The five most promising blockchain use cases of 2016

Blockchain is receiving a lot of media hype, but understanding the real use cases for this distributed ledger is a challenge. CoinFox lists the top 5 most promising use cases for blockchain in 2016.

Initially, blockchain existed only as a tool to solve the problem of double spending of Bitcoin. In 2014, more and more projects began to use the Bitcoin blockchain, such as Colored Coins. Just one year later, banks and financial institutions around the world began to study the application of this distributed ledger in finance and other fields. In the first half of 2016, the investment in blockchain projects reached 300 million US dollars. Experts are still predicting what will happen in 2017. Let's first take a look at some of the more promising blockchain use cases.

1. Social Networks

In 2015, Taringa!, the largest content platform in Latin America, launched a revenue sharing project called Taringa! Creadores, where users can earn Bitcoin by posting content.

In May 2016, the blockchain social platform Steemit released a beta test version, using its own blockchain and cryptocurrency to reward publishers and managers (people who participate in voting and discussions on published content).
Steemit was very successful, attracting a large number of new users, and soon its cryptocurrency Steem was second only to Bitcoin and Ethereum in market value.

Another social network, Yours, is a distributed media platform. Yours is built on the Bitcoin blockchain. Its founder believes that only Bitcoin can support a distributed social network because Bitcoin has a mature architecture and a professional community. Its operations director Steven McKie said that investors are very interested in Yours. Yours will be released at the end of this year as originally planned.

2. Medicine

In April 2016, under the sponsorship of the Hyperledger Project, Accenture, a multinational consulting services company, launched a project to track and record drugs using distributed timestamps and blockchain. According to Primrose Mbanefo, chief software developer at Accenture, once the project is completed, the quality of drugs can be greatly improved, not only to eliminate illegally produced drugs, but even to keep out substandard drugs from some large companies. The ultimate goal of the project is to achieve a "trusted healthcare supply chain."

Another medical project based on distributed ledgers is jointly initiated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecom giant du and Estonian blockchain company Guardtime. They plan to store the medical records of all UAE citizens on a distributed ledger. This will reduce unnecessary paperwork, improve information security, and allow medical staff to obtain the latest patient information in the first place.

There will be more blockchain medical projects in the future. In June this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) launched a blockchain medical project selection, and the results will be announced on August 20. Many researchers and research teams have participated in this selection.

3. Refugee Issues

Can blockchain solve the current refugee crisis? Spanish computer organization Ghaya believes the answer is yes. In April this year, they said that the blockchain registration system can help governments and non-profit organizations store the refugee information they need, including refugees' escape routes, family relationships, contact information, how long they have stayed in each place, visas, and even biometric information and information exchange. Ghaya said that this data can be kept by specific non-profit organizations and can be used by governments and related organizations. In Ghaya's view, blockchain is the only option to achieve transparency and immutability of records.

4. P2P Energy Trading

Just as Bitcoin was originally designed to eliminate third parties from financial transactions, this distributed ledger can also achieve this goal in other areas. The peer-to-peer energy trading platform TransActive Grid has already proven its feasibility. The platform, based on the Ethereum blockchain, was launched in April 2016, and social activist Eric Frumin successfully used it to sell excess renewable energy to his friend Bob Sauchelli.

Australia also has a similar project. In early August, Australian company Power Ledger announced the launch of a blockchain system that allows ordinary households to trade excess electricity (solar power) with each other without the need for a middleman. A total of 10 households were invited to this 8-week experiment. The transparency of the blockchain ensures that both parties to the transaction can track the movement of "money" and "materials" in real time. Without the involvement of middlemen, it can also bring more benefits to both parties to the transaction. People who invest in solar panels (sellers) can get more customers and regular income, while sellers can exchange affordable renewable energy for their families.

5. Make life a game

In the past month, people all over the world have been crazy about the game Pokémon Go. In fact, in addition to Pokémon, there are other location-based games, one of which is Takara (Japanese, meaning treasure). Players can look for Bitcoin and other valuable things in the map set by the game, including coupons, tickets, loyalty points, company stocks, etc. If you want to get these "treasures", players must use GPS to go to the designated location in person. All of the above rewards are recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, and once players successfully get these rewards, they can immediately trade them in real life.

Another game project is Dubai Points, launched by blockchain company Loyyal. The project turns an ordinary trip into a treasure hunt game, where tourists can go to designated locations in the game to earn points, which can be used at specific locations in Dubai. So, blockchain can definitely make your daily life as interesting as a computer game.