Blockchain technology dates back what seems like a light year, to 2008. The distributed ledger tech (DLT) provides a secure, transparent and wholly decentralised method for all sorts of transactions. With smart contracts, these are now beginning to reach beyond the cryptocurrency level made famous in 2017, and could significantly impact many other areas.

1. Public Records & Private Credentials

Governments, banks and other institutions store increasing amounts of private information relating to individual citizens, including sensitive materials such as property, employment and financial records. DLT protects all such information from manipulation or theft, keeping it permanently and immutably on the Blockchain. It could also keep CVs and employee records secure and fraud-proof, and match them quickly and reliably with potential employers.

2. Healthcare

DLT applications in healthcare could speed up the process of testing new drugs, by matching patient records with pharmaceutical clinical trials. Greater transparency and security of patient records would improve healthcare generally and lead to fewer mistakes.

3. Voting

Using DLT could help to eliminate voter fraud, with all votes being registered transparently on all the nodes of the blockchain. If such a platform were made into a mobile app, people would no longer even have to vote in person, and this would perhaps increase voter turnout.