Tag Archives: blockchain

10 Great Ideas for Generating Useful Blockchain Projects

The field of blockchain development has been evolving at a sky-rocketing speed that has been drastically increasing the demand for blockchain developers and software engineers, and the need for diverse kinds of blockchain development projects. Projects stem from ideas.

Great ideas have been at the foundation of blockchain’s success in revolutionizing the way people interact with data, track data, and store data in the form of blocks under a decentralized and distributed system that is highly reliable and enables people to interact directly with data in real-time, without the need for mediators or middlemen.

An idea can serve as a template that can be tailored in one or more ways to create what is most suitable, depending on the need of the hour. If you arrived at this post looking for ideas that can inspire you to generate beneficial blockchain projects, then look no further because you’ve come to the right place that would shed enough light on a wide range of ideas that can inspire you to generate beneficial blockchain projects for the real world. Here is a list of interesting ideas that can be implemented as blockchain projects:

1. Decentralized web hosting systems

The present-day web hosting system hosts all types of web code, content (including textual), and media content mainly on a centralized location that can be accessed on the Internet from anywhere in the world.

But imagine the handicap a user would fall into if the centralized location decides to take down the server because of planned server maintenance, or when the server is overloaded. With the decentralization that blockchain brings, a decentralized web hosting system can be created to address this problem.

With blockchain, websites won’t necessarily require central servers, as the blockchain can help divide website content into granules, circulate the content around the internet, and also use a blockchain registry to link them together.

2. Blockchain-based document storage systems and exact shipment location data

First, blockchain can help build secure and easy-to-access document storage systems where people can store documents and licenses that are very important and may be required at any point in time.

Implementing such a system would ensure fast, convenient, paperless, and secure transactions, accessible to users and corporations, governments, or any system. The idea behind this system works accordingly: a user uploads their documents to the blockchain system and corporations, governments, or any system, and gains permission from users before accessing users’ documents on the blockchain and using them.

Second, blockchain can help solve problems due to inadequate or inaccurate exact shipment location data. Presently, most logistics companies offer only main location details such as names of city hubs, collection centers, and sporting facilities.

In most cases, the exact shipment or live location details are unknown and remain unknown. Everything becomes worse when a system failure occurs or a lot of data gets missing.

Good ideas backed by a formidable blockchain can implement a system that solves this problem by gathering more precise/exact location data from various interconnected systems and providing precise/exact location details to customers.

Projects that are founded on this idea can be applied to the airline industry to find lost baggage, and the car rental industry to track rented cars.

3. Peer-to-peer cab and ridesharing facilities

Many radio cab facilities and carpooling systems are associated with middlemen who represent agencies. With blockchain in the equation, middlemen are removed; in cases where major agencies (like Uber) shut down, businesses can still go on without any intermediary. An idea built on a strong blockchain project would make it possible for drivers and riders to link, do business, and build and engage in reliable transportation services.

4. Renting unused disk space 

The idea of renting unused disk space in a blockchain and peer-to-peer network is attractive because it would be completely decentralized and allow anybody from any part of the world on the network to rent out their unused disk space which can be linked with others to form a massive worldwide cloud, globally, and still inspire further evolution of today’s cloud storage.

5. KYC (know your customer/client) verification

KYC verification is important for updating data, people’s information, and verifying their identity. It is increasingly being used by new start-ups and, if implemented with blockchain, would enable the easy and secure transfer of KYC verification stamp/data from one place, person, or entity, to another.

One instance of how this idea can be implemented: a user or customer uploads their KYC data to a blockchain; a bank or institution can access KYC data from the blockchain without using any intermediaries; then other entities or organizations can verify the KYC performed by the bank or institutions.

6. Identify fake products by using the barcode scanning system

In today’s world where fake manufacturers abound and popular brands sell counterfeit items at cheaper rates, not everyone and every company expert is still capable of distinguishing between real items and fake ones.

But with 2D barcodes embedded on products made by the original manufacturer and linked with a blockchain system, the picture would look completely different: with a smartphone, anybody can scan a 2D barcode and their smartphone will instantly inform them about whether a product is fake or not.

7. Widen/diversify the use of loyalty points

The drawback of most brands and companies is that they reward customers with only their own loyalty points. This makes it impossible for some deserving customers to use their loyalty points on other platforms, with other brands or companies, or exchange them with family or friends.

However, with blockchain, it’s possible to create a decentralized network involving different platforms and permitting the use and exchange of loyalty rewards outside of their current individual domains.

8. Detect transparency and genuine charities

Although some people have always been interested in giving help back to the community via charities, others are discouraged because of fear that their donations could get diverted or may not be used for the intended purpose.

Some people are interested in helping the poor and defenseless in society, but are not sure whether their donations will reach the right people. Many fake organizations pose as real ones and deceive people in the name of charity. 

All things being equal, blockchain can end this problem with a system that permits poor/needy people to upload a dashboard or portal connected to a blockchain system and allow each individual (needy person) in the community to access their respective data from the blockchain in a direct, easy, safe, and secure manner, thus ensuring transparency and genuineness in transactions.

9. Smart contracts for implementing trustworthy crowdfunding platforms

Presently, many crowdfunding platforms have trust and accountability issues; in fact, reliable sources state that 85% of start-ups experience delays over deliveries and 14% don’t even deliver anything promised to angel investors. In many other cases, investors either misuse their money or invest it in the wrong campaigns.

By bringing blockchain into the equation and a smart contract to help manage and block funds until a desired time, crowdfunding platforms can become more accountable, less wasteful, and precisely show investors where their money is going, what they are spending it on, and how they are spending it.

10. Blockchain-based systems

  • Blockchain-based voting system: Even after replacing paper-based voting systems with electronic voting systems, people still have doubt about the present-day’s voting system and its ability to protect data and prevent it from being altered. Blockchain can make a difference by allowing voting through mobile apps linked to a blockchain system, public verification of election results in each country, and ensuring transparency, preventing manipulation of results by agencies, entities, or even governments.
  • Blockchain-based land/property registering system: On a consistent basis, many documents on property or land are being falsely claimed by people, fraudulently acquired, and lost. Blockchain’s underlying technology could help solve these and related issues, maintain records of transactions, and subsequently store processed data in a system that prevents data manipulation and guarantees enhanced immutability.
  • Blockchain-based trackback food system: Nowadays, how many people are actually sure that they are purchasing organic food?  How many are aware when a bird-flu outbreak occurs in poultry farms? With blockchain technology, a system can be implemented to help consumers to trackback or trace the origin of food or meat products, thereby raising the trust level of consumers.
  • Blockchain-based patient data management system: Much of the stored data in centralized healthcare systems needs more privacy and safety, and the trust of patients whose information is stored on them. A stronger system implemented built on the blockchain would ensure that when a user’s health information is stored as a smart contract on the blockchain, only that user would be able to give permission for their information to become accessible under certain permissions that ensure and maintain the security of their data. Anybody would need to get permission to access data. This would help preserve the privacy of patients’ data.
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Definition of Blockchain

Blockchain has been evolving steadily since 2008 when the technology that drives it came into existence, and the first application that was tested on blockchain technology was Bitcoin; the general idea of blockchain was first introduced in the Bitcoin protocol which was published in 2008.

Some people usually assume that Bitcoin is blockchain because Bitcoin was the first application used on blockchain technology; however, Bitcoin is not blockchain: Bitcoin is an application of blockchain technology.

In 2009, Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency produced as a result of activities on the Bitcoin blockchain which is a distributed database that records every Bitcoin transaction on a public decentralized ledger and gives incentives or tokens to users (peers) who validate transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain network by using their computer nodes.

The reason why some people mistaken Bitcoin for blockchain, and vice-versa, is likely because Bitcoin was the first and is still the most significant application of blockchain. Apart from Bitcoin, blockchain has other applications or uses.

Although blockchain was invented to produce cryptocurrency or digital money, almost every day, people have been using it for other important purposes and finding more and more issues or problems to solve by using it.

Blockchain, which began in 2008, has been existing for about 13 years and elevated the financial institution. But what is blockchain? This article defines what blockchain is through discussions on the following topics:

  • Blockchain: progress beyond cloud computing
  • Who invented the term “blockchain”?
  • What is blockchain?
  • Blockchain: a form of distributed ledger technology

Blockchain: progress beyond cloud computing

The 1st generation computer called ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was developed in 1946; later on, in 1977, Apple II came along the way, and IBM (Intel 8088) was introduced in 1981.

About 10 years later, the internet began in 1991, and after 15 years cloud computing framework arrived in 2006 and was taking control of the client/server framework.

Cloud computing, which is a type of internet-based computing that is centralized or has a centralized authority, provides data and shared computer processing resources to computers and other types of devices; in addition, it also provides a foundation to merge software and hardware resources supplied from different regions by different groups.

Cloud computing actually reduces the cost of improved efficiency and operation; however, the centralization associated with cloud computing has its own issues such as:

  • low data security.
  • less assurance of complete integrity or trust in its mechanism.
  • possibility for lack of data accountability.
  • disconnection between server and cloud computing.

Blockchain presents a good response that can tackle issues faced by cloud computing, and its underlying technology can overcome the shortcomings of cloud computing. Simply put: blockchain makes it possible for:

  • decentralization to occur and prevent centralization or extreme concentration of central power.
  • data security to be heightened.
  • steady network connection across all connected computers; is and always be unstoppable and fully accessible to everybody.
  • high assurance of complete integrity or full transparency in decentralized mechanism or administration.

Who invented the term “blockchain”?

When the First Global Blockchain Summit was held in Shanghai in October 2015, and people (regulatory policymakers, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, investors, academic experts, and geeks) assembled and discussed opportunities and applications of blockchain technology, the first question that was asked was “who invented the term “blockchain”?

The question might have been asked because the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, didn’t mention the word “blockchain” in his 2008 Bitcoin white paper. The term that was mentioned was “chain of blocks”, not “blockchain”.

What seemed to have happened was that through private correspondence among early Bitcoin pioneers in the Bitcoin community, the term “blockchain” slowly evolved and became widely used and accepted.

It is known that Hal Finney, who is one of the early Bitcoin pioneers, used the phrase “block chain” several times in his correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto. The two separate words in the phrase “block chain” were later combined together to form the term or word “blockchain”.

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a secure distributed ledger technology (DLT) that is completely decentralized, consists of a globally distributed database, is unstoppable, and runs on all computers without being administered by a central or trusted authority.

Blockchain has always been increasing in size or length as a result of multiple new blocks being constantly connected or chained to countless old blocks that are irreplaceable. Since blockchain is completely decentralized, it doesn’t have a boss or central authority, administrator, or administration; this significantly reduces the complexity and cost of financial transactions and data sharing.

Blockchain technology’s immutable chain system, in which blocks are chained or linked together, establishes a single source of truth for a total database of information in the form of ordered records of transactions.

Blockchain uses the outstanding features of distributed consensus algorithms and cryptographic techniques to maintain a synchronized ledger platform and provide a high degree of transparency and accountability from a group of users across different geographical locations in a distributed network.

Each time new blocks are created and added or linked to the existing blockchain, the blockchain network synchronizes and replicates the same information (new blocks) on all computers in the blockchain system or network which resides on the internet. Replication of information in this manner makes blockchain technology irreplaceable and highly transparent.

The Bitcoin blockchain is the first secure, open, and transparent distributed ledger technology (DLT) that doesn’t require a central or trusted authority, and provides a solution to the problem of double-spending of digital currency.

Blockchain: a form of distributed ledger technology

Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology driven by a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that doesn’t rely on a centralized party or group of persons to relay information to every node which communicates directly with each other in a blockchain system.

Any transaction that occurs in a blockchain system is transmitted in a peer-to-peer (P2P) manner, validated by all nodes in the system, and added to the copy of the “ledger” which is sustained or maintained by each node. Any time validation occurs, each node will be updated with the most current version or state of information that has been added to the blockchain.

However, it has to be noted that the nodes in a blockchain system might not always have the most current version or updated state at all times because the network could be congested or delayed.

On the other hand, each individual node keeps the highest scoring version it possibly can, and whenever it receives a higher scoring version, it will overwrite its own version with it and transmit or broadcast the information to its peers through other nodes. The scoring system depends on the blockchain specification.

In order for a node to successfully verify a particular transaction on a blockchain, it would simply query nearby nodes or peers for their own copies and confirm the transaction after it gets enough identical copies from other nodes (its peers).