Thriving Traction | Adaptation of Blockchain in New Domains2021-02-23T14:08:27+05:30

Thriving Traction | Adaptation of Blockchain in New Domains

Blockchain has disrupted the world since it was first practically recognized in its Bitcoin implementation, and it continues to be adapted to a number of industries. In the bigger scheme of things, the idea is undemanding; it makes use of simple computing powers to secure communications through systems in a decentralized network. It follows a peer-to-peer network, so that some important information remains strictly between the entities that maintain and contribute to that information.

Using Blockchain has its fair share of advantages that would appeal to business executives; these include:

  • Reducing the involvement of third-party companies.
  • Less reliance on third-party companies to secure the technical infrastructure.
  • An auditable, cost-effective mechanism that resists changes to previously maintained digital records; this virtually ensures that documents/information are not tampered with.

If there is one obstacle in the way of blockchain’s mass recognition and appreciation, that would be its scalability. Sectors like finance and banking have made blockchain part of their daily process. As one would imagine, these industries have a whole lot of data that needs to be processed each day. While blockchain resolves the security issue, processing large amounts of data is also a must for its wide acceptance. But just like all technologies, Blockchain is evolving to overcome the challenges that it currently faces.

The Emerging Technological Trend – Blockchain

Personally identifiable information, notarized documents, financial and medical records, tax collection, cross-border payments … wherever you need transparency and safety in dealing with sensitive information, blockchain is an efficient one-stop solution. That may sound like a sales pitch, but it pretty much speaks for itself. Let’s briefly explore some of the emerging and adapted applications of blockchain.

• Artificial Intelligence integrations with Blockchain

The introduction of AI into blockchain will significantly improve the development process of any AI-integrated decision-making application. By storing the computation process and the computed variable in its ledger system, blockchain will give the ability to record and trace why certain decisions are made by a Machine Learning model. [1]

We touched upon the scalability of blockchain and how it can be a hurdle when dealing with a large amount of data, but AI can improve the efficiency with which a blockchain is executed and maintained. Needless to say, this will be a happy marriage.

• Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)

BAAS provides the technological infrastructure to create a blockchain application in the Cloud. [2] Just as Salesforce provides all the tools and functionality needed for marketing, BAAS allows the user to create smart applications that leverage blockchain without having to deal with its setup process. Amazon is one of the technical giants providing Blockchain as a Service.

• Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT works on the principal of devices communicating within a network. In other words, it is a centralized, unsecured system with a single point of failure. [3] The emergence of IoT into homes and workplaces can thus pose a serious cybersecurity threat. Network hacking is becoming more commonplace; using blockchain to hold pertinent information such as sensory trigger data between devices, decentralized network protection and mine-proof record maintenance will be of prime importance for IoT deployments.

References

  1. Blockchain and AI
  2. Top Emerging Blockchain Trends
  3. Blockchain technology in 2020
Authored by Mayank Lal, Data Scientist at Absolutdata