Stop missing the point: 9 real-world use cases for blockchain

Blockchain has rapidly evolved since its creation in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Originally meant as a decentralised and deflationary asset for payments, blockchain has now gained widespread adoption. Have we lost sight of its original purpose? In this article we’ll explores 9 compelling use cases that designers and the wider community should be aware of for blockchain and Web3.

what the heck is blockchain?

Imagine you’re part of a neighbourhood watch group. Everyone in the community is responsible for keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. If someone sees something out of the ordinary, they report it to the rest of the group, and together they verify whether or not the activity is legitimate. This ensures that any potential security threats are quickly identified and addressed.

In a similar way, a blockchain ledger is like a neighbourhood watch group, but on a global scale. The ledger is maintained by a network of nodes, each with a copy of the ledger, who work together to validate and verify transactions. 

What's a wallet?

A blockchain wallet is similar to a real wallet, but digital. It can hold various assets that reside on one or multiple blockchains, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and can also act as a digital identity. Wallets can be paper, soft or hardware, each offering different levels of security.

If you want to learn more about wallets, you can do so here. However, the most important rule is to keep your seed phrase secure and never leave it where someone can find it!

hands holding up phones, revolution poster

real-world use cases

1. financial inclusion

In countries where traditional financial institutions are limited, companies like Banqu, unbanked, BitPesa and programs like WFP’s Building Blocks are leveraging blockchain technology to provide access to basic financial services such as digital payments and savings accounts.

2. payments

Layer-2 payment solutions like Lightning (BTC) and Raiden (ETH) continue to gain vital adoption and demonstrate promising signs of offering near-instant settlements and low fees, giving merchants options to avoid traditional slow payment systems burdened by larger bank charges.

3. provenance

Artists who want to maintain lifetime royalties on the resale of their artwork might want to take another look at the provenance provided by NFTs. Although the negative experiences of many artists who found their artwork stolen in the 2021 hype may make NFTs a challenging option to revisit.

4. identity

A blockchain wallet can serve as a secure global profile and with the assistance of smart contracts, it can authenticate your real identity by making calls to a government body, while still preserving your anonymity. This massively reduces bots online, data collection and mitigates government overreach.

5. intellectual property

Homes, cars, shoes, aforementioned art and pretty much anything else you can think of that has a monetary value can be represented as an NFT, simplifying the selling and transferring of ownership, as well as reducing the costly need for lengthy paperwork or third-party intermediaries.

6. self governance

Smart contracts can be used to automate the transferring of assets without intermediaries or lawyers, which is particularly useful for setting up funds — such as pensions, crowdfunding or for a child’s graduation — where the release of funds is conditional on a predefined criteria being met.

7. charity

Unlike traditional donations, for example, a blockchain can provide transparency into how donors’ contributions are allocated. Charities can also choose to accept donations in the form of crypto and potentially incentivise large donors to time-lock investments with in-house staking.

8. loyalty programs

Services such as POAP have been developed to enable traditional loyalty programs to migrate to the blockchain, providing tamper-proof security and added features such as the capacity to customise redeemable rewards based on specific customer actions or behaviours.

9. energy trading

Environmental enthusiasts who have kitted their homes out with solar panels or other energy-generating devices and find themselves with surplus energy can benefit from one of the many companies chasing peer-to-peer energy trading backed by smart contracts. 

to conclude

Blockchain has been battle tested for the last decade, seeing off a huge number of attacks that have looked to destabilise, ridicule and off-balance the disruptive technology. It’s time to take blockchain seriously, stop fixating on crypto speculation and understand the power of shifting the conversation of you being the product. We are still early but if you’re still diminishing the importance of how incorporating web3 can benefit humanity, you might find yourself left behind.