Today, we will be discussing on the positive impact of blockchain technology on society and how it will disrupt many industries. The chief commodity of blockchain isn’t all about just making money or crypto trading, it’s trusted because blockchain uses "Trust protocol".  Dr. Andrew S.Nevin, the founder of Blockchainafrica and Chief economist of PwC during coinfest keynote, Noted on the importance of more Africans getting involved with blockchain technology beyond just cryptocurrency, emphasizing this as one of the major issues why most African ICOs have failed.

The advantages of blockchain goes beyond cryptocurrency.   Blockchain offers people a way of working together that is open and where information is shared. We, humans, are at our best when we work together, and at our worst when we screw each other over. Blockchain gives us a more level playing field, allowing us to trace ideas and resources to their originator. This could be the dawn of a better world for us all. 

Blockchain, viewed by most as an underlying technology for cryptocurrencies. But if dug more, one would understand that it offers more and many major industries are to be affected for the good. The social impacts of technology are not only stupendous but also necessary.

We have conducted online mail interviews and gathered information on the positive impact of blockchain from different sources ranging from company owners and blockchain enthusiast to acquaint and get you ready on blockchain evolution.

Before we go further to discuss how blockchain will impact society, let us understand what blockchain is all about.

Blockchain is a decentralized, transparent and incorruptible digital ledger and a continuously growing list of records called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography.

Decentralization- which, for example in Bitcoin’s case, means there is no controlling entity that can ever endanger, shut down, or compromise the integrity of the open blockchain.

Consensus, which means the decentralized community is required to vote on any changes/improvements of a blockchain and it must be at least a majority vote for any changes to occur. Open blockchain truly is the most honest and pure form of democracy in the world.
Bypassing the current centralized control systems that are so unbalanced and unfair. Peer-to-peer transactions give individuals true independence and power over their own lives. There are many advantages of blockchain, but in this article, we will focus on the more pressing ones.

Below is a comprehensive overview of the positive impact of blockchain to society.

• SOLUTION IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Blockchain can solve many complex problems in the healthcare industry. A few examples are a lack of consistency with privileges and rules, differences in data standards, and the need to create health information exchanges. Blockchain can also aid with medical research because it provides researchers with more accurate data from their clinical trials. Blockchain timestamps and logs every step of the process creates additional legitimacy and integrity in clinical trials. Additionally, storing research data in the blockchain would grant access to healthcare professionals and doctors around the world. This would allow speedy diagnosing and better treatment.

• PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA

Blockchain has huge potential beyond making eye-watering amounts of bitcoin cash for early adopters. One way blockchain can improve society is by creating incentivized behaviour within decentralized applications.  This way, you know exactly what happens to you and your data when you perform an action on a platform and are even financially rewarded for it.  Traditionally speaking, profile platforms create walled data gardens in order to monetize your information.  This stifles innovation and relies on you trusting centralized services to protect your data. 

•  PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The application of smart contract technology could have a considerable impact in the area of Intellectual Property (IP), particularly for creative industries where artists aren’t always rewarded for their original content.

By using a smart contract, ownership of a particular song, piece of art or writing etc will be recorded on the blockchain. Anytime that work is used for commercial purposes, royalties could be automatically paid to the artist.

Although blockchain is all too often associated with financial transactions, the potential application of smart contract technology to the arts and creative industries is considerable. How creative content ownership is recorded, monetised and distributed could be upended through the use of blockchain technology disrupting the established studio systems, recording and publishing houses as we currently know them.  

The potential ability for individuals to sell their personal data and profit from its sale. Right now, individuals freely give their personal data to third parties and they sell and profit from that data with none of the profit being passed on the individual. Examples range from social media companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook who sell your data to advertisers to companies in other sectors such as Ancestry and 23andme who sell your data to companies, research institutions and nonprofits. However, in a decentralized system, individuals can decide who can access their personal data and for what value. This has the ability to be revolutionary as all of the sudden individuals have the ability to parse their own data and monetize it as they see fit.

•  TRACKING AND TRANSPARENCY IN TRANSACTION

Whenever a transaction is carried out via blockchain the record of it is "imprinted" on the blockchain itself. This provides transparency, easy tracking of transactions and solid protection against identity fraud.  

The ability to create transparency in transactions will provide more information to consumers so that there is greater consumer knowledge about where goods are originating and what kind of labour has gone into creating those goods which allow for more informed purchasing decisions;

i. supply chain blockchains can allow for speedy tracking of contaminated/deficient foods and products and the sending out of appropriately narrowed recalls to only effected parties; and 

ii. Government adoption of blockchain technology because it will allow government agencies to function more efficiently and effectively (i.e., CDC exploring blockchain technology for influenza tracking).

One of the many characteristics of the technology is the ability to record and track the elements of the workflow. Which is why it shows a great many impending applications in the banking sector.

To explain it better, with the help of Blockchain technology each and every transaction can be recorded effectively and permanently. This enables tracking of certain cash flows between any two parties and extended beyond. This ensures transparency. But the applications are much more than banking, one can even track the tax flow or the cash flow of their donations or anything else. And as such, it provides an instrument to fight against corruption, theft and fraud.

Generally, blockchain has a great impact on revolutionalizing business transaction due to its high level of transparent and trust and faster dealings.

•  FINTECH SOLUTION

"Blockchain's positive impact on FinTech can be tremendous in favour of our society". says, a financial expert at an international FinTech company: 

Smart contracts - A Smart Contract is basically a computer coded protocol to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. in other words, it's the notion of something that executes commercial agreements and transactions automatically. Smart contracts eliminate the middleman who fights for his own piece of the pie, reducing costs while still maintaining control of the information. With the use of an algorithm, we can fully automate the process, eliminating papers, aiming for a digital accounting ledger.

FinData security - Thanks to the decentralized way blockchain stores data, encryption and validation (the possibility to prove that the data hasn't been altered), blockchain can significantly improve financial data security. Cyber-attacks will be diminished, as it is near impossible to hack a system, that stores info in chunks on all of the devices in the network. A hacker would have to actually bring them all down the same time, which will be pretty hard, without interfering with the target data. 

Goodbye expensive, slow cross-border payments - blockchain technology will absolutely improve this particular field. It will significantly reduce the costs (up to 50% reduction) and speed up the process.

Overall simplified payment systems - One can manage his crypto keys, make transactions, being comfortable with the modern verification processes.

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The negative impact of blockchain

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