5 Ways Blockchain Could Save Humanity

Over the past few months, applications of blockchain technology have gone mainstream. Supported by soaring cryptocurrency prices, the blockchain community promises to fundamentally impact many of the world’s most important and powerful sectors. The technology is poised to not only streamline marketplaces across industries, but also restore power back to the individual.

Entrepreneurs are already beginning to experiment with the nuance of this budding technology to solve many critical problems that have plagued humanity for decades. Here are five of the most high-potential ways that blockchain could impact society:

1. A healthier global-environment.

Buying environmentally-friendly products has become a recent trends across borders and social classes. People simply care about whether or not the companies they shop with are using hazardous materials or treating their workers poorly.

The blockchain can help illuminate the production of goods and bring an unprecedented level of transparency to the space. We can use blockchains to track the entire process for products ranging from clothes to household items to food. Consumers will eventually know exactly how the product was handled, what the inputs were and everything about the environmental impacts. This will create a larger incentive for businesses to produce in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Right now, companies can lie or cover up certain details about their production because of opaque supply chains. Once that information is uncovered, they will be forced to produce more sustainably. Otherwise, they will receive negative press and sales will decrease accordingly.

Outside of food and goods, the blockchain can empower a variety of changes towards a healthier environment. There could be better tracking and incentives for those that recycle. Countries can also better monitor pollution and use smart contracts to stay accountable for their levels of waste.

Even environmental-related nonprofits will have to increase transparency in their spend. Blockchain technology will show the average person how nonprofits are spending their money. Then, more of that money will go towards positive change.

2. Universal democracy.

Many governments throughout the world censor content by blocking certain website and apps from their citizens. The blockchain can fix that and increase individual freedom for people throughout the world.

Substratum is a great example of a company working to solve this issue. They are an open-source network allowing people to share computing resources in order to make the internet accessible for all.

In today’s current political climate, oppressive governments are able to censor content for their citizens. This, consequently, takes away freedom of speech and the ability to collectively rally in online communities. In Iran, the government recently blocked a variety of different websites in order to help squash protests.

Substratum’s technology is a way in which these problems could be solved. It will take away oppressive control from governments and result in wider-spread democracy.

3. Digital Identification.

Digital identification over the blockchain could drastically change many lives. Currently, about 1.5 billion people in the world (primarily from Asia and Africa) cannot verify their identity. That is about 20% of the world population!

These people struggle to receive basic rights that we take for granted. For instance, it is challenging for them to receive an education, to access health benefits, financial services and even to vote.

There is, subsequently, a huge opportunity to help a significant segment of the population. The blockchain could provide people with a digital identity that is verifiable and traceable. This would give over a billion people access to basic rights that are fundamental to the free economy.

4. Better tracking of taxes and assets.

Tracking digital assets and taxes will create a more equitable world. Currently, taxes are not collected in an efficient way. In fact, the entire taxation process is opaque to the average consumer. Audits also take a considerable amount of time and money from the government.

With the blockchain, governments could easily track and receive taxes from all of its citizens. This will make it infinitely more challenging to be a free rider in the economy. In turn, governments will end up with more revenue and will save considerable time. That will, in effect, allow authorities to spend more money on public endeavors and commit greater resources towards important problems.

5. Better healthcare.

There is currently a significant amount of time, energy and money put towards patient health records and tracking patients once they leave hospitals.

The blockchain can improve those processes. SimplyVital Health is already working on these solutions. They currently have two products that simplify this ecosystem. The first, ConnectingCare, is a platform to help facilities better track patients after they leave the hospital.

It is helping save money and better monitor patient well-being by using the blockchain to create a patient key-event trail.

They also launched a new product called Health Nexus that is handling data, payments, and storage. The idea is to allow the public to interact with sensitive medical data for the first time. Individuals could, therefore, sell their medical data to third parties. This would allow for better research and give individuals the chance to deal with their personal medical information however they would like.

Currently, the challenges and time spent following HIPAA and taking care of electronic medical records could become automated with the use of blockchain. This will ultimately lead to better research, care, and will save a significant amount of money.

Disclosure:

The author has had a working or personal relationship with one or more companies mentioned in this article in the past. Access to mentioned company’s management and information was made through the author’s personal network. All information was vetted prior to posting.

Disclaimer:

This essay is not intended to be a source of investment, financial, technical, tax, or legal advice. All of this content is for informational purposes only.

5 Ways Blockchain Could Save Humanity was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.