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The future of Blockchain


Bitcoin is a Crypto currency that first emerged 8 years ago in 2009 making it still a relatively new form of online payment. However, unlike other online payments there is a lot of underlying technology behind Bitcoin such as Blockchain that has recently gained a lot of interest. Blockchain is simple a way of storing information and in terms of Bitcoin it stores transactions. It then distributed this information between a number of severs around the world making it a lot safer than using a single server. This information then cannot be changed or erased without the majority of the servers all consenting to doing so making it almost impossible to hack. With it being a safer and stronger system than most on the market, Blockchain has become a very desirable system for a number of companies. With its vast potential it is now being more widely explored and within the next few years we should begin to see its uses. Here we have detailed just a couple of the applications Blockchain can have in the near future.

Contactless Payment Cards are have already started being rolled out by all the major banks and by the end of 2017 they should enter commercial production. These cards should be able to process the transactions through Blockchain in an instant. This technology has the ability to processes billions of transactions every day using a safer and quicker system. In time this should provide merchants with a more reliable and most importantly cheaper payment service option than those currently on offer.

Recently companies have been finding ways to use Blockchain to track the source of raw materials from around the world. Consumers often want to ensure that the product they are buying has been ethically sourced and they want to know exactly where it has been and for how long. With food products this can be a revolutionary piece of technology that hopefully more and more companies will begin to utilise.

The British Government is currently exploring Blockchain as a potential option to track money in terms of student loans and international aid. Using Blockchain would mean that they can give access to all those involved in the process and be able to see where the money goes from the treasury to the bank account of the student.

There has always been problems with online voting due to the insecurity of the systems in place which is why it has never come to pass. However, with the rise of Blockchain countries including the US are looking at this as a more accessible option for people to use. It is a lot safer and more transparent than other systems making it now a widely considered future voting option.

These are just a handful of ways in which Blockchain technology is being used to store a variety of different types of information around the world. Predictions show that because of its secure and transparent nature this technology will slowly become one of the leading systems for information storage and distribution.