There are numerous applications of blockchain technology outside of cryptocurrencies. As time goes on, blockchain technology is being used in an increasing number of applications. The technology is now being used or evaluated in a variety of fields, including recording land registry titles and tracking the allocation of energy resources in real time and many other unusual non-crypto use-cases. In this article, we will list some of the top 10 non-crypto blockchain applications and see how this technology generally related to cryptocurrency can be applied across different fields.
Food Safety
Following a significant E. coli incident in romaine lettuce that raised awareness of food safety in previous years, Walmart and Sam’s Club wrote to suppliers of fresh leafy greens advising them to utilize blockchain technology to trace their products all the way back to the farm. According to Walmart, every client should be able to approach a self-checkout station, scan their bag of vegetables, and see right away where they were harvested, distributed, and transported before they arrived at the store.
A Norwegian business that was acquired by U.K.-based Ernst & Young (EY) has created a salmon tracing blockchain technology, which is similar to Walmart’s lettuce program. Each fish is tracked by the EY Skye project as it moves through the supply chain. Customers will be able to use an app to view information about their fish, such as where it has been, what “batch” it came from, and whether it has been used in other products.
Real Estate
The groundbreaking Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) of a blockchain may have its first and most important real-world application in the management of real estate records.
The main drivers in determining the value of a property and validating the proof of ownership are the ownership, title documents, and the authenticity of these papers. Next to identity documents, real estate paperwork is arguably one of the easiest and most frequently falsified documents in existence.
The DLT makes it simple to encrypt and store on a blockchain the title documents, escrows, and other information related to a property as well as the transactions of the sale of a property. They would be placed underneath a number of other sales and further encrypted.
Insurance
For hundreds of years, the terms “insurance” and “risk” have been used interchangeably. A multi-trillion dollar industry has grown out of what was once a risk-averse means for Babylonian seafaring merchants to safeguard their ships.
Until recently, the insurance sector relied primarily on paper for record keeping. The amount of documentation, people, and verification required for a single claim or a new account is significant. As this is all a human-driven process with a lot of rubber stamping, there is a tremendous and frequent possibility for error.
With their holistic blockchain solutions for insurances, well-known corporations like IBM, Deloitte, and KPMG have already started to dominate the industry. With blockchain’s tamper-proof record keeping, it is impossible for anyone to attempt to defraud any insurance firm.
Academic Credentials
To issue, display, and validate digital credentials obtained from academic courses, MIT is utilizing the blockchain. You wouldn’t ever need to ask for another copy of your college transcript if all educational institutions adopted this policy.
Members of the MIT Media Lab who are in charge of the project, claim that when certification processes are flawed, the results can be more than just ineffective—they can be disastrous. For instance, a refugee who is unable to present a certificate of successful completion of studies may be banned from pursuing further education.
Elections
Democracy’s foundations and essence are established through elections. It was inevitable that a non-tamperable system would develop in light of the rising corruption and criticism of how simple it was for people to tamper with Electronic voting machines or print-based voting systems.
While these blockchain-based voting systems may be the ideal hassle-free replacement for first-world nations, they also represent a significant step forward for many third-world nations. Countries like India, the greatest democracy in the world, could easily move, manage, and conduct nationwide elections without any major problems.
West Virginia became the first state in the US to permit voting on a blockchain in 2018. Despite being designed to allow overseas voters to cast votes far from the mainland, it was able to resolve not one, but two significant voting problems.
Identity Security
Identity theft is an epidemic around the globe. If anything, the development of the internet has made it more likely and possibly even simpler for criminals to steal or abuse your identity.
Additionally, you must give a variety of documents, signatures, photos, and other evidence to confirm your identification, whether for legal or other reasons.
The blockchain team at IBM is now striving to make blockchain-based identity a reality. When this is accomplished, you will have the ability to manage a distinct identity that may be used as a personal digital fingerprint to approve, manage, and confirm your identity. With this digital ID, you may select which parts of your identity you want to reveal with the other party in addition to using it for authentication.
Environment preservation
While blockchain might not completely preserve the environment, it can certainly improve it. Although they are still in the pilot stage, blockchain solutions for the environment show a lot of promise.
These applications include automated disaster management readiness and decentralized, safe carbon credit systems.
A platform for managing carbon credits is now being tested by IBM and Energy Blockchain Labs. This platform will let businesses and even entire nations keep track of, manage, and sell their carbon credits. By doing this, the parties to the transaction will remain open, truthful, and responsible for their trading or spending of carbon credits.
Jewellery
Brilliant Earth, a jeweler in San Francisco, has teamed up with Everledger, a blockchain-integrated diamond company based in London. The product from Everledger records the distinctive markings of over 2.2 million gems, tracking and permanently recording each stage of their lifecycle, including origin, customer ownership, and videos of the rough diamond. Beth Gerstein, co-CEO of Brilliant Earth, claims that this directly appeals to Gen Z and millennial clients who want to use cutting-edge technology and buy socially responsible items.
Employee Welfare
Levi Strauss & Co. has begun testing a worker poll as part of its worker well-being program that anonymously stores the responses of factory workers on a blockchain platform. This technology will make it feasible to create a safe, standardized, auditable, and transparent platform via which worker survey data can be gathered and examined, claims Tomicah Tillemann, founder of the Blockchain Trust Accelerator (BTA) at New America. The BTA executive direction claims that because of this solution, the outcomes will never be altered.
Footwear
A sustainable footwear firm located in Seattle named Fuchsia uses the blockchain platform Provenance to give information on the Pakistani artisans who produce the company’s shoes by hand.
According to the corporate website, consumers want to know that their purchases are helping the makers of a given product, not just a pleasant pair of shoes.
Shortly after the business uploaded the details to its online product pages, it noticed a 31% rise in online conversions.