Distributed Ledger, popularly known as Blockchain, is the technology behind making the history of any digital asset immutable, i.e., the origin and journey of the digital asset are rendered transparent and accessible, through decentralization and cryptographic hashing.

Not long ago, Blockchain was considered just hype with no real-world use-case insight. But, the technology penetrated faster and at a much larger scale. The famous use case of Blockchain, the Bitcoin, brought the much-deserved spotlight to the technology and the rest has been history.

It took a decade, but now Blockchain has been unequivocally recognized as the pragmatic solution to some very pressing challenges across industries. Overall investment in the technology is increasing and many incumbents have either acquired a Blockchain development company or have recruited an in-house team.

A whopping 53% of global survey respondents stated that Blockchain is a critical priority for their organization in 2019 and 23% have already initiated Blockchain deployment. Almost every industry has found a compelling use case of Blockchain — from financial services to healthcare to telecom and life sciences. The question now is ‘how do we adopt Blockchain’ instead of ‘why should we adopt Blockchain’.

Five major sectors that have begun observing the first wave of disruption due to Blockchain App development are:

1. Financial Services and Banking

Finance and Banking services have taken a lead in Blockchain app development. In fact, FinTech startups were the first to adopt Blockchain technology when the rest sectors considered it merely a frill and not potent enough to have practical use cases. FinTech not only imbibed it but also registered return on investment through Blockchain adoption.

Blockchain provides a secure system to register immutable records of the millions of transactions that take place within a Financial Services organization. The decentralized and distributed ledger system alleviates the risk of frauds that have been ailing the Finance pipeline. It is also purported that transactions would be cheaper up on the wider adoption of the technology.

2. Insurance

In the Insurance industry, underwriting and claims processing are the most labor and time-intensive processes. Hence, it is only logical that the early adopters look for Blockchain use cases in these areas of operation. Insurers can partner with a Blockchain development company to deploy tools that provide them visibility in existing and past insurance policies or claims associated with property/insured in the question.

In underwriting, Blockchain can decrease costs, improve dynamic pricing, improvise risk assessment, and streamline client onboarding. Besides, underwriting and claims; Blockchain apps can provide a seamless, and transparent experience in binding new policies to insureds.

3. Data Management

Data Management is not an industry per se, but an underlying function in all industries. In every workflow, it is critical that the data is accessible to only authorized users. Blockchain applications can serve as permission-based platforms and help stakeholders in detecting data tampering. Even if an attacker manages to gain access to a Blockchain network and the associated data, he/she won’t be able to retrieve the information. It is because the data blocks are fully encrypted guaranteeing secure flow for the intended users.

4. Real Estate

Real estate is one traditional sector that would soon be witnessing disruption, thanks to Smart Contracts or Cryptocontracts. In a simple definition, Smart Contract is a computer program facilitating the direct transfer of digital currencies/assets between two parties. Such contracts can allow assets like real estate to be tokenized and traded just like bitcoin or ether and transactions can be done online.

Blockchain apps can facilitate functions such as listing, payment, and legal documentation as well. Conventionally, real estate transactions involve intermediaries that claim commission along with a fee. Blockchain can expedite the complete process as transactions exclusively occur between the seller and the buyer. Moreover, by allowing fractional ownership, Blockchain lowers the barrier to real estate investing, as the asset can be traded just like stocks.

5. Product Supply Chain

Blockchain use-case in streamlining the Product Supply Chain needs a special mention as the COVID-19 crisis has put enormous stress on this business function. The supply of critical medical equipment and pharmaceuticals has been acutely affected due to this health-crisis led disruption. International multi-party contracts worth millions of dollars, that take anywhere months to years to negotiate, are getting signed in a matter of hours. But, the main limitation has been the lack of trust between the trio — demand, supply, and the financial instrument.

Blockchain applications can serve as a trading and financing instrument to ensure distributed ledger-backed payments to factories that are released as and when pre-agreed production milestones are achieved and as products traverse the supply-chain.