-songwriter Imogen Heap, assisted by various Ethereum people, announced the launch of Mycelia in July to address this problem. Billed as ‘fair trade for the music industry’, it aims to offer extra functionality such as allowing fans to pay for additional content, and targeted pricing, such as allowing charities to use tracks at a lower or zero cost.
Encrypted Messaging
Peer to peer messaging can leverage blockchain technology to encrypt messages and store data bits efficiently on many different computers where they can only be accessed with a private key.
Trade Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency! Hundreds of other cryptocurrency blockchains exist, although the majority of these are either defunct or carry virtually worthless tokens. A host of exchanges, some more reputable than others, have sprung up to cater for those which are worth trading: Bittrex, C-Cex and Poloniex are some of the popular options.