How Blockchain Technology Affects Your Life
How Blockchain Technology Affects Your Life
If you are paying any attention to the latest news regarding technological advancements and cybersecurity, one of the innovations you have likely heard a lot about is blockchain technology. There is no doubt that there is a great deal of hype regarding this innovation, and many are touting it as the next great thing that will dramatically impact and change our lives in a positive way.
But are they right? It is likely that you have a cursory understanding of the technology, and may even get the foundational principles just because of the name blockchain, but what you may not understand is that there are numerous ways that this is already being used in your daily life, and it is likely that it’s applications are only going to expand.
Those Helping to Make This a Reality
To better understand the importance and significance of this technology, it pays to have a little knowledge about who is involved in creating these innovations. If this was not such a big deal, then it would not draw some of the biggest names, but blockchain technology has brought innovators, businessmen, developers, and analysts from across several industries to help expand its reach.
It has also brought major corporations and technology innovators, such as Binance, Twitter, Coinbase, McAfee, Lightning Labs, and the founder of the programming language Javascript. There are heavy hitters involved.
What Is Blockchain?
For those who may not know much about blockchain technology, adding a little context to what this innovation is all about may help to understand how far it could expand across industries. One of the biggest challenges of the Internet age is that there are literally billions of computers, servers, and devices out there that are looking for access to one another.
This has been made possible through the World Wide Web, but there are also major risks involved with this. Hackers are always looking for susceptibilities within the system, and there are always issues with one type of system not being able to communicate with another. This is where blockchain technology has been a big difference maker.
This innovation has made it so that transactions can occur securely across platforms. This has been especially helpful in industries like banking, supply chains, and other financial transactions. Processes that demand the highest level of security to function.
However, these are not the only areas where the innovation is making his presence known. Here are some of the most common areas people will be hearing a lot about blockchain technology in the future.
The Cryptocurrency Craze
Obviously, the place where blockchain technology was focused initially and where it has dug its roots is in cryptocurrencies. This is becoming a global phenomenon, not only because several countries are working on creating their own digital currency, but there are also large businesses doing so.
We are long past the age where a bitcoin materializes out of thin air. Now major companies like Walmart and Facebook are hard at work in developing their own digital currencies.
To protect transactions, accounts, and sales, blockchain technology has become the innovation used to accomplish this task. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find many cryptocurrency traders or financial institutions that are not using this technology.
Healthcare
More insurance companies and medical service providers are storing patient records on the cloud. This enables doctors, specialists, and insurance representatives to have access to patient records to ensure that the best possible care is being provided.
This is great, but all that information stored on servers accessible by the Internet opens the door for hackers to steal that information. This is not only valuable financial information, but is medical information as well, things people want to keep to themselves.
To protect these records and to protect the flow of information between facilities, blockchain technology is becoming the answer. The use of this technology provides secure transactions so that records cannot be stolen or misappropriated.
Music Industry
This may seem like an odd use of this technology, but protecting the intellectual property of musicians, singers, and other artists is important. These men, women, and groups devote a lot of their personal time and effort into their creation, and they want to ensure that files that are transferred are protected.
Blockchain technology not only protects the secure transfer of these files, but is commonly used in pay sites where people can purchase the music. Not only is it protecting the financial transaction itself, but it is also ensuring that files cannot be stolen from the server, giving someone free access to the music.
Governments
One area where you are going to see blockchain dominate in the future is within the government. There are billions and billions of records that are processed every year by the government, and they need to provide the utmost security for these files. Think about it. The government has every record about you. That is information that simply cannot be accessed by hackers.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. You are going to see blockchain technology expand far beyond anything you can imagine today. This is the wave of the future and the future is now.
