The Trust Revolution
Different forms of revolutions have been there and now we have the trust revolution in blockchain technological applications.Society operates upon trust and also several kinds of transactions be it at personal or business level are conducted on a trust basis. Trust is required in third-party intermediaries that happen to facilitate transactions, such as banks that go in for monetary transactions, governments that do provide contracts and licenses, as well as universities that do verify the professional competence of individuals. With all of these institutions, trust is also a key element. But trust is also considered to be fragile.
The Financial Crisis and Bitcoin
The year 2009 focused upon it being at the peak of a global financial crisis that did bankrupt entire countries and lead to jobs evaporating on per day basis. Even centralized institutions were vulnerable.
Bitcoins are traded on a global peer-to-peer distribution network basis. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are indeed powered by a technology called blockchain.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain, as the name indicates, operates on the blocks of data that tend to generate unique keys for each block. For each of the added activity, a new block is added to the previous block thus creating a blockchain. The blockchain is not actually owned by an intermediary but is also copied and distributed indefinitely in a peer-to-peer network where all share ownership and simultaneously do confirm the validity of the copies.
Blockchains cannot be altered, and any additional blocks will only be then added to the existing ones, and then verified as well as distributed simultaneously to the rest of the copies available in the network. In this manner rather than having one centralized database of one’s financial transactions that are usually owned and facilitated by a bank, one would have copies of the database in a completely anonymous and unaltered format on a distribution network that is operated as well as verified by a larger community. This results in a considerable increase in the trust levels as well as transparency.
Blockchain and Mobility
Mobility is an accepted feature of industrial and business operations. It is a part and parcel of daily transactions.
Smart licensing and contracting: Centralized operation is in fact deeply rooted in one’s contracting businesses. When it comes to getting hold of licenses as well as contracts, institutions do set the terms and also make the final decisions with regard to verification after all the conditions are met. In some of the markets, corruption is a major concern around contracting and simply knowing the right people is usually enough to move projects. Blockchain prevents corruption as it promotes smart contracting/licensing systems in which contracts are also coded to be executed automatically.
V2V communication: As connected cum autonomous vehicles take to the streets, security is crucial. Much money is invested to ensure the users’ safety. Blockchain will indeed play a role in this as well. Data transferred does include safety: road conditions, traffic status, and weather data. Blockchain does create a secure space for that data to be distributed on a transparent, decentralized as well as un-hackable network. This also applies to IoT industry as well.
Insurance: Lack of transparency and time-consuming processes are two major complaints customers have vis-à-vis the insurance industry at large. Now the advent of peer-to-peer insurance has become a reality, and blockchain is ideally suited as a technology to facilitate it. Claims are also much decided upon through a transparent peer voting procedure. These activities can easily operate on the blockchain.
Shared economy: Blockchain can allow the sharing of the economy to transfer value to where it rightfully belongs.
By decentralizing one’s transactions, blockchain has also the potential to protect the very foundation of our peer-to-peer society. There is a need to explore the opportunities.
