Blockchain Platform Is Ripe For An Infrastructural Disruption
BankSocial is an Ethereum-based platform that claims to be the first blockchain-based P2P lending platform. It uses a social consensus lending pool and pays its members to hold tokens that are used for funding loans. Members stake tokens in exchange for some of the interest collected from each loan.
Blockchain platform is ripe for an infrastructural disruption
Propy is seeking to offer secure home buying through a blockchain-based smart contract platform. All documents are signed and securely stored online, while deeds and other contracts are recorded using blockchain technology as well as on paper.
Tech startup Ubitquity offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) blockchain platform for financial, title, and mortgage companies. The company is working with Washington-based Stewart Title, among other stealth clients, to record documents and create token-based property titles using blockchain tech.
China Unicom and China Telecom have agreed to co-build 5G networks using a decentralized, blockchain-based platform to manage resource tendering, brokering, leasing, service evaluation, and contract settlement. The initiative is estimated to save both telcos $45.5B in infrastructure investment costs.
These opportunities have already popped up. The Huntercoin project, launched in 2014 and delisted in 2019, was a gaming ecosystem in which players earned in-house cryptocurrency rewards (in this case, HUC coin). For eSports and sports betting, there was UnikoinGold until it was retired in 2020 due to regulatory constraints. Enjin Coin, an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency, backs over 1B digital assets in games stored on a blockchain that can be traded and sold between users. With a decentralized blockchain base, gaming platforms can facilitate more secure and transparent money exchanges.
Thanks to blockchain, creators have new ways to make money on social media. Twitter now allows tipping of creators with Bitcoin, while TikTok is partnering with NFT artists to create art that is based on viral content on the platform. Chingari, an Indian short video platform, has launched an NFT marketplace for content creators on its platform.
These businesses still have a lot in common with traditional business models. The platform owner ensures that business is conducted as agreed, provides a level of safety, and takes a (sometimes hefty) cut as profit. This is where the use of blockchain technology has the potential to foster enormous change.
With Web3, depositors still seek to earn interest on their deposits, but instead of entrusting their funds to a bank or nonregulated platform, they themselves hold their funds in a noncustodial wallet that represents an account on the blockchain. All ownership and transaction data reside on the blockchain rather than with the bank or nonregulated entity. Customers no longer entrust their funds to a company to lend them out; instead, they can deposit their funds as liquidity into a smart contract. The smart contract effectively escrows these funds and only disburses them when preestablished conditions are met. Borrowers still look for loans but can only receive funds from the smart contract (which were originally provided by the depositors) after the borrower has posted sufficient collateral. By taking out a loan against collateral, borrowers can still enjoy potential price appreciation of the collateral and create liquidity without incurring a taxable event (which would occur when selling).
Jay Jacobs, Head of Research & Strategy and Pedro Palandrani, Research Analyst at Global X ETFs weigh in on the biggest sectors and industries ripe for disruption in the year ahead and how advisors can capitalize in their portfolios.
[07:53] Paul Blake: You mentioned some of the applications there, cross-border payments is another. Remittances is one that pops to mind. It seems like a sector that's ripe for blockchain disruption. It's relatively expensive to send money across borders right now. What impact could blockchain technologies have on remittance payments?
Many industries have experienced disruption, due to technologies that successfully reduced inefficiencies and frictions, often disintermediating established players in the process. Large travel companies, such as airlines and hotel chains, know this from painful experience: They pay billions of dollars in commissions each year to Priceline, Expedia, and other online travel agencies (OTAs), which have transformed how consumers book flights, hotels, and rental cars. Blockchain-based loyalty platforms could be another such disruption.
What shape are blockchain-based loyalty networks likely to take? Initially, each loyalty program might look to develop its own solution, but over time smaller loyalty programs might choose to band together to compete more effectively with larger ones. Ultimately, we expect to see the development of four to six blockchain-based loyalty networks, each anchored by a major airline, a major hotel chain, or a group of smaller travel companies. Options for building and maintaining the blockchain platform could include a joint venture with technology partners or with network providers such as banks or payment card processors.
To reduce these risks and avoid having their loyalty programs become commoditized, travel companies should get in on the ground floor of blockchain platform development. Participating in the initial structuring of commercial agreements and partnerships will be essential to protecting critical loyalty program components, including currency value, customer data and relationships, and transaction costs.
Today, we're on the precipice of what could be the largest transformational period in global history. With the first Industrial Revolution, new technologies like assembly lines, factories and transportation fundamentally changed society. This time, instead of cogwheels doing the work, blockchain-based digitalization will continue to drive transactions. Specifically, this latest phase of progress has its sights set on a massive industry ripe for disruption: finance.
You may know blockchain as the technology powering Bitcoin, but did you know the technology has use cases spanning nearly every industry? For the sectors most ripe for innovation, blockchain has the power to revolutionize the way enterprises do business if leveraged correctly. In higher education specifically, challenges like transfer evaluations, accessing credentials and courses, cost, and enrollment decline due to student dissatisfaction and budget cuts are all plaguing the industry. Like many technologies currently addressing these issues in higher education, blockchain offers answers that remain widely unused. The potential is untapped, but at what cost? This article covers the definition of blockchain technology, current blockchain use cases in higher education, ending with a discussion on the disruption blockchain will create in the higher education industry.
As we delve into specifics, it is worthwhile to make a distinction between public and private blockchains. In this article, our discussions relate first and foremost to the former because this is the area where we think the potential for large-scale disruption is most promising (but also the section where blockchain concepts receive the most hype). Where appropriate, we draw references to private blockchains, noting that they currently make up the bulk of applications in the real estate domain.
The use of blockchain technology is becoming more common in the mortgage industry, and there are several areas ripe for disruption through this technology. Blockchain, distributed ledger, and smart contract capabilities will rapidly transform the property ownership and mortgage finance ecosystem. For that reason, it may be time to assess how your organization will be impacted by these technologies and how to develop a plan to exploit emerging solutions to benefit your company, stakeholders, employees, and customers.
Today, as video relies on high infrastructural costs on bandwidth and storage, only 3 companies can afford deploying a global platform, and they have monopolized the market, creating an environment in which authors are not monetizing, users dont watch quality content and advertisers cannot reach their targeted audiences with their message.
Winding Tree is a decentralized distribution platform for travel. An open B2B platform, it allows even small suppliers to list their inventories and compete with big businesses for customers. Travelers can save money or afford longer trips because they can book accommodations, air tickets, or tours directly through the blockchain network, and skip intermediaries.
This concept can be realized with the use of blockchain. TravelChain founders came up with the idea of building an open, decentralized platform where users are motivated to collect their travel data, for example, transaction history or visited destinations, and share it with service providers.