It was at the end of last month that the Central European-based Blockchain conference, Blockchaineum 2.0, was held in Budapest, Hungary for its second year running.
Inspired by the theme, ‘Blockchain Without Borders’ the event was sponsored by Bitcoinist and Blockchain Hub Consulting and brought together speakers and specialist from across the industry and from all corners of Central Europe. Alongside networking and competitions throughout the event, they delivered an encouraging message of forging international friendships that could further consolidate the growth of the blockchain sphere. The event played host to an array of speakers that expressed the benefit of blockchain in areas such as taxation, as well as statements upon how blockchain can change the startup industry and nationwide strategies going forward.
Events such as Blockchaineum 2.0 however are just the tip of a long list of digital goings on that point to the inevitable rise of blockchain in the modern world. It’s distributed ledger form, which invokes greater transparency, security and little need for a ‘middle-man’ reveals blockchain as a pioneering technology in its own right, and further demonstrates the huge potential to revolutionise industries. It has been actually suggested that even adding ‘Blockchain’ to a company name can truly have benefits for share prices and growth. What’s more, just this morning CNBC floated the idea that blockchain would underpin the financial sector in the next few years.
Whilst the phenomenon of blockchain continues to take such a precedence in the press, let’s take a look at how different companies are utilizing the new technology.
Ad-Blocking
In a recent press conference, Aziz Ergashev, the founder behind the first ad-blocking startup to use blockchain, highlighted that the technology is ‘the solution for decentralising centralised architectures’. Following the worldwide data breaches of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook that have seen a surge in ad-blockers, users rush to protect their data in the midst of the internet further being exposed for its tags, cookies and secret snooping.
Asoras’ technology has created a browser extension that will screen websites and prevent secret data trackers from being placed on the users. When Aziz spoke of current trackers such as cookies, he highlighted that ‘these systems use a centralized database, which have a single master key to crack’. As a result, Asora takes things one step further by introducing blockchain to the mix in the hope of then getting rid of the ad-block mediator, as well as changing the centralised nature and in turn revolutionising the advertising industry by encouraging companies to reach specific users.
Medical Health Records
The idea that medical practitioners upload all medical records, changes and patient updates to one de-centralised public ledger has the potential to revolutionise the administrative side to practices as well as enhance the integrity and accuracy of your personal details.
Dentacoin is a blockchain system that allows patients to give reviews of services, dental insurance is met through the consensus of the blockchain whilst also compiling a strong database of patient information. On top of that, Dentacoin has also created its own token and hopes to make dentistry ‘affordable through crowd power’.
Human Resources
Another way in which blockchain has recently been utilised is through the startup ShiftPixy, which uses the technology to provide a ‘disruptive workforce engagement platform’. Their use of the technology aims to solidify and secure an onboarding system which would see the transferral of personal data such as bank accounts, passport details and tax forms. Through the blockchain, they remove human error whilst also ensuring the information is not falsified.
In a recent press release by the company, CEO Scott Absher highlighted the benefit of blockchain technology and stated, “we use blockchain technology in our ecosystem, because it is one of the most efficient tools available to help us protect our data from cyber interference. Any data considered to be a human capital validation point or part of the hiring and onboarding process is being utilized and recorded in ShiftPixy’s blockchain ledger.”
From securing digital signatures, to looking up the life of thanksgiving turkey, it is certainly safe to say that blockchain technology is finally beginning to tear away from its cryptocurrency association and pioneer innovation across the spectrum. Even at this point, the full potential of this technology however is just being fully discovered.