45+ Use Cases for Blockchain Technology – Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should

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The Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study by Dr. Garrick Hileman and Michel Rauchs published by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (there is also one on cryptocurrency), lists 45+ use cases for blockchain technology in an extensive publication exploring the maturity, benefits, challenges in adoption of the technology, along with outlining the landscape. And today, I’d like to highlight two sides to this outstanding study – a technological capability and a business need.

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In other words, where does an exploration of a technological capability stop making business sense, and starts being a research for the sake of research?

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Pick #1. Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study – Dr. Garrick Hileman and Michel Rauchs

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Almost every single one of the 122 pages of the report will be worth your time, but we would like to emphasize the distillation offered at the end of the study, where authors list the following use cases of blockchain technology:

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1. Tax filing
2. 3D printing
3. Asset management
4. Authentication
5. Business licensing & authorization
6. Business process re-engineering
7. Commercial distribution management
8. Crowdfunding
9. Digital manufacturing
10. Document management & exchange system
11. Education
12. Electronic patient records management
13. Energy credits
14. Fraud prevention in Internet of Things
15. Government account settlement & reconciliation
16. Increased liquidity in inefficient markets with low volumes through the use of smart contracts Internet of Things
17. Issuance of equity shares
18. Logistics
19. Loyalty points and rewards
20. Mortgages
21. Prevention of cyber fraud and hacks
22. Real property purchase
23. Smart utility grids
24. Supply chain management
25. Training and development Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings
26. Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system
27. Remittances
28. Interbank payments
29. Asset transfer
30. Clearing and settlement of securities
31. Financial messaging system
32. Syndicated loans
33. Trade finance
34. Transfer, clearing, and settlement of securities
35. Official government identification documents management
36. Land registry
37. Business incorporation records
38. Birth and death certificates
39. Supply chain cargo tracking
40. Traceability of food products
41. Tracking car fleets
42. Tracking of funds
43. Shareholder voting
44. Transaction monitoring
45. Humanitarian cash-based transfer
46. Mobile money transfers
47. Retail purchases
48. Salary and bill payments

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Download the full report.

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Wow! Did Marvel reserve the movie rights for a Blockchain Superhero already?

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Pick #2. The Truth About Blockchain – Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani (A framework for blockchain adoption)

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“Indeed, virtually everyone has heard the claim that blockchain will revolutionize business and redefine companies and economies. Although we share the enthusiasm for its potential, we worry about the hype. It’s not just security issues (such as the 2014 collapse of one Bitcoin exchange and the more recent hacks of others) that concern us. Our experience studying technological innovation tells us that if there’s to be a blockchain revolution, many barriers—technological, governance, organizational, and even societal—will have to fall. It would be a mistake to rush headlong into blockchain innovation without understanding how it is likely to take hold

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True blockchain-led transformation of business and government, we believe, is still many years away. That’s because blockchain is not a disruptive technology, which can attack a traditional business model with a lower-cost solution and overtake incumbent firms quickly. Blockchain is a foundational technology: It has the potential to create new foundations for our economic and social systems. But while the impact will be enormous, it will take decades for blockchain to seep into our economic and social infrastructure. The process of adoption will be gradual and steady, not sudden, as waves of technological and institutional change gain momentum. That insight and its strategic implications are what we’ll explore in this article.

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There is no argument on the importance of exploration of opportunities that blockchain technology opens to businesses – in a variety of cases, the technology indeed will breed a new generation of businesses operating with an unprecedented efficiency to create value.

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Transformative scenarios will take off last, but they will also deliver enormous value. Two areas where they could have a profound impact: large-scale public identity systems for such functions as passport control, and algorithm-driven decision making in the prevention of money laundering and in complex financial transactions that involve many parties. We expect these applications won’t reach broad adoption and critical mass for at least another decade and probably more.

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Transformative applications will also give rise to new platform-level players that will coordinate and govern the new ecosystems. These will be the Googles and Facebooks of the next generation. It will require patience to realize such opportunities. Though it may be premature to start making significant investments in them now, developing the required foundations for them—tools and standards—is still worthwhile.”

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The piece by Iansiti and Lakhani is brilliant. An important takeaway from both publications is that every generation of fundamental transformation comes slowly – it requires a massive adoption and cross-operability of the underlying infrastructure.

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“…it took more than 30 years for TCP/IP to move through all the phases—single use, localized use, substitution, and transformation—and reshape the economy. Today more than half the world’s most valuable public companies have internet-driven, platform-based business models. The very foundations of our economy have changed.”

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With blockchain technology use cases, it’s important to tame the hype around potential in favor of hard work and laying ground for the Googles and Facebooks of the new world. No use case is of use if the infrastructure is not ready.

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To learn about Prove’s identity solutions and how to accelerate revenue while mitigating fraud, schedule a demo today.