When businesses latch onto a buzzword, it quickly becomes the solution to everything. Not long ago, in the era of “big data,” companies scrambled to add chief data scientists to their ranks. Before that, vendors of all manner touted their innovative social, local, mobiles solutions (or SoLoMo, in industry parlance). Lately, corporations have been talking nonstop—on conference panels, in TED Talks, in pitchdecks—about artificial intelligence.
But in this moment, few business trends can compete with the magic of blockchain technology. Blockchains, which use advanced cryptography to store information across networks of computers, could eliminate the need for trusted third parties, like banks, in transactions, legal agreements, and other contracts. The most ardent blockchain-heads believe it has the power to reshape the global financial system, and possibly even the internet as we know it.
Now, as the technology expands from a fringe hacker toy to legitimate business applications, opportunists have flooded the field. Some of the seekers are mercenaries pitching shady or fraudulent tokens, others are businesses looking to cash in on a hot trend, and still others are true believers in the revolutionary and disruptive powers of distributed networks.
Mentions of blockchains and digital currencies on corporate earnings calls doubled in 2017 over the year prior, according to Fortune. Last week at Consensus, the country’s largest blockchain conference, 100 sponsors, including top corporate consulting firms and law firms, hawked their wares.
Now, seemingly every problem in the world can be solved by applying the blockchain. Poverty! Censorship! Endangered species! The rush of new entrants has spawned skepticism even among crypto enthusiasts. On stage at Consensus, Blockchain Capital partner Jimmy Song made waves declaring that "blockchain is not this magical thing where you sprinkle blockchain dust over a problem.”
Nonetheless, entrepreneurs—and promoters—are sprinkling it widely. Here is a noncomprehensive list of the ways blockchain promoters say they will change the world. They run the spectrum from industry-specific (a blockchain project designed to increase blockchain adoption) to global ambitions (fixing the global supply chain’s apparent $9 trillion cash flow issue). We’ve tried to stick as closely to their pitch language as possible and have linked to some projects, but are not endorsing any.
Bots with nefarious intent
Skynet
People not taking their medicine
Device storage that could be used for bitcoin mining
Insurance bureaucracy
Electronic health record accessibility
Health record storage security
Health record portability
Marine insurance risk
Earning money on personal data
Pensions
The burden of car ownership
Inability to buy anything with cryptocurrency
Better marketplaces for nautical shipping services
Better ways to advertise to your friends
Better ways to trade forex with your friends
Ownership shares in ancient sunken treasures
Complying with Know Your Customer laws
Complying with Anti-Money-Laundering laws
Complying with securities laws in token sales
Censorship
A use for QR codes
Rewards for buying alcohol by subscription
Tracing water supplies
Dearth of emergency responders
High cost of medical information
Improved digital identity authentication
Managing real estate workflow
International real estate purchases
Physical branches for crypto banking
Physical branches for crypto exchanges
Private equity
Venture capital
AIDS, also online sales of classic Japanese domestic cars
Efficiency and transparency at nonprofits
Incorporating local preferences in decentralized banking options
Boosting sales for local businesses
A digital-only investment bank
Containers to transport sensitive pharmaceuticals and food
Protecting consumer information on mobiles
Helping mobiles phones users monetize their data
Not enough interconnection in the world
Complexity and risk in the crypto market
Expensive AI research
Connecting “innovation players” and “knowledge holders”
Movie industry’s slow and opaque accounting practices
Global supply chain’s $9 trillion cash flow issue
Trust in the global supply chain
Cash flow problems at small and medium-sized businesses
Improving the use of data in the transportation and logistics industries
Poverty among African farmers
Transparency in the food supply chain
Ad fraud
Settling payments faster
Speeding transactions
The underbanked
The bidding process in art and collectibles markets
Assessing the value of collectibles
Diamond industry’s high banking and forex fees
Availability of digital games
Currency for eSports
Currency for eSports betting
Currency for sports betting
Storing scholarly articles
Health insurance providers billing processes
Currency for healthcare providers
Shortage of workers with advanced tech skills
Lack of diversity in tech
Rights management for photographers
Simplifying the logo copyrighting process
Ticketing industry’s “prevalsent issues”
Crowdsourcing for legal dispute resolution
Securing financial contracts
Paper
Control of personal data
Control of personal credit data
No way to spend crypto
Advertising for extended reality environments
Human suffering
Security for luxury watches
Authenticity in cannabis sales
Crypto rewards for cannabis-focused social media site
Crypto payments for rating cryptoassets
Crypto payments for taking surveys, watching videos and clicking links
Crypto rewards for video game skills
Crypto rewards for time spent playing video games
Buying, selling and trading your social media friends
Crypto rewards for social media sharing
Free mobiles data for watching ads
Crypto rewards for watching entertainment content
Gold-backed cryptocurrency
Crypto-backed gold
Metals-backed cryptocurrency
Precious metals-based cryptocurrency
“Tokenizing” real world items
Nashville apartment buildings
Monaco real estate
Financial infrastructure for trading within video games
Checking ID for purchases like alcohol
“Uber for alcohol” on blockchain
Inefficiencies in cargo delivery
Branded tokens for merchants to reward customers
Fraud and corruption among non-profits
Better transparency at non-profits
Better transparency around impact investing
Bitcoin mining uses too much energy
Home appliances mining for bitcoin while not in use
Bitcoin mining using hydropower
Large corporations’ carbon footprints
“Decarbonizing” electricity grids
Trust in governments
Trust in corporations
Trust in social networks
Trust in media
Universal billing system for travel industry
Decentralized Uber and Lyft
Online gambling not fair
Online gambling sites take commission
Helping retailers hurt by Amazon
Online retail fraud
Paying for things with your face
Streamlining interactions among shoppers, retailers and brands
Linking content across computers, tablets and phoness
Ranking apps by their value
Aligning creativity and recognition for content creators
Improving payments for artists on Spotify and Pandora
Online piracy
Improving the technology of the Russian gas industry
A blockchain equivalent of Amazon, Groupon and Craigslist
Too many non-value-added costs
Unregulated prison economies
Standardizing the value of advertisements
Advertising not transparent enough
Old real estate practices
Free public information from silos
Speeding the rendering of animated movies
Selling items for crypto instead of regular money
Borders
Man-in-the-middle hacks
Security sacrifices that come with innovation
Scams, fraud and counterfeits
Tools to build decentralized apps
Blockchain infrastructure
Removing barriers separating blockchains
Safety in buying and selling blockchain tokens
Improving privacy in online file storage
ICO projects could benefit from the “wisdom of the crowd”
Improving privacy of blockchain
Decentralized database for decentralized technologies
Improving trust and confidence in blockchain system
More cohesive user experiences across blockchain and the cloud
Democratizing gold trading
Giving investors more control of their assets
Simplifying the cryptocurrency transaction process
Trading indexes as tokens
Improving crypto safekeeping solutions
Simplifying ICO investment, trading and cryptocurrency
Improving institutional-grade crypto asset management
“Painstakingly slow” manual crypto wallet process
More open global markets
Easier way to invest in real estate
Easier way to invest in Swiss real estate
Easier way to combine smart contracts with crowdfunded home loans
Easier way to borrow against crypto holdings
Faster porn industry payment options
Identifying and verifying users in online dating
Improving traditional banking services for crypto world
Cryptocurrency based on Game Theory, IBM’s Watson, and other theories
Better social network + blockchain + AI + human touch
Improving content streaming on the blockchain
Supply chain transparency
Increasing public sector trust of cryptocurrencies
Education around blockchain technology
Blockchain not mainstream enough
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