Many academics with both a business and technology background based at American universities have been praising blockchain technology for its broad range of applications and future potential.
Blockchain applications are in growing use by governments, private companies and NGOs, and millions of dollars have been invested in researching the new technology over the past few years. The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, applied a blockchain to currency and the rest is now history, but the challenge for economies now is to utilize it other areas across the widest spectrum of society.
As past posts by Bitcoin News have revealed, record keeping, smart contracts, Identity verification, ownership, supply chains, cloud storage all benefit from the cryptography of blockchains, and solutions are emerging every day offering numerous applications for DLT. Lawrence Trautman, a professor at Western Carolina University, sees this as becoming the go-to technology for these needs in the next few years and cryptocurrency is the tip of the iceberg.
He suggests that “We will see smart contracts that essentially rely on blockchain, (and) we will see great economies of scale in manufacturing processes in a command and control system and process”, adding the blockchain “is a wonderful technological invention for mankind, and virtual currencies are simply one application for the use of blockchain”.
The world is also beginning to see more impact in areas such as finance, insurance and government data management, and speed of service will become a factor as the need for paper gives way to digitalization of information. David Noble, director of the Peter J Werth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute at UConn argues:
“The insurance industry can become a lot more efficient at pricing risk if they know who owns it within 20 or 30 minutes instead of three or four days… a robotics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain are all going to play an important role in that.”
Robert Dahlstrom, a professor of marketing at Miami University sees supply chains as being great beneficiaries of blockchain both commercially and more widely. NGOs are already putting the technology to excellent use in assuring supply chains have clear and transparent details of products quality and whereabouts along the chain, and even registering births. Dalstrom suggests:
“With Moore’s law and the processing speed of computers increasing constantly, and combined with the decline in the cost of storage, I think that 10 years from now we may see profound applications (of blockchain).”
Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom
Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
