After the intro into the world of bitcoin and blockchain and then showing the link to financial services, now is (finally) time for my last post in the series and this time about real world applications of blockchain. Luckily the long wait till I finally write it down, came with new findings so it was worth the extra time.

If you remember some of the prominent use cases for blockchain were:

• Identity – blockchain allows to safely store, confirm and distribute personal data which is applicable for KYC.
• Registry – blockchain could keep track of records of ownership, enable exchange of ownership of physical assets for digital ones, or just store information for public or permissioned access.
• Smart contracts – blockchain can create and execute autonomously financial contracts e.g. payouts.

And here are some interesting services that I found with time:

• Notary services are offered by Bitproof, Blocksign, Stampd and others. In the core of the services, a digital version of a signed document is uploaded and the parties share their acknowledgement in the form of a video (or other means). This comes at a 99% less cost than a traditional service and goes at a price of around 10 cents (or less) in Stampd. Ironically, I have stored the links for this article for some months and the first 2 did not open today. Not sure if they are still live, and in addition a recent article cast doubt on the readiness of such solutions as they do not seem to ensure that it was you who signed the document and that all parties did so voluntarily.
• KYC via ShoCard. ShoCard offers a digital identity solution that records your personal information and stores it on your mobile phone while keeping a hash of it on their servers. This allows to use your info in numerous places without having to repeatedly provide proof that this is you and you provide the correct information as it was already verified once. This is quite useful for speeding up the KYC procedure for financial institutions but can also go towards replacing your driving license with a digital proof and logging into websites with a fingerprint from your phone.
• Peer to peer everything – Arcade City is the “Black Market” Uber. It came to light after Uber and Lyft had to shut down operations in Austin, Texas. The response from the community was to set up a FB group where rides are requested and drivers pick them up. Arcade City aims to build on this momentum and remove the middleman in ride-sharing by connecting riders and drivers directly by using blockchain. It wants to take a small cut of payments once the company finished building its app. The company has been very controversial as it seems to have missed on promises and features but the idea is mindblowing.
• Decentralized asset exchanges and marketplaces with notable examples such as BitStamp, BitShares, RMG Royal Mint and BitBond. BitShares claims (full source):

a high-performance decentralized exchange, with all the features you would expect in a trading platform. It can handle the trading volume of the NASDAQ, while settling orders the second you submit them.

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Decentralization gives BitShares robustness against failure. When a centralized exchange is compromised, millions of dollars and thousands of users are impacted all at once. In a decentralized system, any attack or failure impacts only a single user and their funds. Users are in control of their own security, which can be much better than any centralized entity.

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With BitShares your trades execute in seconds, just like any centralized website interface. Unlike centralized exchanges, there can be no high-frequency trading, front running, or hidden orders. This puts all traders on a level playing field.

• Distributed ledger as a platform – projects like Corda, Hyperledger Project and Ethereum have built the foundation for execution of smart contracts. Such platforms standardise the way to store, manage and automate legal agreements between businesses. For example, Corda is being developed by R3, a consortium of over 70 of the world’s largest financial institutions. Their mission is “the establishment of an open, enterprise-grade, shared platform to record financial events and execute smart contract logic” (source: Corda website).

Some of the listed apps and platforms are growing pretty fast and experiencing wide industry acceptance (e.g. Corda, Ethereum), others seem to be still defining their value proposition and in development. But all in all the blockchain market evolves with more services, platforms and currencies starting every year, and blockchain is here to stay.

And for those celebrating Easter. It’s a time for eating all the chocolate you can find with complete impunity!

Have a delicious Easter with your beloved ones!!!