While the majority of press around blockchain technology has focused on digital currencies, the technology's potential uses extend far beyond tokens and coins. As a consultant in this space, however, I've seen that many companies have yet to fully explore the ways in which blockchain-based products and solutions might boost their operations and bottom line.
What is blockchain technology?
To understand how blockchain development services solutions might benefit organizations, it's important to first define what a blockchain is. Blockchains are a novel form of distributed ledger technology. Because all of the transactions are replicated and spread throughout all of the computer systems on the network, a blockchain is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to hack or fraudulently change.
Here are four ways that, in my opinion, businesses can benefit from blockchain technology in terms of cost savings, efficiency gains, and the introduction of new products and services.
Smart Contracts
The provisions of a smart contract are recorded on a public, distributed ledger called a blockchain, making it a form of self-executing agreement. Blockchain technology ensures the immutability, verifiability, and transparency of smart contracts. Practical uses for them exist in essentially every market sector. Smart contracts can automate the execution of each phase of a transaction as it is completed, streamlining processes like real estate deals that are traditionally laborious, time-consuming, and financially draining due to the large number of parties and paperwork involved. Saving time and money on each deal is possible because to the elimination of middlemen and other inefficiencies.
Artificial Intelligence
Recent months have seen an explosion of interest in artificial intelligence (AI), with ChatGPT in particular earning headlines for its efforts to democratize AI. Artificial intelligence is the wave of the future and will affect every business to some extent.
According to Paul Farhi, CEO and co-founder of Solidus AI Tech, blockchain AI is "more resilient and less exposed to cyber vulnerabilities," which is very exciting for many business owners. He discussed the increased independence of Blockchain AI systems in an interview with Crypto Intelligence, naming chatbots, medical software, and self-driving cars as examples of their widespread use.
Farhi continued by saying that blockchain AI has enhanced traceability on an enterprise scale, a native blockchain revenue stream, higher encryption, greater autonomy, and greater resilience. Incorporating blockchain AI, therefore, can boost productivity and increase profit margins for organizations.
Payment Processors
Since the fees imposed by blockchain-based crypto payment gateways are often far lower than those paid by major credit cards and digital payment systems like PayPal and Stripe, merchants can save a lot of money by using them. NowPayments, a crypto payment system and gateway that enables businesses to accept online payments in a huge number of cryptocurrencies, with rates as low as 0.5%, in contrast to PayPal's roughly 3.5% plus a currency exchange fee (if applicable).
Cryptocurrencies also provide substantial discounts for business-to-business (B2B) payments. If a company uses the Tron network to transmit a payment in Tether USD (USDT) to another company or an employee, the transfer charge is typically around $1 (this fluctuates depending on the cryptocurrency exchange utilized).
Not only do crypto payment options have substantially lower fees, but the settlement times are also lot faster. Paying my personnel in cryptocurrency has helped me save hundreds of dollars each month on transfer costs and has ensured that they have always received their pay on time.
Safety
Integrating blockchain-based products and infrastructure into your organization can make it far more secure because of the blockchain's inherent security. You may even be able to reduce expenditure on conventional cyber security measures with the help of a cyber security consultant in some situations. In fact, a plethora of blockchain security firms have cropped up to aid enterprises in adopting this cutting-edge method of cyber protection.
Challenges Of Utilizing Blockchain
While there is clearly a lot of room for entrepreneurs to use blockchain technology to improve various aspects of their company's performance, there are also potential roadblocks that can discourage business owners and senior managers from exploring and implementing some of the aforementioned blockchain-based solutions.
Smart contracts and payment gateways are two examples of apps that require the counterparty's agreement to their use before they can be used in a business transaction. It's easy to see why counterparties could be hesitant to agree to move to a new platform or solution at this stage, given that most business executives, along with customers, only have a rudimentary understanding of blockchain technology and the associated products/solutions. In fact, this ignorance is perhaps the biggest obstacle to companies adopting any of the blockchain-based solutions we've covered here.
Another difficulty unique to AI built on the blockchain is the moral dilemma of whether or not to lay off workers as a result of adopting AI strategies.
While the aforementioned challenges will undoubtedly slow the adoption of blockchain-based solutions by many firms, they are not insurmountable. By explaining the merits of smart contracts and crypto payment systems, for instance, firms can make their counterparties more receptive to adopting them. In particular, it can be helpful to share case studies demonstrating how you or other organizations in your industry have successfully reduced costs or increased efficiency by adopting such solutions.
Concluding Remarks
The blockchain industry may be young, but it has already produced a number of cutting-edge products and solutions that can be of interest to corporate decision-makers. Given the novelty and rapid development of this field, there will undoubtedly be many more blockchain-based solutions introduced in the near future.
