As per the research global technology market is forecasted to grow 2.3 billion in U.S dollars by 2021. Isn’t that huge enough? Ever since Santoshi Nakamoto published his invention in 2009, Blockchain technology has added the flavour not only in financial industry but also across other verticals.
What is Blockchain technology and what problem it can solve?
Today, with the advent of new technologies, internet has revolutionized the way people communicate. We make the use of payment gateways to share and transfer information back and forth; but is that really secured? Databases cannot communicate with each other, it needs error-free human administration or a centralized station to run every node.
So, here the Blockchain technology comes into existence. It is decentralized ledger shared by multiple users and works without the interference of third-party. This technology tracks every details that happens on the internet – every digital transaction, private data, service etc. Data is encrypted into blocks and gets scatter into pieces across worldwide network of distributed nodes.
Hence, because of this reason:-
Electronic ledgers can become cheap than traditional account system
Distributed ledger system nullifies repetitive task and results into less error
Lessen up the risk of pending transaction as processing delays
Blockchain has three main features of distributed ledgers:
Veracity – multiple copies (as opposed to a single copy) of the complete historical record of ledger entries are each verified by consensus.
Transparency – it is a public record of activity that can be seen by all market participants.
Disintermediation – Instead of specific central organization, this operates using peer-to peer network.
Blockchain technology is the pillar behind the success of the bitcoin and is the first digital currency to solve the issue of double- spending. This technology is transformative and several predicts expects that it will have massive impact in the market.
“One Bitcoin can be divided by 100 million units, and each unit can also represent value in multiple ways – i.e.; cash, property, votes, energy.”
Implications of transaction in Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology will revolutionize the way we write, execute transactions and maintain records. Keeping accounts of all transactions is the core criteria for any business as it becomes easy to track the last performances and help in planning the need for the future. Some records consume time, energy and efforts and often creation and storage process results in errors.
In the current scenario transactions can be executed immediately but settlement of the funds takes a long process. For instance: Someone selling in the stock exchange can sell stocks immediately but settlement can take few days. Similarly, if someone is making the new deal of buying property, price can be negotiated and signed quickly, but process of registering takes more time and may involve lawyer, government and employees.
But, in the Blockchain technology, transaction process is quick and permanent and distributed across nodes, and details of transaction such as price, asset etc. are recorded, verified and settled within seconds across all nodes and any change in one ledger simultaneously affect the other copies of ledger. Since each transaction is transparent and permanently recorded, there is no need of third party verification and is open for anyone to see.
What makes distributed technology different?
The key difference of Blockchain is the ability to transact without the need of trusted third-party through distributed ledger.
Ultimately, distributed ledger technology represent significant innovations. They have broad implications, including:
Operational simplification and fraud minimisation
Digital identity
More transparency in transactions.
Fraud minimization
One of the advantages of distributed ledger technology is that manual efforts to perform reconciliation and resolving disputes can be drastically reduced. Traditional accounting system means parties involved in one project need to check the system and find the reason why they disagree. Instead with the help of Blockchain the same thing can be migrated in number of ways as all parties involved share the same record.
For businesses, Blockchain increases the efficiency, reduction in duplicated and manual tasks and cut-cost and provides opportunities for businesses to focus on value-adding task and facilitate trust along with supply chain. Businesses which regularly deal with unknown customers faces risks, where a business is not sure that its customer will comply with contractual terms. Goods are delivered, but the customer may not make payment for days or weeks. This ties up capital and can cause cash flow problems. Blockchain technology has the capability to minimise risk and settlement times, which ultimately aids in improving balance sheet efficiency.
More transparency in transaction
Distributed ledger provides transparent information in real-time transactions and hence, those currently gaining competitive advantages via imbalance of information is likely to put an equal foots with the rest of the market. Individuals will be able to understand which organizations have used which data under what circumstances and this enables more consumer decision making. The tracking of goods over Blockchain will also provide greater transparency and simpler process for businesses and would enable increased cooperation between regulators and regulated entities.
Example:
SimplyVital Health is using Blockchain technology to give healthcare industry a facelift. The company is using the Blockchain-based data storage and analytics platform aimed for streamlining medical data storage and sharing.
The Bottom line
Blockchain technology is here to stay and is transforming the way society functions. Being still in an early stage, crypto currencies are only its major use case. Above perspectives may sound promising, but business need to come up with the kickass solution or connect with the Mobile Application DevelopmentCompany that can nurture your product as per your requirements in a better way.
The victim-count of Coronavirus has increased to 28,276 while taking 565 lives already.
With the virus epidemic being on the verge of becoming pandemic, there is a cloud of concern hovering over not just the affected nations but also the rest of the entire world.
The grim picture of Coronavirus is not just of the virus making its way around the world, but also of the lack of crucial medical supplies. Red Cross China has also come under fire for failing to deliver urgent supplies to the front line hospitals. In its apology, Wuhan Red Cross mentioned that it has called for an overnight emergency meeting for discussing internal problems and have pledged to hold people who are in charge of relief distribution, accountable.
The fund shortage has led to a number of hospitals in Wuhan who are looking after coronavirus patients to seek charities on social media platforms. Many of them said that they are in dire need of basic protections against this contagious pathogen. While on the other side, people from all corners of the world who came together to donate money to the coronavirus patients and to aid treatment creation, expeditiously, are outraged at the unfair distribution of their funds.
To solve the challenge of unfair donation distribution in real-time, Hyperchain, together with Xiongan Group, Fuxing Group, and other well-known establishments, is taking Blockchain’s help.
Utilizing everything that Blockchain in Healthcare has to offer, Hyperchain is building a platform which would ensure that the entire Coronavirus donation process is traceable, immutable, and reliable. Announced in a press release on 4th February, the platform will act as a medical supply donations portal for supporting medical institutions operating in central China.
It is going to be a transparent portal that will also act as an information exchange enabling donors to see where their donations or funds are going. Through the platform, the donors will get proof of receipt and proof of need which would ensure that their funds have reached the intended party in real-time.
Hyperchain, Hangzhou Qulian Technology Co., Ltd , formed in 2016, is a tech company providing blockchain solutions. It excels in the development of underlying blockchain platforms, security platform and data sharing, supply chain finance SaaS platform, BaaS platform, and digital evidence services.
The lack of transparency and censorship are often two of most debated challenges that emerge during every epidemic outbreak. What happened with Red Cross China is simply a wake-up call for the dire need of the inclusion of a Blockchain development company in every world-affecting event and process.
There is a need for credible and transparent mechanism based society and Blockchain is the answer.
For a few years now technology has been a driving force behind innovations in the real estate sector. But when it comes to complete digitalization, real estate tech has not been one of the pacesetters.
A situation that the industry was forced to correct in 2020.
COVID-19 driven traveling restrictions and the fact that it brought open houses to a halt brought the usage of technology to the forefront, marking a new beginning for several real estate tech firms on the way.
As the present situation stands, the longer the pandemic stays, the greater will be the chances of digitalization efforts sticking with the real estate software development process in the long run. For an industry whose technology adoption spotlight was substituting home viewing with a video, the technological advancements in store will be nothing less than a true revolution.
When you look at these forced real estate technology advancements from a real estate tech firm front, will be nothing less than good news. By using next-gen technologies like Blockchain, AI, AR/VR, etc. the proptech industry will be able to keep its growth momentum intact.
Let us, deep-dive, into the state of real estate and technology combination and how it is setting a new trend for the real estate technology startups – one that would continue post-pandemic.
The pandemic has dramatically expedited the merger of real estate and technology in a way that the sector is on the path of becoming contactless and technologically rich. With a plethora of new efficiencies been brought about by technological innovations, the functioning of property management stands to change for the good.
Here are some of the most glaring technologies which are helping the sector sail through the coronavirus crisis:
1. Automation of business practices
One of the most important and yet common examples of technology in the real estate industry has been the arrival of automation. Touted as the by-product of artificial intelligence in real estate, automation can be seen across marketing, engagement practices, and business processes. Here are a few automation areas that have risen in popularity during the pandemic:
Lead generation through website forms
Omni-channel syncing of leads
Lead nurturing through drip emails or automated workflows
Transaction and tasks management
Financial and accounts automation
Property inspection automation through Spectora
2. Virtual home tours
By far one of the most loved pandemic-driven technology in real estate industry is the virtual home tour. Going by an AppFolio survey, “71% of property management companies said their priority of virtual showings has increased,” and “64% believe they’re here to stay.”
The technology going beyond 2D photographs, video conferencing tools, and interactive 3D models pose to be a tool that makes COVID showing process an unprecedented success.
Virtual showings come with the value of extending beyond the current climate. It offers prospects greater flexibility in the apartment hunting process. With conveniences ranging from easing schedules, visiting houses in far-away areas virtually, etc. virtual property showing is something that is going to stay.
3. Cloud adoption
The one issue that real estate technology ventures have been trying to solve across the years is the reliance on papers. Streamlining of real estate procedures keeping digital platforms at the center is a grand step businesses could take for continuing to serve buyers/sellers through the stay-at-home orders.
The benefits of this disruptive technology in real estate can be seen in:
Reliable security and storage
Reduction of operational costs
Gives real-time sharing and accessibility feasibility
4. Streamline paperwork with Blockchain
In a traditional real estate economy, the property management process is considered to be highly complex, especially since multiple stakeholders are a part of it.
Property management can either be done offline through manual paperwork or through independent software. A result of this is that information remains confined to a database – a problem that property technology startups aim to solve.
However, with the increasing role of blockchain for property transactions, the future of real estate can be changed.
Real estate mobile app development done on the premise of a blockchain-based property management system uses smart contracts that can ease the process surrounding signing the lease agreements to complying with filing maintenance requests and cash flow.
A secondary field where a real estate software development company can see Blockchain impacting the real estate apps sector is deed management.
Defect in deed paperwork can make it illegal to proceed with deed management process until the issue is resolved. In case an issue emerges, property owners are liable to pay heavy legal fees ensuring the accuracy of property titles. The application of Blockchain in real estate can be applied here to make the paperwork secure and transparent.
Parting Words
Looking at the future of the real estate sector, technology inclusion would continue to grow and restructure how transactions are conducted, thanks to COVID-19. One key factor that pandemic won’t change however is the need for personal relationships. Property agents, investors, brokers, and lenders must continue to develop their influence sphere. When you partner with a real estate app development company you must keep the human part of the process into consideration.
Knowing what investors are looking for in mobile apps is a game of utter unsurity.
The investment/funding rounds most often than not come in waves.
2017 was the year of Blockchain. Investors were swooping in to grab a piece of the decentralized pie.
2018 was all about mobile app startup funding of ubernized business models. Businesses like eScooters and P2P travel accommodation booking came on the forefront during this time.
2019, surprisingly was all about Fintech. Investors from all across the world and different interest groups were funding projects making Fintech sector reach the developing and underdeveloped nations. They also showed a special interest in projects that would combine the domain with disruptive technologies like Blockchain and AI, etc. This, in turn, helped set up the grounds for app investment trends 2020.
At Anteelo, we are known to help our clients get funding on their project idea and finished applications. It’s an event that results from our knowledge of the steps of how to get an investment for an app and knowing what types of apps investors invest in.
We have shared the first part of the knowledge in this article – steps to raise money for your mobile app startup. In there, we had touched base upon a number of things: How much mobile apps fund do you actually need, the types of investors for mobile app startup, Things investors look for in an app, and how to get investors for your app. In our another article on the ‘Alternate Funding Models’ we have also looked into the different models that businesses can look into if the traditional routes don’t work.
In this article, we will get you acquainted with what mobile apps investors will be looking for in 2020.
*Disclaimer: This article has been the result of our observations. The ultimate probability of businesses getting funding for app startup will depend on what individual investors are looking for and how well businesses are able to promote their value offering.
App Types Investors Will be Focusing on in 2020
A. On-Demand or Educational Cannabis Apps
Cannabis is getting legalized across the world like wildfire. Entrepreneurs are looking ahead to different tips to make their cannabis business successful. And with this, the inclusion of technology in the sector for making it worldwide. A massive tech driven demand for the industry is coming in from the mobile domain. In fact, the cannabis sector has become a prominent part of the on demand app investment trends 2020.
Businesses, from all across the globe, are finding ways to make cannabis accessible to users from their smartphones, whether it’s through cannabis delivery applications or apps educating people of how and to what extent should they use cannabis.
Zak Garcia, the chief marketing officer at CBD Capital Group says “with hemp-derived CBD products legal in all 50 states, the market is growing at 132%”. According to the Brightfield Group report as well, the total cannabis market is projected to reach $22 billion by 2022.
B. Real Estate Apps Blended with AR/VR or Blockchain
With the interest rates across the globe being on a historic low, it is very difficult for mobile app investors to not like real estate sector.
Being an industry that affects the majority and is ripe for technological advancements, real estate is poised to get a lot of investor attention in the coming time. The attention defining the real estate app investment trends 2020 will majorly be seen around products that make real estate accessible to the world and bring transparency in the domain.
This in turn, translates into how important it is for entrepreneurs who already have a solution to get in touch with their real estate mobile app development company and get their mobile apps features updated, maybe even get it incorporated with new technologies like Blockchain. In fact, if you do end up taking the decentralization route, you’ll be able to avail the benefits of blockchain app investment trends 2020 as well.
Louise Samet, Partner at Blossom Capital, Stockholm, Sweden says, “I’m excited about the global opportunity in B2B fintech. For quite a while now, there’s been a lot of focus on consumer fintech products, while there’s still a huge opportunity in B2B payments, banking and insurance. Companies like Pleo and Tink are growing extremely fast and others are following.”
Like Real estate, Fintech is another mobile app market that holds the potential to disrupt the masses. An application that uses a combination of different technologies like Blockchain’s decentralization and Artificial Intelligence with the domain, is poised to be an instant hit with the mobile apps investor in 2020.
The app investment trends 2020 will not just see a greater rise in P2P payment app development but also ones that help millennials more financially sound and secure, such as stock market apps like Robinhood app or AI-powered budgeting app like Cleo.
D. ERP Solutions Backed by Big Data
Investors have a special place for infrastructure solutions that help startups and enterprises grow. An example of this can be seen in Slack, Intercom, or Skype for businesses. This year as well, they will be focusing on products that help businesses deliver better solutions or simply better streamline their processes.
In this vein, we can see investments happening in business automation systems helping brands across industries – Finance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, etc.
Sarah Smith, the Investing Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, says “I believe the way leaders, managers, teams, and all employees interact and work is changing quite rapidly, but it is not yet clear if one super-app will stitch together everything a remote team needs or if we’ll deploy even more apps than before. More importantly, I’m keen to find tools that create the trust, empathy and companionship that inherently comes with in-person interactions which are mostly lost in a fully remote working world.”
E. mHealth Apps Incorporated with Machine Learning or Blockchain
The fact that the healthcare domain is still mainly practiced with humans, even after going through the stages of healthcare evolution, being the sole innovation agents, offers a massive opportunity for incorporation of custom healthcare software development driven by technologies. The combination of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Healthcare and Blockchain hold the potential to evolve the entire health and care ecosystem.
The health app investment trends 2020 are bound to see investors inclining towards app solutions that makes healthcare cost efficient and real time accessible to the masses. On this front, they will also be showing interest in insurance applications which would help people in need in real time through the scope of micro lending.
Geographical Markets That Will Statistically Get Investors’ Attention
The global mobile app investment landscape will be fundamentally altered by the impact of changing trade regimen and digital disruption. In order to remain competitive in the market, businesses will have to work in close alliance with policy makers to adapt and then respond to the changing economic globalization.
One such shift can be seen in the United Kingdom because of the Brexit. The country is seeing its top position getting challenged by several other countries and projects to Germany.
The app investments trends 2020 can be seen betting on the growth potential of India, with the country’s economy coming on track to overtake China as the most populous country by 2027, according to the United Nations.
Also, Vietnam, which is one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, is becoming a profitable haven for U.S. multinationals looking to safeguard themselves in the US-China tariff issues.
“There’s huge growth potential in Asia,” says Rich Sega, the global chief investment strategist at asset manager Conning. “The geopolitical stress in Hong Kong has opened up opportunities for other areas in the region for Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.”
Ultimately, investors will be looking for mobile apps solutions that make technology mainstream, taking it to domains and nations which have been operating sans them. Moreover, they will be expanding their focus from leading nations like Australia and the USA to emerging markets, which show a potential of immense economic growth.
Now that you have got a starting point for 2020, it is time to take the journey and come in the conscious mind of investors looking for investing in an app startup.
With the ever-evolving computer technologies, numerous things that once appeared to be outlandish turned into reality, for instance, online payments, internet shopping, and cryptographic forms of money. Secure online exchanges with no extra charges extraordinarily impact all the money related industry, and all this has been realised by virtue of Blockchain technology. Today, trendsetters in different fields understand the advantages of the innovation behind Blockchain. From the health industry to the stock market, numerous sectors are searching for approaches to coordinate Blockchain into their business.
Blockchain, with its decentralised and trustless nature, can prompt new chances and assist organisations through more prominent straightforwardness, upgraded security, and simpler detectability. In a Blockchain network, various modules/blocks contain information about business proceedings, exchanges, and agreements inside the framework in cryptographic structure. For instance, blocks may provide insights concerning a budgetary exchange, medicinal records, or in any event, even ballot results. All blocks are arranged in a chain and are interconnected, so as to make another block, the data of old blocks ought to be successively understood first.
In the event that you are working in the market, at that point, you should know the upsides of Blockchain innovation, i.e., its advantages. It will assist you with finding out about the up and coming changes if your business is as of now getting Blockchain or plan to actualise Blockchain later on. Let’s take a dive and explore the benefits of Blockchain:
1.“Trustless” System
In most conventional payment frameworks, exchanges are reliant on the two entities along with a mediator -, for example, a bank, Credit/Debit card provider, or payment gateway provider. Utilising Blockchain removes this compulsion on the grounds that the circulated system of nodes perform the exchanges through a procedure known as mining. Consequently, Blockchain is often alluded to as a ‘trustless’ framework. Thus, a Blockchain framework nullifies the danger of depending on a solitary association and decreases the general expenses and charges by removing mediators and outsiders.
2. Amplified Efficiency
Because of its decentralised nature, Blockchain evacuates the requirement for agents in numerous procedures for fields like payment gateways and properties. In contrast with customary budgetary services, Blockchain encourages quicker transactions by permitting P2P cross-border transactions with cryptocurrency. Real Estate Management procedures are made increasingly proficient with a merged arrangement of possession records, and keen agreements that would mechanize tenant-landlord agreements.
3. Dispersed Storage
As Blockchain technology stacks the information in various platforms on a dispersed network of nodes, the framework and the information are exceptionally impervious to errors and malware. Every single system node can copy and store a replica of the database, and consequently, there is no single probability of data loss: failure of a single node does not influence the accessibility or security of the system. Conversely, numerous traditional databases depend on one or a few servers and are highly defenceless against tech-failures and cyber-attacks.
4. Efficient Traceability
With the Blockchain record, each time trade of products is recorded on a Blockchain, a review trail is available to follow where the merchandise originated from. This not just assists in improve security and forestall misrepresentation in exchange-related organisations, yet it can likewise help confirm the genuineness of the exchanged resources. In markets such as drugs and pharmaceuticals, it tends to be utilized to follow the inventory network from maker to distributer, or in the handicrafts industry, to give an indisputable proof of possession.
5. Highly Stable
Affirmed blocked are highly improbable to be turned around, implying that once information has been enrolled into the Blockchain, it is extremely hard to expel or transform it. This makes Blockchain an extraordinary innovation for storing money related records or whatever information where a review trail is required on the grounds that each change is recorded and tracked. For instance, a business could utilise Blockchain innovation to avert fraud from its workers. In this situation, the Blockchain could give a protected and stable record of every single money related exchange that happens inside the organisation. This would make it a lot harder for a for anyone to make fraud in the records
6. Immense Transparency
The most prominent advantage of Blockchain is that it makes the transaction records immensely transparent. As Blockchain can be classified as a distributed ledger, every individual included in the network has access of the same record contrasting to individual copies. That common variant must be refreshed through accord, which implies everybody must concur on it. To change a solitary exchange record would require the modification of every single subsequent record and the plot of the whole system. Therefore, information on a Blockchain is progressively exact, steady and straightforward than when it is pushed through paper-substantial procedures. It is likewise accessible to all members who have permission for the same
7.Reduced Costs
For most organizations, cost-cutting is a crucial need. With Blockchain, you don’t require the same number of third-parties or go-betweens to safeguard processes because it doesn’t make a difference whether you believe on your exchanging accomplice or not. Rather, you simply need to confide in the information on the Blockchain. You likewise won’t need to audit such a great amount of documentation to finish an exchange since everybody will have permissioned access to a solitary, changeless variant.
8.Robust Security
Blockchain is unquestionably more secure than other record-keeping frameworks in light of the fact that each new exchange is encoded and connected to the past exchange. Blockchain, as the name proposes, is shaped by a system of computers meeting up to affirm a ‘block’ which is then added to a record or ledger, which frames a ‘chain’. Blockchain is shaped by a muddled string of scientific numbers and is cannot be changed once framed. This changeless and morally sound nature of Blockchain makes it safe from distorted data and hacks. It’s decentralised nature likewise gives it a one of a kind nature of being ‘trustless’ – implying that gatherings needn’t bother with trust to execute securely.
CONCLUSION
Blockchain innovation exhibits some remarkable focal points, and it is unquestionably digging in for the long haul. Blockchain is a progressive innovation with a tremendous effect on each industry out there. Our emphasis was uniquely on the primary divisions so you can relate and comprehend its points of interest. Permitting advanced data to be distributed, but not be duplicated, the Blockchain innovation made the establishment of a novel Internet. The system was initially created for digital money — Bitcoin — however, the specialised network is at present searching for other potential utilisation of this innovation. We, despite everything, have a long way to go for standard reception, yet numerous ventures are finding a good pace with the Blockchain frameworks. The following few years will probably observe organisations and governments exploring different avenues regarding new applications to discover where Blockchain innovation can be the most beneficial. We trust that at this point, you have comprehended the significance of the Blockchain.
BlockChain defines a specific type of Database. They are designed to write once and read-only database. Which means that they are designed to create only not to edit or delete. The approach ensures that the data inside is secure and can’t be stolen or changed because everyone is watching and keeping all records of what is happening within the system. These databases are simple, transparent and immutable.We can consider it as a growing journal that adds new pages time to time. Blockchain database design is effectively used to enable Bitcoin as a money ledger.BlockChain database is different from a Conventional database. They are not housed in a data structure like array and tables. Also, they do not have any CRUD operations. The approach behind these databases is to open up the whole database for the end user and the user takes the responsibility for that system including security.
What is BlockChain
The Blockchain is a very strange thing — simultaneously the most overhyped, least understood and most disruptive technology of our time.
For example- You want to send a public message to your friend with text as “Love you”. In general, you would walk up to your friend and simply express your feelings but what if your friend is far away from you. Still you have some options like, you will write a letter, send an email, send WhatsApp or Facebook message or via a friend you’ll convey your message to your friend or maybe some other way but the fact is that in all those ways you have to rely on someone and put your trust in their hands.
There may be fact that something can go wrong in between. The mail company may lose the letter somewhere along the way, or email/WhatsApp/Facebook service might get hacked or crashed while sending your message or, your friend forgot to convey your message. The message is very common and you will not be worried if it gets hacked but what about if you want to send some confidential information to your friend that is of billion dollars.
Would you still be relaxed until your message reached your friend? The answer is NO. This time you will not send your message the way you usually send it without any tension. Here comes the very popular technology blockchain that doesn’t rely on the third person and that’s why it is secure.
Blockchain was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and he explained the idea in his article that changes the way we store data forever. The idea ensures that this type of storage will provide the facility in which everyone can see what is inside and make sure that everything is real, nothing is fake. If something is on the network it can’t be changed even a single bit, it stays forever.
All data shared in blockchain is compressed in blocks and once any block is added into the chain after being approved, it can’t be altered. In case if you want to change/modify something, you have to add a new block on the top of the previous block and that will notify all other participants that you have added something. It is also possible that you can go a block back to see the information stored earlier.
Let’s consider the previous example- Imagine that you had a nasty conversation with your friend and don’t want to go further with her/him and want to send a message saying that “You are not what you were before and I hate you!” through blockchain. Once this letter is approved, the letter is compressed into a block and added to the chain and all participants will get a notification that your friend is not trustworthy.
But after some days, all things sort out between both of you and now you want to send a message saying that “I still Love You” so you have to write another letter for apology purpose and when this letter gets approved and added to the blockchain, everyone will seeth the relationship changes between both of you. All the users can now see both letters, the earlier one where your friend was not trustworthy and the new one where you again have the same bonding. So what this example mean here? A blockchain is a records holder, where all data is safe and saved forever. You can read and analyze any data.
Blockchain has no central storage. Each member inside blockchain has a copy of all data. You can keep all data on your side but it is not necessary. No one can change even a comma in your data because all other members have the original copy of the data and will simply exclude the one where you changed something if you are not the owner of that data. The rule of the blockchain is that only the owner of the data can make changes.
If you want to make transactions on the blockchain, you need a wallet. A wallet is required to store and exchange bitcoin. Blockchain member gets two keys: a private and a public one. One interesting thing is that how the system knows that it’s you who is making changes? Well, the answer is with the help of these keys and asymmetric cryptography.
If a message is encrypted using a particular public key, only the owner of the paired private key will be able to decrypt the message. When you want to send a message to your friend through a blockchain, you need to broadcast a message encrypted with the private key of your wallet, only you know the private key of your wallet which is required for unlocking the wallet. As a result, your message gets encrypted and generates a digital signature on it.
Each encrypted message needs to be approved by the other members or we can say by their systems before it becomes available for the receiver party. A digital signature is used by blockchain computers to double check the source and the authenticity of the requested transaction. The digital signature is a string of text that is the combination of the transaction request and private key, therefore it cannot be used for other transactions. If you make any change in the transaction request then the digital signature will change.
Your friend can easily access the message that you want to send him/her using the receiver’s key, which is, in turn, is generated somewhere along the lines of encrypting and signing your messages/transactions.
The total number of possible Bitcoin addresses is 2¹⁶⁰ or 1461501637330902918203684832716283019655932542976. This large number protects the network from possible attacks while allowing anyone to own a wallet. Also, an attacker has to compete against the whole network to break the blockchain system which is almost impossible.
For now, it is almost impossible to hack your private key because it is a very long and complicated as shown above. So saying blockchain is the new era of storing data in a secure way will not be a wrong statement.
Blockchain technology is progressively taking over the business world. The technology was once considered to be confined to bitcoins. But with time, it has proved that bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg; the potential of the technology is beyond decentralized transactions and even our expectations. Blockchain technology revamped several industries, including Real Estate, Healthcare, Education, and Legal industry to name a few. It opened new doors of opportunities and profit for the entrepreneurs and established brands. However, the most surprising application of Blockchain is in the mobile app economy.
Wondering what is the need of Blockchain technology in the mobile industry? How can Blockchain revolutionize the world of mobile applications?
The mobile economy is undoubtedly growing rapidly and is expected to be of worth $6.3 trillion by 2021. The app stores are jammed with millions of apps and both the app developers and users are getting access to better facilities. However, despite this exponential growth and technological innovations, the mobile application development economy is still facing various issues which cannot be overlooked.
Major Mobile Economy Concerns and How Blockchain Technology Can Solve Them
Alike other centralized systems, the mobile economy also involves various intermediaries between the mobile app developers and users. These entities help in discovery, distribution, and financial transactions but at the same time, deters transparency. As a result, we face situations like security threats, inaccessible in-app purchases, data leaks, and malware-plagued downloads which not only have an adverse impact on the user experience but also affect the mobile app performance and ROI.
As we saw in our Entrepreneur’s Guide to Blockchain, the technology, with its decentralized, distributed and secure ledger feature, has the potential to revamp the way app economy functions and make the end user experience seamless and enticing. If applied correctly, blockchain can tackle the following major concerns related to mobile app economy:
App Approval
With Google and Apple’s app store being the duopoly, the current app approval process is completely handled by them. They decide which mobile app will be published on their app store and which not, based on various non-transparent quality assurance processes and distribution policies. This not only makes the process cumbersome and time-consuming but also increases the confusion among mobile app developers in case of app rejection. On the flip side, less transparency app approval process raises the risk of distribution of malware-plagued apps by the users, and thus, lesser security in the app market. With the introduction of Blockchain technology into the process, the app approvals can be made universal and transparent through a developer reputation system. The reputation system will be directly linked to the financial transactions on the public ledger and will be available for investigation all the time (as you can see in the image below). Besides, various means will be employed for identity verification and users will be empowered to create rankings for the mobile app developers and the apps they create. This will streamline the app approval process and help the smartphone users take the decision of downloading the app based on the ranking (see the image below), which will ultimately build trust, enhance security, boost downloads, and uplift app revenue.
Advertising
According to Statista, there are more than 2.8 million apps in Google Play Store and about 2.2 million apps in the Apple’s App Store. To reach the target audience and enjoy the limelight, the mobile app developers have to invest in CPI, i.e., Cost Per Installation campaigns. These campaigns are non-transparent and overpriced, which makes the situation shady and risky. Moreover, as you can see in the picture below, the profit gained by the mobile application developers from the advertising is divided and shared to middlemen because of which the developers get much lesser earnings than expected.
Blockchain technology can reinvent the advertising method by eliminating all the middlemen and establishing a new CPI campaign. Termed at CPA (Cost per attention), this campaign will let the mobile application developers directly reward the users for spending time on their mobile app (as you can see in the image below).
Blockchain technology, in the form of Smart contracts, will allow the developers to examine if the users spent required time on their app or not. Apart from this, the technology will let the users store their earnings in wallets and use to buy in-app items efficiently.
In-App Purchase
A recent report by We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed that nearly two-thirds of the world’s population uses a smartphone now. However, only 2 billion of the mobile users have access to the payment methods that are necessary for in-app purchases. Apart from this, according to the traditional app in-app process system, the user pays to the app store, deal with the bank transfer fees, credit card fraud cases, circumstances of chargebacks, and so on. Then, the mobile app developer receives the payment from app store going through the same hassle. The consequence is that neither the end users are able to enjoy the perks of in-app purchase nor app developers are able to get the best out of their app monetization strategy (check the image below). Blockchain technology will let the mobile app users use and spend their CPAt reward even in the absence of credit card and other such payment solutions. In addition to this, the Blockchain will empower mobile application developers to get 85% instead of 70% of transaction value by eliminating the middlemen (as shown in the image below).
Other Applications of Blockchain in the Mobile Industry
Apart from solving the aforementioned concerns, blockchain technology will also generate new ways to streamline the mobile application development process and cater user needs significantly, such as:
Infrastructure Protection
By gathering DNS entries on a decentralized secure platform, the blockchain technology empowers the app developers to keep the whole domain records under their control – no one can alter the entries without their consent.
End of Passwords
By investing in Blockchain app development, the app developers will be able to authenticate devices as well as users without asking for any password. Its network decentralization feature will help create consensus among the involved parties for the authentication of Blockchain based SSL certificates. This will ease the transaction process and again, boost trust among the two involved parties.
The Blockchain technology, though in its initial state now, will redefine the mobile app economy and offer the opportunities to the mobile app developers and users that they have been waiting years for. The technology will solve the three major concerns associated with the mobile economy, will build a trustable and transparent connection, and provide an open-standard platform where all could communicate and add value to the mobile world.
Blockchain technology is one of the driving forces in the world of innovation. It has revolutionized various industries, including Healthcare, Supply chain, Mobile app, Retail, Real Estate, and Finance by adding a layer of security and transparency into their processes. And on the way, it has become one of the most loved technologies by Entrepreneurs.
Artificial Intelligence has also made a similar impression on the business world. The technology, in the form of Chatbot, has revamped the traditional businesses and upgraded the customer experience. It has established itself as a core part of every business – be it finance, travel, retail, healthcare, real estate, or mobile apps.
Both Blockchain and AI have set the foundation of a new business era in one way or the other. But have you ever wondered what will happen when the two technologies will converge? Will their coexistence fit into the industry world? Will they improve the economy or make it worse?
Before we dig deeper into how the fusion of two technologies will appear and how it will change the face of businesses, let’s have a quick glance at what importance does Blockchain and AI holds in the present market.
AI and Blockchain – A Brief Introduction
Artificial Intelligence is the technology that makes machines smart enough to mimic human intelligence and perform tasks on their own. The technology, with its impressive features, has brought a paradigm shift in the business world – making everyone understand why investing in Artificial Intelligence is the need of the hour.
The technology is expected to continue making a major impact on the business market as shown by the following statistics:-
The global market for Artificial Intelligence will be of worth $190 billion by 2025.
By 2019, 40% of digital transformations will be done via AI.
AI-enabled voice assistants will hit more than 4 billion devices across the globe by this year.
Companies relying on AI data will take $1.2 trillion a year from non-insight driven firms by the year 2020.
Blockchain, in layman language, is a distributed ledger that stores all the transactions in nodes in a transparent and secure manner. The technology, with its exciting characteristics, has disrupted the business world in numerous ways and made everyone interested in going through this digestible guide to Blockchain app development.
Blockchain has also demonstrated a wider future scope as depicted from the statistics:-
According to IDC, $11.7B will be spent on Blockchain by the year 2022, with a compounding annual growth of 73.2%.
69% of banks across the globe are experimenting, and around 90% of North American Banks and European banks are investing in Blockchain development solutions to make their processes seamless, secure and transparents.
Banks and Finance firms are predicted to save around $8-12 B annually by embracing Blockchain powered decentralized finance solutions.
While we have covered the basics of AI and Blockchain, let us bring Big Data in the mix too, to gain a better understanding of the relationship of the two disruptive technologies.
So, here we go.
The Trifecta Factor: AI, Big Data and Blockchain
Big Data prepares the ground for the advancement of both AI and Blockchain. It empowers businesses and blockchain app developers to accumulate a heap of data into structured components.
This data is further employed by AI-powered machines and applications to understand the user behavior and deliver personalized customer experience. Whereas, Blockchain relies on Big Data to get the analyzed data that can be stored in its distributed ledger and made accessible to people, depending on if it is on a public or private network.
With this, we have taken a quick recap of the basics of the disruptive technologies, let’s jump directly to how they complement each other – beginning with impact of AI on Blockchain industry.
How AI Can Change Blockchain System?
Though Blockchain has proven to be the finest technology in the marketplace to invest in, it also has some limitations. The answer to how to combine AI and blockchain will lead Artificial Intelligence in the scenario to emerge out as the right solution to make Blockchain a perfect evolution in the following ways:-
1. Better data management
Currently, Blockchain relies on hashing algorithms for data mining. These algorithms work with a ‘brute force’ approach where the algorithm strives to find every possible combination of characters until the one that goes with the verification process is found. This complicates the whole process and demands higher efforts.
This feature of artificial intelligence can give an escape from this approach by providing a more intelligent approach which makes the data management process seamless.
2. Improved energy consumption
By improving the data mining system, Artificial Intelligence for Blockchain can help with streamlining the whole process. This will eventually help in cutting down the number of efforts and time invested in mining the data in the Blockchain sphere.
3. More scalability
As the Blockchain scaling problem explained by Cointelegraph, the size of Blockchain is growing at a substantial pace of 1MB for every 10 minutes – with existing data being somewhere around 85vMB. But, there’s no effective method currently in practice to deal with data optimization and elimination processes.
Artificial Intelligence, in this scenario, can help by introducing an advanced decentralized learning system or a new data sharing technique that makes the system more efficient and open new ways for Entrepreneurs to look into Blockchain for startups and Enterprises.
4. Enhanced efficiency
The speed and effectiveness of performing a P2P transaction in a Blockchain system costs around $600 million a year. And one of the reasons behind is that each node executes the same task on its own copy of data so as to be the first one to come up with a solution.
AI can improve this situation by providing an intelligent system that looks into which node is going to deliver the solution at the earliest and informing other nodes to shut down their efforts. This will eventually cut down the cost involved as well as upgrade the efficiency of the whole system.
5. Higher security
Though Blockchain is known for its unbeatable security characteristics, the applications designed using the technology are not so secure. This is another sphere where AI can prove to be a requisite addition.
Artificial Intelligence can integrate natural language processing, image recognition, and multi-dimensional real-time data transformation capabilities into Blockchain peer-to-peer linking. This avails data miners with an option to turn a large-scale system into several micro-economic environments and optimize data transactions in a secure and effective manner. Above all, it adds flexibility to the process with the help of Machine learning intelligence.
6. New data gates
In the coming years, all the data will be stored on a Blockchain and the organizations will tend to directly buy them from the data holders. In a scenario like this, AI will help with providing an intelligent method of tracking data usage, granting access, and other such tasks. They will act as data gates from where the whole Blockchain data flow will be maintained.
Now, while these are some of the ways Artificial Intelligence can improve the Blockchain system, let’s head towards how blockchain can change AI world.
How Blockchain can Transform the AI World?
The technology behind Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies will also bring major changes into the Artificial Intelligence ecosystem in the following ways:-
1. Better transactions
Blockchain, with the help of Smart contracts and Consensus models, ensure that all the app data, customer details and that of financial transactions are immutable, publicly accessible and recorded in real-time. This guarantees data authenticity and accuracy, and eradicate the need for involving intermediaries, which eventually results in faster, secure and fair transactions.
2. High-Quality data
By providing real-time patient data access, AI is transforming healthcare and various other business verticals. But, one challenge the AI-enabled apps and software are facing is that they have limited access to data. They often could not access data that is governed by some other entity. Besides, they find hard to look into data authentication. An outcome of which is low-quality data is considered many times to predict the results.
Blockchain, in this situation, provides a heap of data which is not owned by a single entity, is immutable and accessible to all. It also empowers the implementation of certain rules, data and analytics into compliance in a sequential and secure manner with the help of Smart contracts. This, as a whole, helps to gain high-quality data in real-time without compromising on data privacy and security compliances.
3. Decentralized intelligence
As we covered in the last point, the existing AI-powered business models faces various issues due to centralization of data. This makes it difficult for an AI system to render the most accurate decisions.
Blockchain, in this context, can enable frictionless access to information that is shared and authenticated by all the stakeholders involved in the network. Besides, the consensus algorithm can ensure that the data written in the blockchain are not limited to any particular scenario and do not lose their credibility. Once it is proved, the AI system can go for a comprehensive study of the data, its behavior, study pattern, and much more to unveil the information never noticed before. These insights can further be used by deep learning algorithms to derive factually accurate decisions and make better predictions for the end customers.
4. Lower market entry barriers
Apps and software designed using Artificial Intelligence suffer from various market barriers due to lack of authentication, involvement of intermediaries, risk of inaccuracy, monopoly ownership on data, etc. Convergence of AI with Blockchain technology can lower down the ownership of a single entity, eliminate intermediary, and assure that the data is secure, accurate and authenticated by the stakeholders involved. In this way, it paves a way to enter the market at the earliest and in a profitable manner.
5. Greater transparency
Blockchain technology features will add transparency to the Artificial Intelligence system. It posts all the detailed involved in making a decision by AI machine on a blockchain, which is accessible in real-time. Whenever a decision goes wrong, the businesses can look into the blockchain to inspect what is the root cause of the failure or issues encountered and plan for a better strategy.
6. Improved artificial trust
AI is bringing a major impact on businesses, but it is still facing major challenges in terms of trustability. Blockchain, in this scenario, will ensure that a publicly accessible yet immutable public registry is maintained that will contain your data and related models in the form of a cryptographic digital signature. Every user can access the information authenticated and verified by smart contracts and consensus models in real-time. This, altogether, will eliminate the need for introducing intermediaries and eventually, upgrade the trustability into the AI ecosystem.
With this, we have seen the impact of AI on Blockchain and vice-versa. So let’s look into the next main part of the article, i.e, what are the advantages of the convergence of the technologies.
Benefits of Co-evolution of the Two Technologies
Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, when treated as a single entity, will resolve various challenges and come up with a myriad of new opportunities. Some of these possibilities are:-
1. Better decision making
The co-evolution of AI and Blockchain technology will also improve the decision-making process. On one side, AI algorithms will help to detect the frauds and risks associated with any transaction or app, on the other side Blockchain will assist in improving the accuracy of the data used for fraud prediction by AI algorithms with its simple and secure data auditing process.
2. Secured personalized experiences
The AI and Blockchain convergence will also enhance the personalized experience delivered to the customers. While AI will continue to work with highly sensitive personal data, Blockchain will ensure that the data remains immutable and secure using the best cryptography encryption technique. This will prevent the circumstances when AI fails to serve customers with the right personalized experience due to data violation done by data intruders or others.
In other words, Blockchain will offer security with encryption, while AI will provide more privacy to the end users in terms of their experience on platforms like Netflix and Amazon using the Blockchain-secured data.
3. Higher trustability
Merging the two technologies will empower users to look into what and how their sensitive data is stored, managed, and employed without compromising on the privacy and security front. It will help them to audit every single step into the decision-making process, which will boost public trust.
4. Increased accessibility
Blockchain and AI together will cut down the hassle associated with payment methods. While Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies will put the currency barrier to end and foster international trading, AI will improve the operational efficiency of the process, ensure higher security, and reduce the cost associated.
5. New business models
Another benefit of dual technologies is the introduction of newer business models. The Blockchain will provide frictionless access to the information of the complete business ecosystem, with all the stakeholders contributing immutable data without worrying about the ownership of the network. This will provide an AI system with the opportunity to get deeper insights from the patterns, behaviors and other factors related to the working of a business. And thus, deliver with more factually accurate decisions, or better say, newer business models.
6. Improved smart contracts
Smart contracts, as explained in our Smart Contract guide, are offering various perks like higher speed, minimum to zero disputes, improved data storage, etc. to the business world. But, their use is confined due to the sophistication of the program. AI, by integrating with Blockchain, will make it possible for smart contracts to encode and validate complex commercial relationships on a blockchain. Thus, improved smart contracts will come into existence. Besides, the self-executing contracts will provide different levels of quality based on the price changes managed by AI-based system.
7. Data monetization
Another advancement that may be feasible by joining the two technologies is the approval of information. Monetizing gathered information is a big revenue for big organizations, like Facebook and Google. Having others choose how information is sold to make profits for organizations, shows that information is being weaponized against us.
For AI algorithms to learn and develop, AI organizations will be needed to purchase information directly from its makers, through data centers. This will make the entire technique a way more honest strategy than it is in today’s time, without tech giants misusing its users. Such data centers will additionally open AI for more small corporations. Creating and feeding AI is unrealistically expensive for organizations that don’t generate their insight.
8. Smart computing power
If you somehow happened to work a blockchain, with all its encrypted information on a laptop, then you’d like a massive amount of process power. The hashing algorithms used to mine Bitcoin blocks, for instance, take a “brute force” approach – which consists of efficiently systematically identifying all potential candidates for the solution and checking whether every candidate fulfills the problem’s statement before confirming a dealing. Imagine an AI based algorithm, which could practically polish its abilities in real-time if it was provided with appropriate training data.
With this now attended to, it’s time to dive deeper into the concept and determine what will be the impact of technology on your business.
Impact of AI-Blockchain Convergence on Industries
The applications of Blockchain and AI combination are almost similar in all the businesses. But, to ease the process, let’s check the impact of AI-Blockchain collaboration on all the industries individually.
1. Healthcare
Both Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology in Healthcare industry are offering new opportunities for both patients and healthcare service providers at their independent level. But when it comes to work altogether, the healthcare organizations and patients will experience the next level of services.
Intersection of blockchain and AI in Healthcare will offer the opportunity to safeguard the medical records against cyber attacks as well as access the data in a decentralized layer and give people ownership of their data, eliminate the monopolistics power of the top tech giants like Google and Apple, and empower patients to share their data with anyone on their own terms and receive personalized responses.
2. Retail
Merging AI with blockchain technologies will double the impact of AI in Retail business. It will empower the retailers to save the insights of their customers in immutable blocks and record the whole process so as to determine what factors were involved, if their marketing plan fails. Besides, it will enhance the payment process and eradicate the risk of frauds.
3. Supply chain
Benefits of combining blockchain and AI will result into an all new world. The technologies, as a single unit, will help to optimize supply chain in a far secure and effective manner as well as offer better insights into what should go in the first place. This, in turn, will enhance the experience of everyone involved and result in higher business profits.
4. Finance
Integrating Blockchain with AI will also streamline the processes in Finance sector. While Blockchain will build trust into the industry in the form of Smart Contracts, AI will cut down the dependency on humans to understand human emotions and predicting the next step to be taken, which will eventually enhance the automation and performance level.
5. Government
Blockchain and AI merge paths together to revamp the definition of democracy. The technologies will transfer the control over data from big group of people to the whole public, while maintaining the security and quality of data.
Besides, the AI and Blockchain technologies will aid in tracing e-voting procedures and making them accessible to all the citizens in real-time.
6. Mobile applications
Basically the combination of AI and blockchain can increase the efficiency and the reaction time. For example, there is a payment to be made. Thus, blockchain will make the payment channel smooth and transparent, consequently improving the speed. Simultaneously, AI will characterize which gateway should be utilized, and how the client intends to finish the payment. This way both the technologies will accelerate the payment page, hence expanding the checkout experience.
Use Cases of the AI-Blockchain Convergence
Some of the companies that have invested in the combination of blockchain and AI projects to enhance their existing processes are:-
1. Engima
Enigma is serving with a data marketplace that empowers secure off-chain computation. This marketplace is designed with an aim to let companies share data that users can subscribe to and obtain via smart contracts.
2. Numerai
Numerai supplies crowdsource machine learning issues to data scientists and empower them to record their results into an AI-meta model for a short/long period of time and bet on the effectiveness of their proposed output/model. Once the turn period is over, they can check whose result is nearly correct and share the earning based on the terms and conditions pre-decided.
3. SingularityNET
SingularityNET collaborates the use of AI in Blockchain to develop a decentralized open market for Artificial Intelligence where anyone can monetize AI. That implies anyone can buy and sell AI algorithms at a larger scale, and thus improve its capabilities. One of the popular use cases of SingularityNET is Sophia.
4. Computable labs
Computable Labs is creating new Internet infrastructure for AI to get democratize access to data and algorithms and is striving to supply a Token Curated Registry (TCR) that act as a hub for buying/selling of data.
5. Ocean protocol
Another use case of AI-Blockchain coevolution is Ocean Protocol. It is an ecosystem for data sharing and monetization that offers a tokenized service layer with an aim to provide safe, transparent and secure access to data, especially to AI-enabled entities.
6. Synapse AI
Synapse is employing the AI Blockchain convergence to build a decentralized data and intelligence marketplace for trainers, researchers, processors, and contracts that can be approached in real-time programmatically.
As seen in the above Blockchain and AI use cases, the idea of integrating these technologies is attracting a vast number of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. However, the process of combining the two technologies is not as easy as it seems. There are various challenges associated with the convergence of Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain, about which we will cover in the next section.
7. Hanson robotics
World popular robot Sophia, created by Hanson Robotics, is taking machine intelligence to another level. Sophia has been wired to physically manage data and decide her reactions and responses accordingly. She utilizes various AI modules to take her activities keenly.
8. Namahe AI – supply chain
Aiming to acquire transparency and connect the different components of significant value chains, Namahe AI monitors the inventory and supply chain process in real time and reports glitches, delays and fakes in the framework and highlights such information so that professionals can review it. It leaves less scope for any misuse. Namahe AI will additionally send machine learning that will permit AI to predict future business and irregularities.
Challenges Associated with the Integration of Blockchain and AI
When talking about integrating Blockchain and AI technologies, various challenges come into play, such as:-
Blockchain technology is decentralized and its nodes are heterogeneous in nature. Because of this, if Blockchain is public and open-sourced, it will be difficult for AI outputs to come at a single point.
The two technologies are poles apart and the concept of combining the two is still new. Because of this, a huge amount of time and money is required for exploring AI and Blockchain and look into similar grounds.
Another challenge related to Blockchain integration with AI is Security. Blockchain is a publicly distributed, decentralized and securely encrypted database that serves AI with unlimited and reliable information. The technology is based on cryptography algorithms which make stealing of data a daunting task. But, in order to make AI make changes into the secured data and drive better predictions, it is crucial to decrypt the files first, which results in data hacking.
The ecosystem implementing the convergence of the two technologies demand a higher computing power. For example, a single search on Google search engine will take around a trillion times more time to ensure security and progressiveness. This makes it tough to maintain the speed into the process.
So, here were some of the challenges that prevent companies to leverage the benefits of blending AI and Blockchain together. While you can discuss them with our Blockchain consultants via this simple contact form, let’s head towards what are the future holds for the collaboration of the two technologies.
What Future Beholds?
If you consider Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain individually, both are proving to have a brighter future. On one side, the AI software market is expected to reach %59.8 billion by 2025, while on the other side, the global market for Blockchain is predicted to be worth $3 trillion by 2024.
But when talking about the convergence of Blockchain and AI, the concept of combining the technologies is still in its nascent phase. The collaboration of these technologies through AI development company and blockchain development companies has gained a fair share, but in the experimental phase only, which implies we still have to wait for a while to understand what opportunities the integration offers and how to embrace them.
With our global platform of AI development services in USA, Asia and other countries, we assist our customers and clients to leverage the latest technology to the utmost and provide better ROI for your business.
Blockchain – the concept/technology as powerful as the Internet itself has moved from the time when it was deemed to be overhyped to now when it has become an important part of a number of industries, banks, and government.
While the technology has made a prominent place in a number of processes on a very high-level and have found associations among a number of big brands like –
A general assumption has been formed that the disruptive technology is only practical for big names of the world and has, as a result, made itself very unapproachable for mass usage, unintentionally.
Our intent today is to remove the assumption and make Blockchain Startups a technology occurence that can be implemented on mass scales by businesses and industries of all size and across all categories. While, there have already been several use cases of Blockchain in Enterprise setup, it is the startups that need to reform with the power of Blockchain at the back of them.
Something we are going to attend to in this article.
This article is for you to get acquainted with the abilities of Blockchain for startups and how it can be used to not just make your business efficient but also mark it as a brand that is highly innovative. We will help you identify the ways Blockchain Startup can impact and make your processes a lot easier. And in case you wish to dive deep in the technology’s ABC, head on to our handbook on Entrepreneur’s Guide to Blockchain.
Now without further delay, let us get on to what can Blockchain do for YOU.
What can Blockchain do For Your Startups?
Can make you early adopters
Just like the starting days of the Internet, the Blockchain world is underdeveloped to a huge extent. There are a number of critical elements that will have to be addressed before Blockchain becomes a mass phenomenon.
For startups that are willing to act as fast movers and follow the plant the flag strategy, there is a golden opportunity to conceive and grow a community before space becomes too overly crowded with Blockchain business applications.
By investing time and resources to develop a business model with Blockchain at the center of the processes or even a major part of the working mechanism, will automatically give startups an edge over others working in the same domain – something that all startups need in a time where there are thousands of businesses working in the same category, fighting for the same piece of market.
Can Replace Antiquated Processes With Digital Systems
A number of startups operate on some or the other form of the legacy software or outdated infrastructure, which not just increases the cost of conducting business but also make them inefficient and inconsistent to a great extent. Plus, a great number of vital processes are manual in nature, meaning they are subject to the risk of human error to a massive extent.
With Blockchain for small businesses, startups will be able to solve a great amount of these issues. The technology is known to decentralize the pool of data segregated among a great number of different processes – something that solves the startups’ needs to rely on manual labor to collect and process data.
Can Secure Their Data
Cybersecurity is a point of concern for companies of all sizes across industries. The global spending on cybersecurity based services and products like automation and IoT is estimated to increase by $1 Trillion by the coming five years.
Noting the incredible security proof that Blockchain systems come with, they are poised to soon become the de-facto mode of gathering and organizing the enterprise data – and a primary answer behind the question on why do companies use Blockchain.
All the data gathered in the ledger gets automatically encrypted with the newest and greatest of the cryptographic methods, the warehouses are only accessible through a key-value mechanism which validates and authorizes the identification before granting access.
Moreover, the decentralized mechanism of Blockchain for small business reduces the security risk to a great extent. As the distributed system cannot get manipulated by any single entity, it is impossible for hackers to change the data without notifying everyone in the network – something that protects against corruption and give the control back to the actual users.
Now that you have seen how Blockchain can make your startup more efficient, let us look at the ways you can employ the technology in your startup to make your business more efficient, transparent, and decentralized. The answer which is same as one to Why do Companies use Blockchain.
Ways Blockchain for Startups Business can be Employed for Better Processes
Here are some of the top-most applications for Blockchain in your business –
1. Payment and money transfer
One of the most common applications of Blockchain in a startup is seen in use of technology in the payment and money transfer domain.
The present day story is that Blockchain is ready to transform transactions and startups are known to deal with a number of vendors across the world, for availing low-cost, high quality services. Blockchain with its cryptocurrency element comes in handy for making cross-border payments easier and a lot more cost effective than the traditional mode of payments, which are crippled by high transfer charges.
2. Contracts Creation and Abiding
As you are just starting, there are a number of contracts that you will have to get binded into – with your interior designers, your food and beverage vendor, your offshore software development company and a number of other third-party stakeholders.
With so many contracts to be made and ensured to be followed, use of Blockchain in business can come in very handy, through the Smart Contract route. Since we have already talked about the concept in our Smart Contract guide before, we won’t get too much into the depth into the mechanism here, but what we can tell you with respect to Contracts and Blockchain is that it is impossible for any of the involved party to break the Smart Contract.
3. Distributed cloud storage
A distributed cloud-storage comprises solutions around peer-to-peer decentralized cloud storage. By using the combination of cryptography and Blockchain to protect the files on both – transmission and in nodes – decentralized cloud storage makes your files unhackable and Blockchain a useful element of your startup.
In layman terms, distributed cloud storage system comes into existence when every element of the cloud storage, like processing, transport, and storage of data is put into the blockchain ecosystem. Once that happens, every data – how it moved, who accessed it, and how it was governed can be seen by everyone who has the access to the Blockchain. A system of this type help in offering full accountability, traceability, and transparency for cloud, and entities which are either using or managing the cloud.
4. Protection of Digital Identity
Another crucial application of Blockchain in businesses is Identity Management.
Identity management is something that the world suffers from. No matter what business or team size you belong to, you are never truly safe from your identity being leaked on the internet and in worst case scenario, in the hands of the hackers.
In the case of startups, what happens is that they – in an ode to seek growth and efficient performance – sign up and subscribe to a number of websites that in some cases can be malicious.
Blockchain, in this case, can be used as a platform to protect identities from fraudulent activities. The technology can help businesses handle the problems of reconciliation and authentication faced by a number of industries. Moreover, it allows businesses the freedom to develop encrypted digital identities that replace usernames and pin codes with comprehensive security elements that are capable of saving the institutions and their customers’ valuable resources and time.
5. Supply Chain Management
There are a number of different ways Blockchain can be used in business when it comes to the Supply Chain Management process, to make it more real-time, accessible, transparent, and efficient. Here are the different applications of Blockchain in SCM –
Provenance Tracking
In the blockchain-powered supply chain management process, provenance tracking and record keeping become very easy for the product information can be easily accessed through RFID tags and embedded sensors. Everything about the product, straight from origination to its present status can be tracked via Blockchain. Along with this, the provenance tracking can also be used for detection of frauds in any part of supply chain.
Cost Reduction
When Blockchain is used in supply chain for speeding up the administrative processes, the additional costs occurring in the system gets automatically reduced with the transactions’ security guaranteed. Secondly, elimination of intermediaries and middlemen in the supply chain lowers the chances of product duplicacy, frauds, while saving them a lot of money. The payments made can even be processed by the suppliers and customers in supply chain with cryptocurrencies rather than them relying on the EDI.
Establishing Trust
Having trust in complex supply chains with many participants is necessary for smooth operations. For example, when a manufacturer shares his products with suppliers, he/she should be able to depend on them for following factory safety standards. Also, when it comes to regulatory compliances such as custom enforcers, trust plays a vital role. The immutable nature of blockchain in the supply chain is well-designed to prevent tampering and establishing trust, marking trust as the primal application of Blockchain in business.
6. Quality Customer Support
There are two ways through which Blockchain is used in Business for increasing the quality of customer support.
Data Cleansing Whether it’s due to inept data import tools or human negligence, CRM users all over the world have to deal with inaccurate or duplicate data at some level. With blockchain in place, a customer can have their very own personal block that presents companies with a unified and accurate picture of their personal information, past transactions, subscriptions, etc. Hence, blockchain helps these companies circumvent the issue of inaccurate, obsolete and duplicate data records altogether. This consequently yields better insights into customers and helps businesses engage them more effectively.
Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs aim to drive profits by adding value to the customer experience. However, due to their variable mileage, volatile value and associated privacy concerns, they prove to be cumbersome for customers and yield a low ROI. However, in a manner very similar to cryptocurrencies, brands can make use of blockchain to reimagine and reinvigorate their loyalty programs. With blockchain, consumers would have a single decentralized wallet that is compatible with all brands. They would not be bound by the rules and limitations of individual brands and point redemption would be greatly simplified. The consumer will have far greater control over the whole experience and brands will complete for their wallet by offering them better deals.
7. Advertisement and Promotion
The need for promotion while necessary for businesses of all size is something that is unignorable for startups who are just starting up and are in need of awareness in the market. Even after being one of the most important elements of a business, advertisement industry is filled with a number of loopholes that makes it unnecessarily expensive and opaque for the startups.
When Blockchain is introduced to the mix, there are a number of things that get sorted and streamlined on the promotion front.
Let us look at the benefits of using Blockchain in your business in terms of decentralized advertising.
Better Audience Targeting
Earlier, as marketers, we used to rely on more than one sources to get information on users’ buying habits. But now with blockchain, advertisers will get the freedom of creating buyers’ demographics by getting the necessary information straight from the buyer themselves. The technology will gather all the information that the users wish to share their buying pattern and get them to the advertisers.
Reliable Ad Buys
The problem with online advertising is the lack of knowledge related to the fact that it is absolutely difficult to know whether the people who clicked on the ads were genuine buyers or paid clickers. However, since blockchain is transparent, advertisers can easily make out if the clicks that they are getting, even coming from the population they are targeting or not. This way, the ad buys would prove itself to be of value to money.
Ad Verification
Many times, it so happens that you see a banner advertisement on Facebook listing price of the product as N, but when you visit the site, the number is shown as X. The identification and rectification of issues such as these are the tasks done by the Ad verifiers, whom the networks pay heavily to. However, blockchain helps ensure that the actual information is exactly same as what shown in an advertisement. It reduces the heavy cost that is associated with the ad auditing process.
Management of Advertisement Inventory
Ad inventory, as we all know is the space that advertisers have for ad selling. It can be calculated on the monthly basis. The information that goes into the whole ad inventory management cycle – number of space, length of the advertisement, maintaining records of which day is assigned to which brand, the amount that has to be charged space placement wise etc. – are way too much to handle manually. By using smart contracts and blockchain, brands can not just manage the inventory better but also get payments from advertisers on time.
8. To Generate Funds
One of the biggest sign of success for any startup and also the one which helps them grow to their maximum ability is the amount of investments that they receive. The moment your startup gets backed by investors, you don’t just become an establishment to look out for but also get sufficient funds to support your growth and expansion needs.
Now, when we talk about generating funds or raising investments, there are quite a few options available to the startups and entrepreneurs – Crowdfunding, Angel Investments, Venture Capitalist, Bank Loans, Small Business Administration Loans, etc. While out of all of these modes of generating funds, Venture Capitalist has established itself as the most preferred form of raising fund as entrepreneurs get not just funds but also the experience of VC investors, ICO (a Blockchain powered mode of raising fund) is soon replacing the VC model.
There are a number of reasons that have not just brought the demand for VC and ICO at an equal stage but have also increased the fund investment count for ICO fund model. But, the ones that make ICO ideal for you are:
Easier:
Compared to the VC fund model that asks for entrepreneurs to come prepared with validating market and financial response that proves how your startup or idea is a success, ICOs have a lot fewer benchmarks to follow, making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise funds through the ICO route.
Global:
While VC funding operates within a set geographical boundary, ICO can be raised from investors in the UAE while you are in Australia.
Speedy:
As opposed to the VC funding timeline to raise funds, ICO lasts for around 30 days, only. Making it a lot speedy for entrepreneurs to raise money.
So, here were the several benefits that come tagged with the integration of Blockchain in a startup. But, these benefits like all the genuine, validated benefits, don’t come without their set of challenges.
Specially when the technology is as disruptive and less explored as Blockchain, the instances of businesses facing a challenge in its implementation is very obvious.
Let us look at what challenges Startups face and the probable solutions there can be to overcome and adopt the technology in the business process.
Challenges Startups have to overcome
Complexity in Regulations
The biggest obstacle facing enterprise blockchain adoption is the lack of regulations safeguarding entrepreneurs if something goes wrong. While, there are a number of regulations coming up aimed at bettering the Blockchain adoption rate, the time when you will have a legal regulation in place is still far away.
Presence of Legacy Systems
Startups that wish to actually benefit from Blockchain will have to have a DLT based infrastructure, something that requires technical know-how and capital. The solution to this is investing in skilled Blockchain developers who know how to integrate the technology in the existing system and then integrate on a small scale rather than going all in.
High Hack Incidents
For something anointed to be highly secure, Blockchain doesn’t come sans hack and security breach instances. The internet is filled with Blockchain hack events causing people a loss of millions and millions of money, making safety the biggest factor keeping Blockchain receive full Enterprise adoption.
The solution to this challenge is employing Private or Permissioned Blockchain ecosystem instead of Permissionless or Open Blockchain. By making Blockchain permissioned, you add another security level to the mechanism, making it completely unhackable. Also, since the number of stakeholders, in this case, lowers, the throughput time increases by manifold, making it easier to handle multiple transactions at one time.
Now that we have seen how Blockchain can make Startups more efficient and the probable challenges along with the ways you can conquer them, it is time to look into the Blockchain platforms that you will have to work around to employ the technology in your startup.
Enterprise Blockchain System Platforms
Here are the platforms that we have been trusting for the development of enterprise grade Blockchain system for your Startups –
Hyperledger Fabric
Quorum
VechainThor
R3 Corda
Hedera Hashgraph
As you could see, the enterprise blockchain systems usually have a lot more throughput, lesser latency, and a lot less complex consensus protocols compared to the standard public blockchains such as Ethereum or Bitcoin.
With this, you not just know why to invest in Blockchain for bettering your startup efficiency and the various applications of Blockchain in your business but also how to establish yourself as an innovative company but also what platforms to use to make it possible. What is left now is to get in touch with our Blockchain app developers and get started with the bettering of your startup.
From a time when an old school telegraph was considered to be the hottest medium of establishing communication to now when Facebook has doubled down its effort on the development of a mind-reading device, social media has already crossed several stages of evolution. Stages that have established it as a sector that is here to stay and grow. One of the pivotal factors behind the unprecedented growth that the domain is witnessing both in terms of users and scope of constant growth is the technology used in social media.
These number projections are the direct result of the direct influence of technology on social media. The constant inclusion of communication and content creation, distribution aiding technologies like native mobile apps – getting business access to users’ camera and GPS – geotagging, AI for image recognition, etc. have helped shape the current stature of the social media domain on a global scale.
In this article, we will be briefly revisiting how far social media technology innovation has come since Six Degrees, the platform that ruled 1997 followed by a look into the new technologies for social media.
The Evolution of Social Media – A Timeline and Key Events
The future of social media technology began in 1997 with SixDegrees.com, the first social media site. The platform enabled you to create a profile page, curate a list of connections, and send messages to your network. At its peak, the website was used by over one million users before being bought over for $125 million and facing an ultimate demise in 2001.
The failure of Six Degrees, like its success, was followed by a number of social media networks. Around the time and early 2000s a number of new social media platforms like Friendster, AmIHotorNot.com, MySpace emerged and witnessed their decline in the domain.
However, there were a few that, at the back of their strong business model ready for growth from day one. Here are some of the social media platforms that continue to come on top of the social media landscape in terms of user count –
In addition to these, there were some other key names in the social media technology evolution landscape – LinkedIn, foursquare. Grindr, Pinterest, Snapchat, amongst others.
An unvalidated fact behind the growth and sustainability of the selected social media platforms can be seen in the incorporation of the right technology in the domain. Let us delve into it deeper.
The Importance of Technology in Social Media
The role of technology in social media evolution, although starts with the advent of smartphones and laptops on a precise level, begins with mobile apps. In 2019 alone, it was estimated by a Lyfemarketing report that over 91% of all social media users use social channels through mobile devices.
There can be a number of reasons behind the rise in mobile application adoption for social media usage:
Convenience in terms of not having to open a laptop and opening the application within three clicks.
Integration with mobile in-built features like camera, location, microphone, etc.
Ease of capturing and sharing content
We believe that up until this point you must have gathered the need for social media application development. However, the list of the impact of technology on social media doesn’t just end with one component. There are a number of other technologies like APIs, geotagging, QR codes, etc which have contributed to making social media where it stands today.
Technology incorporation makes social media accessible, safe, and real-time in addition to making the sector operate seamlessly with users’ experience through the mode of automation, integration with other social media applications, and eCommerce.
With the benefits of technology and social media peeked into, let us move on to the list of technologies that are helping social media app developers take the sector to its next evolution set.
Technologies Driving the Future of Social Media
1. RFID – Radio Frequency Identification Tags
RFID, in layman terms, means a small computer chip that can store information about an individual or object. Every chip comes with a unique serial number that can be tied to the information present on the chip. Let us give you a practical application of this technology through this example – Suppose you are at a music concert and you scan your RFID device with an RFID device that has social features integrated into it. By simply bringing your RFID device to the other one, you will be able to Like a band on Instagram or Facebook or download a couple of their music tracks on your device.
The growing popularity of RFID in the event and eCommerce domain (through the mode of NFC) has led to a number of social networking app development companies integrating RFID into their mobile applications.
2. Augmented Reality
AR and mixed reality are some of the most popular social media application features. There are a number of use cases that social media houses experiment with when integrating AR with their applications but the one that has witnessed mass popularity is the use of face filters. Popularized by Snapchat, AR-driven filters are used by both individuals and businesses to deliver engaging content.
Another example of business-level usage of AR in social media can be seen in social media advertisements. Last year, Snapchat created an AR-based app for Snap Original where Bhad Bhabie interacted with the users as if they were interacting in the real world.
3. Artificial Intelligence
Out of all the new-age technologies that you will read about impacting the social media sector, the one name which will be placed on the top is Artificial Intelligence.
AI is a prime component of every social platform active in the market today. This is the number one reason why the technology is now involved in the social media app development cost on a default note.
Facebook utilizes advanced machine learning for a number of tasks: recognizing faces in poss to targeting users for advertisements and even for strengthening their search functionality.
LinkedIn makes use of AI for offering job recommendations, suggesting people whom they’d like to connect, and sending them specific posts for their feed.
Snapchat uses the capability of computer vision for tracking physical features and overlaying filters that move with them in real-time.
These business examples are a validation of how AI is a crucial part of all the different genres of the social media domain.
4. Blockchain
Decentralized social platforms is one of the most up and coming genres of the social media sector. There are a number of use cases of social media and blockchain convergence which businesses from both sides are experimenting with. Here are some of them –
The social media networks depend on ad-based business models that share a common shortcoming: the creators are unequally compensated for their content on the platform. A smart contract can be put into use here for ensuring that the creators get the amount that their content is worth without any delay or unannounced deduction.
There are businesses working towards combating internet censorship. Usually, based on a distributed ledger, the individuals will be able to read and curate their own content with a surety that no entity will be able to block access to content.
5. IoT
The last in our list of social platform and technology trends is the Internet of Things. The technology is used heavily for social media monitoring and marketing purposes by some of the top names in the industry like N&W, Disney, and Tencent, etc.
Organizations are constantly on the lookout for an IoT skilled social media app development company that would help them create solutions around real-time monitoring of data and insights coming in from social media to help them make better business decisions.
Here were the five technologies which are taking the social media sector towards a new evolution era – one that will be a lot more open and transparent in nature. Want to be a part of the revolution? Contact our team of social media experts.
