The European Cup comic tells you: How does blockchain technology change our lives?

In the story of the "old village chief" told before, we used the "ledger" to introduce the concept of "blockchain", that is, blockchain is a public record ledger, which itself has the characteristics of decentralization and immutability.

Do you remember the example of "proving that my mother is my mother" that we talked about at that time? This falls into the category of solving notarization and certification in the application of blockchain technology. Once blockchain technology is used, similar thorny problems will become easy to solve.

In addition, what other applications does blockchain technology have in the era of big data? Next, let’s talk about the fields where blockchain can be applied.

1. Smart Contract

"Smart contracts" have a relatively broad definition: Based on the programmable nature of blockchain, people can put contracts into code and put them on the blockchain, and automatically execute them under agreed conditions. This is the so-called smart contract. It should be clear that the rights and obligations established by smart contracts are executed by a computer or a computer network.

To make it easier to understand, let us tell a story.

The hot European Cup is one of the most important events this summer, and you and your friends are watching the game with great interest.

Suppose you bet on Portugal to win and place a bet of 500 yuan, and your friend bets on France to win and also place a bet of 500 yuan.

Scenario A: You and your friend agree on your own, and there is no third party (i.e. other witnesses) present

You may think that a bet of 500 yuan is too big. On the one hand, if you lose, you will have to live on poverty for the rest of the month. On the other hand, you are also worried that your friend will cheat and refuse to admit the loss.

Scenario B: You hire a "referee" to oversee the smooth progress of the bet.

But it turns out that this situation also has problems. What if the referee is a relative of one of the players and favors one side? Or what if the referee doesn't know anyone but suddenly decides to "steal from the other side"?

According to this, gambling cannot be carried out. However, the emergence of blockchain technology makes this type of game fair and just.

Scenario C: Application of blockchain technology

In the first step, you and your friends send the bet money to a neutral account controlled by a smart contract;

The second step is to wait for the final day to come, prepare beer and fried chicken, and be prepared to stay up all night;

In the third step, when the game ends, the smart contract confirms through Sina Sports, ESPN or other media that Portugal has defeated France.

In the fourth step, the smart contract will automatically send all your bets and the money you won from your friends to your account.

From the above examples, we can see that the smooth execution of traditional contracts must be based on the trust of two or more parties, otherwise one party will definitely suffer losses; however, smart contracts set aside the premise of trust among the participants and rely solely on code enforcement.

If any party to the transaction fails to perform in accordance with the terms of the agreement, the contract will not be triggered to execute automatically, so that the rights and interests of the other party that complies with the agreement will not be properly protected.

Since smart contracts solve the trust problem to a large extent, they have great advantages in the financial and legal fields.

2. Finance

According to industry insiders, the decentralization of blockchain will first affect financial infrastructure and then general financial services. So the question is, what is "financial infrastructure"? And what financial services will it affect?

1. Financial infrastructure

Financial infrastructure includes payment systems, central securities deposits, securities settlement and other mechanisms. With blockchain technology, any data updates of all participants will be synchronized to the entire blockchain, which greatly reduces the costs incurred in financial activities (including time costs, manpower and material resources, etc.).

2. Cross-border remittances

Cross-border remittances are becoming more and more common in our daily lives. With the advancement of technology and the penetration of third-party payments, cross-border remittances have improved in terms of speed and convenience compared to a few years ago. However, in actual operations, there are still some limitations. The application of blockchain technology can make the transaction parties no longer rely on third-party platforms or government agencies. However, this may also lead to "money laundering" and other behaviors, so it remains to be observed and tested.

3. Securities Trading

High cost and low efficiency have always been the crux of global securities and equity transactions. Advocates of blockchain technology claim that the technology can save transaction time and reduce transaction risks, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of the financial industry. For example, in the past, clearing and settlement took three days, but using blockchain technology, the operation only takes 10 minutes.

4. Equity Crowdfunding

As a third-party platform, the traditional equity crowdfunding platform has a long process to promote a crowdfunding activity, which is not elaborated here, and the existing business model cannot guarantee the return of investors well. If blockchain technology can be applied, the equity crowdfunding platform can achieve decentralized trust and the return of investors can be guaranteed.

3. Internet of Things

There are many problems with the Internet of Things at present, mainly high costs, lack of trust, and no practical application value. So what will happen if blockchain technology is applied to the Internet of Things?

In the decentralized Internet of Things, blockchain records every transaction of every participant. This process does not require any trust while ensuring privacy and security.

4. Sharing Economy

The essence of the sharing economy is an economic model of peer-to-peer sharing of the right to use products or services. Typical representatives include Airbnb and Uber. While they bring convenience to people's lives, they also have some limitations.

Goldman Sachs has said that P2P accommodation platforms such as Airbnb have begun to transform the accommodation industry by creating a public market using private homes, but the acceptance of such services may be limited by people's concerns about personal safety and property loss.

If we use blockchain technology here to improve the existing trust problem by introducing a secure and tamper-proof digital qualification and credit management system, we can believe that blockchain can help increase the acceptance of P2P accommodation.

5. Real Estate

If you want to buy a house now, whether it is new or old, you need to face a lot of things, various procedures, and various certificates. This means that it may consume a lot of manpower and time costs, especially when buying a second-hand house, and you also have to worry about property rights disputes. In short, it is not a worry-free thing.

If real estate ownership information can be stored in the blockchain, home buyers will be able to more easily confirm the seller's ownership of the house, which will also greatly reduce labor costs and the incidence of errors.

6. Proof of Existence

In life, you will always be asked to prove that you are you, prove that your mother is your mother, prove that you have never been married, prove that the house is yours, etc. Things may seem simple, but once they fall upon you, they become a huge problem.

The application of blockchain technology can perfectly solve the above embarrassment. At that time, all your information will be recorded accurately and cannot be tampered with, and no one has the right to change it.

When the technology develops to a certain stage, birth certificates and marriage certificates may be recorded on the blockchain.

…

In addition to the application scenarios mentioned above, blockchain technology can also be applied to e-commerce, data storage, logistics and other fields. As long as you grasp the characteristics of blockchain technology, it will become easy to understand.

Attached is the timetable of blockchain evolution (this table is theoretical, and there will be coexistence in reality):

Blockchain 1.0 - Cryptocurrency applications related to transfers, remittances and digital payments.

Blockchain 2.0 - stocks, bonds, futures, loans, mortgages, property rights, smart property and smart contracts, etc.

Blockchain 3.0 - Blockchain applications beyond currency, finance and markets, especially in government, healthcare, science, culture and art, and education.

Blockchain 4.0——Blockchain + Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain + Energy.