Blockchain technology, which is used in many parts of our lives, continues to become popular day by day. In this article, “What is Blockchain technology?” “When did it enter our lives?”, “In which areas is it used?” We’ve compiled the answers to your questions.
With the development and globalization of the crypto money ecosystem, the interest in blockchain technology has started to increase. In order to understand how the ecosystem works, it is necessary to understand blockchain technology first. Blockchain; It is a set of technologies that provide distributed, transparent, immutable and secure data structures. Basically, the technology creates a database that is based on peer-to-peer authentication and is encrypted. (Our readers who want to learn more about blockchain technology can read this article.)
Although Blockchain technology is mentioned with the emergence of Bitcoin, its history dates back to Bitcoin. The first use of blockchain began in the early 1990s when computer scientist Stuart Haber and physicist W. Scott Stornetta applied cryptographic techniques to blockchain as a way to protect digital data. Blockchain has not only formed the basis of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, but has started to show itself in many areas.
Banking and finance
Blockchain creates a very useful and secure workspace for banking and finance, thanks to its transparency that allows tracking all transactions on the network, immutability and secure data storage that prevents transactions on the produced data.
In April 2018, Banco Santander launched the world’s first blockchain-based money transfer service. The service known as “Santander One Pay FX” is used for international money transfers of users. As a large commercial bank, Santander offers its many individual customers the opportunity to benefit from more efficient and cheaper payments, especially in the field of international transfers, thanks to blockchain. Blockchain technology can be used to reduce the cost of these transfers by reducing the need for banks to resolve transactions manually.
Blockchain also has the ability to regulate trade deals and streamline the process across borders. It enables businesses to more easily transact with each other beyond regional or geographical borders.
The highly secure nature of Blockchain provides a very useful work in the fields of accounting and auditing, as it significantly reduces the possibility of human error and ensures the integrity of the records. Moreover, the data recorded with the blockchain infrastructure cannot be changed by any person or organization.
On top of all this, the encryption feature that is an integral part of the blockchain makes it extremely useful in the fight against money laundering. The technology also enables the successful implementation of the “Know Your Customer (KYC)” feature, which is the process by which a business can identify and verify the identities of its customers.
Health care
As technology develops, the use of medical devices in the health sector has begun to increase. Thanks to blockchain technology, medical devices offer the opportunity to record the data they obtain uniquely and to archive the medical history of each patient. As we mentioned before, these archived records will be protected in high security and patient confidentiality will be easily ensured. As an example of integrating blockchain technology into healthcare, a hospital in Cyprus used a blockchain-based mobile application to validate its COVID-19 vaccines. With the application named E-Chert, vaccine certificates have been verified over the “VeChainThor” blockchain of VeChain.
State Bodies
National and local governments are responsible for keeping records of each citizen, such as birth and death dates, marital status or property transfers. Most governments keep this data in digital or paper documents. Blockchain technology will ensure that such data can be recorded on a regular basis. At the same time, it will allow citizens to easily access their personal data when necessary. Blockchain technology can also be used in voting and counting of votes, it will provide the opportunity to prevent irregularities or technical disruptions that may occur in the elections that determine the fate of nations, with the security data storage feature.
As an example of the use of blockchain technology in government bodies, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality continues its efforts to implement the Smartus Project in Istanbul. Within the scope of the said Smartus project, all data regarding the services that citizens receive from the municipality will be securely stored with blockchain technology.
Military Technology
One of the areas where blockchain technology can be used in the military field is the storage and protection of confidential and critical information. Blockchain enables confidential data to be stored in a distributed and encrypted manner. In this way, the possibility of cyber attacks, which are frequently encountered in central systems, is also reduced.
IoT (Internet of Things)
Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology that enables every existing object to communicate with other devices through internet access. When Blockchain and IoT technology work together;
- Supply chain: Following the location of the goods while they are shipped and ensuring that they remain within the specified conditions.
- Asset tracking: As an alternative to cloud solutions, it can provide opportunities such as monitoring assets and machines to record activities and outputs.
education
Many researchers predict that the benefits of blockchain technology can also be used in the field of education. These benefits include increasing lifelong learning opportunities, providing greater efficiency for educators through smart contracts, and storing students’ academic records on blockchain, among other benefits. As technology continues to evolve, blockchain will likely play a larger role in education.
The number of student enrollments is almost endless. Numerous paper documents and verifying academic credentials can be time consuming. According to analysis by the Credential Engine in 2019, there are more than 738,000 unique credentials documenting learning, including grades, certificates, digital badges. All these data can be stored securely with blockchain technology.