Banking, Real Estate and Healthcare are Ripe for Blockchain Innovation
Everyone says the same thing about blockchain technology: Show me the use cases.
Here's one. For more than 10 years, all weddings in Las Vegas are recorded via blockchain. Here's another. All land titles in Wyoming are filed using blockchain technology.
"Right now, Wyoming is the most blockchain-freindly state in the country," says blockchain consultant Adryenn Ashley, NFT community designer & technical architect at Wow! Is Me in Miami.
Addressing attendees at the opening session of The Blockchain Event 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the high-energy blockchain expert and influencer ticked off a set of blockchain applications with which she's familiar.
She cited smart contracts, which run on blockchain technology, that are used to track expired lighbulbs in Amazon warehouses. Another company employs blockchain technology to track the radiowaves it uses to dry grain, which is more environmentally friendly than employing heat-drying methods. In the future, she says, you might see blockchain leases for vehicles that would make them more transferable in the open market.
Ashley spoke extensively about the planned introduction of Central Bank Digital Coins (CBDC). CBDCs are different from cryptocurrencies. While crypto currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralized, government issued digital coins are issued by one central authority. The security of consensus building inherent is crypto currencies is demolished when one entity has central authority over a digital currency.
CBDCs are on the way soon, she says. Some countries are already experimenting with the technology. Decentralized ledgers, like the ones employed by Bitcoin and Ethereum, are immutable. Conversely, centralized ledgers operated by one entity are subject to change. "They could just erase the information if they wanted to," Ashley said.
Ashley says banking, real estate and healthcare are verticals ripe for blockchain innovation. Some possible emerging uses include:
Banking. Nearly one quarter of all transactions made over SWIFT, the international wire-transfer service operated by the United States, are fraudulent, Ashley says. The adoption of blockchain technology would eliminate almost all of the fraud inherent in cross-border financial transactions, Ashley contends. "Nothing beats Bitcoin for that," she says.
Ashley says banks already have adopted blockchain, but only for inter-bank transactions. She says the technology should be used in a public-facing manner. "I just want it to be for the benefit of all of us, not just for the banks, she says.
Real Estate. Each individual hotel room in Las Vegas is incorporated as its own limited liability company. The goal is to limit potential damage awards. Ashley says it's the perfect opportunity for the application of blockchain technology. Imagine the ease with which traditionally illiquid real-estate could be traded if blockchain was employed to reduce transaction times, she says.
The next step is the tokenization of real estate, she says. Using blockchain technology to record real-estate contracts would allow owners to "stake" their real-estate tokens and borrow against them. The adoption of blockchain technology would speed up transaction times significantly, she noted. "Real estate is about to be the number one revenue generator for blockchain because real-estate is physical, and people like that," she said.
Healthcare. Ashley discussed the virtue of digitizing your medical records. For one, turning your records into an NFT allows you to maintain your files in a digitized form. Transferring your files among practitioners because vastly easier when your records are digitized in a standard format, she says.
Once digitized healthcare records are commonplace, people will be able to participate in clinical trials by sending in their digital information, she says. "Once they're digitized with blockchain, your files are yours and you can use them any way you want," she says.
Even though she's an expert now on the use of digital wallets, Ashley tells people how she was the victim of cyrpto fraud once before. It happens to everyone, she says. But blockchain is here to stay, she says. "Don't be afraid, put your toes in the water," she says. "See what happens."
Edited by Greg Tavarez
