While Bitcoin continues to grab the majority of the headlines, digital currency is only the outward and most visible facet of the technical breakthrough. Bernard Marr\'s Fortune blog highlights some of the best Blockchain-based ventures currently in existence.

Financial services and fintech, as might be expected, are a step ahead of many in exploring the potential of Blockchain. High Street banks such as Barclays have several initiatives on the go, involving the tracking of financial transactions, regulatory compliance and tackling fraud.

As well as piloting one of several supply chain initiatives, the shipping giant Maersk has also unveiled plans to use Blockchain to streamline marine insurance, while a payments processing platform will use Ethereum\'s smart contracts protocol to enable automated payments. The Blockchain can also be used to authenticate goods at source and improve cyber security.

The UK, Estonia, Dubai and South Korea have all got Blockchain initiatives in mind to streamline government procedures, and in Brooklyn they are using it to generate and share energy. Other important applications are in healthcare, with initiatives involving patient record security and clinical trials. One new company is putting disease outbreak data on a Blockchain, working with America\'s Centers for Disease Control to improve disaster response and relief.