How Blockchain Technology Is Making Other Industries More Ef…

March 30, 2018

5 min read

This story originally appeared on Due

The ways blockchain is transforming business and technology is alarming. It seems like only a year ago only the most committed early adopters of cryptocurrencies and blockchain had heard of the tech. There were fewer who had accepted it. However, the technology is maturing. It’s gone from simple store of value to quickly building value. In fact, it’s making many industries more efficient. This includes startups who create and profit from the technology. Also, blockchain is helping numerous businesses be safer, quicker and more efficient.  

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Artificial Intelligence 

It’s no secret that data is new the oil when it comes to value. This is one of the main examples of how blockchain is making industries more efficient. Companies like Google and Facebook exchange free services like Gmail and Messenger in order to mine data from users. Additionally, these services leverage their customers’ actions to train artificial intelligence algorithms.

For example, Gmail lets users tag spam. That way, it can train its algorithm to identify it. Messenger tracks online chats to train their AI language program. The feedback is valuable. It helps optimize their business processes and data usage. 

However, these companies have a vertical monopoly on this data. They collect, use and store it in their own servers. That way, it’s for their own use. No other AI models can benefit or profit from it. Furthermore, the consumers that create the value are left uncompensated. Meanwhile, these companies make billions of dollars.

Synapse

One blockchain startup, Synapse, has created the world’s first decentralized data and AI marketplace. Here, AI systems can learn and grow together. It gives anyone the ability to contribute their data. Therefore, they can train autonomous systems and machine learning models. This powerful network will bring participants, known as agents, together. From there, they can contribute to training AI. At the same time, they are incentivized.

Synapse is ahead of the curve. They are positioning themselves to be a key part of the AI industry. This industry is expected to grow by 56 percent (compound annual growth rate) through 2025. This equates to nearly $60 billion in revenue. 

Healthcare

The state of the current American healthcare industry can be summed up in one word: inefficiency. In fact, America spends more on healthcare than any other OECD country. However, it has little to show for it. There is still poor care quality. Now, blockchain is adding this to where it is making industries more efficient.

Existing Health Records (EHRs), the system for storing and sharing medical data, is fragmented, insecure and inefficient. The most costly part is no interoperability between systems. When switching healthcare systems, patients struggle to transfer their health histories. It takes considerable time and resources to locate these records. This prevents the doctor from providing optimal care.

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Iris

Currently, the Iris Network is attempting to add value to the industry. They are replacing the inefficiency of the current system of EHRs.

Utilizing blockchain technology, Iris allows providers, patients and researchers to upload data to its blockchain network. Each participant can access a globally available, time-stamped and secure data storage. This brings EHR into the 21st century. The result is incalculable value for the healthcare industry. Researchers were once limited to voluntary surveys and academic studies due to strict confidentiality laws. Now they could have access to millions of completely confidential health profiles.

Insurance companies with access to aggregates of confidential health data would be able to properly adjust and streamline premiums and rates in real time. Blockchain isn’t just revolutionizing store of value. It’s adding value to how all types of industries operate. 

Retail investing and HybridBlock

To many millennials, cryptocurrency represented the first time many could invest, trade and profit. Previously, high fees prohibited many from participating in traditional stocks. Instead, the cryptocraze taught a generation that they could trade stocks with innovative technology, an internet connection and optimism.  

Technologies like HybridBlock, an all-in-one crypto investment learning tool, is educating millions of young new retail investors. It uses a multi-platformed interface and a one-of-its-kind mobile app. HybridBlock teaches trading crypto essentials. This includes wallets, exchanges and taxes. Also, it provides investing basics for the Facebook generation.

By capitalizing on the cheap, universal nature of cryptotrading, HybridBlock is creating potentially millions of future investors. They will invest in stocks, bonds and securities by using HybridBlock’s free and low-risk training wheels. 

Related: How Millennials Manage Their Money

Making industries more efficient

Despite the benefits, some still see cryptocurrencies as disruptive. However, the best young blockchain entrepreneurs envision the potentially symbiotic components that can help any industry become more efficient. 

(By Peter Daisyme)