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Are we not petrified about what is going around us? Don’t we feel that this global pandemic situation has pushed us into a zero-trust scenario?

Somewhere at the bottom of the heart, the thin line of trust seems to be fading. It seems we are blanketed by dark clouds!

Yes! we are scared to buy things online/offline and are anxious about the origin of products and their quality standards. Likewise, medical professionals are worried about the credibility of the supply chain.

It is observed that the world is confronting new challenges amid COVID-19. The challenges include trust deficit, fake menace, anonymity, access to quality capital, supply chain agility, and resiliency. At present, our world is burdened with Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA).

There always exists a silver lining behind the dark clouds! Let’s catch that!

Let us skim over this pandemic situation and move farther from this VUCA world. Let’s not get ‘paralysis by analysis’.

BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AS THE SOLUTION

To fight with the VUCA world, I agree, there is a thirst for promising technology solution which can solve the complexity of problems. The technology solution should ensure the reconciliation of differences with records through a common consensus or a platform and bring in trust.

Here comes the best use case for BLOCKCHAIN. It is the BEST solution for current COVID-19 crisis challenges and beyond!

Blockchain helps people within companies, vendors, and end-users with its trusted ecosystem. Here, the data is encoded (encryption), cannot be altered (immutability), converted into a digital form known as tokens (tokenization), distributed and held at various places (decentralization), and control is with each participant (secure with nodes).

How blockchain can benefit every individual during the COVID-19 challenge?

FIGHT COVID-19 CRISIS WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Let the trust line not fade away! There is an opportunity to solve many inefficiencies with blockchain’s characteristic features. Here are a few common use cases for the public.

1. Blockchain and Food:

From farm to table: With smart contracts, retailers can provide their customers with indisputable proof of the provenance and authenticity of their products.

For instance, Hypermart Walmart is tracking with Hyperledger right from the farm to table using blockchain integrated with IoT (Internet of Devices) technology. They started tagging with one or two products, and, now have more than 20 products mangoes, strawberries, leafy greens, chicken pork, yogurt, almond milk, packaged salads, baby foods, and many more. Tracing of mangoes to their provenance in the US which needed 7 days then, needs 2.2 seconds now.

2. Blockchain and Healthcare:

Drug traceability: Patients can understand all about their drugs – its origin, logistics center, distribution, and pharmacy. During COVID -19 situation, holograms are being duplicated. This can be curbed with the use of blockchain technology.

Electronic Health Records (EHR): It helps patients to maintain their health records – safe, authenticated, and permissioned.

3. Blockchain and Banking:

Automated loan by smart contracts: Micro-lending and banking transactions, when powered by smart contracts, enable the customers to complete transactions without any additional online/offline confirmation. The loan gets automatically executed when the pre-contract conditions get established as recorded in the blockchain. Smart contracts also ensure that the regular EMI is moving through accounts without a paper intervention.

Also, COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many blockchain technology applications.

MANY FACETS OF BLOCKCHAIN AMID COVID-19

• According to Deloitte survey 2020, more than 30 percent are actualizing blockchain. The global market will swell to USD 23.3 bn by 2023.
• It is projected that the blockchain market will reach USD 39.7 bn by 2025, MarketsandMarkets Analysis reports.



• United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s Ministry of Community Development (MOCD) has adopted DLT-BASED solutions for verification and distribution of official documents facilitating customers with the secure engagement of the MOCD from home.
• World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a blockchain-based platform to facilitate private information sharing between individuals, state authorities, and health institutions.
• Bitcoin (BTC) mining, that dominated China was shifting across Europe, North America, and elsewhere with the growth of the mining business. Since the coronavirus sell-off, BTC is down by ~30%.
• The US share of deals fell to 31% (from 51%) and China’s rose to 22% as against 2% reported in 2015. There is a quick shift of deals from West to East.
• Governments’ efforts toward launching state-owned native digital currency are growing with China and England banks are exploring digital currencies.

To recapitulate…

Blockchain technology enables us to capture –

Information, Knowledge, Access, Attribution, Ownership, Decisive rights, Reputation, and Trust through its records, tracks, and verifications.

Blockchain is a promising solution for customers, employees, suppliers, producers, creditors, investors, governments, and its citizens.

All these and more can be realized at scale when we have the professionals with the right skills. There exists an imbalance between the demand and supply of professionals. IBM calls the lack of top blockchain talent as a ‘significant inhibitor’ to DLT adoption. Thereto, blockchain is becoming one of the most in-demand skills in 2020, as we have very few blockchain professionals at present as per LinkedIn learning.

If you have a bent for writing algorithms that can run on blockchain platforms, then don’t resist to take this as your career- which is future-centric with no second nearest competition. It is obvious and intriguing to work on an upcoming platform like blockchain which will answer many complex problems faced by the world in the coming decades.

Why not be future-ready?

Enroll for our blockchain certification programs to explore more of the technology for humanity.