In just over a decade, the blockchain has grown from an obscure technology primarily used by cryptocurrency purists to something much more mainstream, touted as the foundation for making everything from banks to energy grids to artificial intelligence safer and more efficient.
However, even with such widespread interest in technology, it’s always important to remember that it’s still a nascent and somewhat unpredictable technology, and in 2022 it will be going through some of its most significant changes yet.
This article looks at 10 of the biggest blockchain trends to watch out for in 2022.
Here we go!
1) Identity management
The most crucial trend in blockchain development is becoming a part of our daily lives, even if we don’t know it.
No matter which industry you are looking at, you will find some influence on blockchain technology and identity management today.
From finance to health care, blockchain technology has affected every sector. This means an increased demand for blockchain developers and more companies will hire blockchain developers in India and other countries in the coming years.
In fact, according to PwC, By 2022, nearly half of all global organizations expect to have implemented a blockchain-based solution into their business operations.
There is no doubt that we will see more implementation in retail, financial services, and healthcare.
2) Supply chain management
The supply chain is where blockchain can enable greater transparency and trust between buyers and sellers.
By providing an efficient, secure way to share information—from purchase orders to transportation data—blockchain can make it easier for consumers and businesses to work together.
The technology could help suppliers cut costs by reducing waste and fraud, improving visibility into critical processes like shipping, providing better customer service, etc.
3) Payments processing
With Bitcoin and Ethereum dominating most conversations surrounding blockchain technology, it can be easy to forget that there are many other use cases for distributed ledgers.
Some of these applications may not be so exciting. Still, they are no less critical: payments processing is one key area where distributed ledger technology (DLT) will create a severe impact.
There’s still quite a bit of work to do before distributed ledgers can displace centralized solutions in banking and finance, but it might all seem very familiar ten years from now.
4) Digital voting & accountability
While people are still using traditional forms of voting, with artificial intelligence, we’ll see voting methods evolve and expand.
With these new forms of democratic governance, there will be more accountability for officials as citizens can quickly report potential electoral fraud or abuse.
Additionally, deep learning technology allows officials to review policies from different perspectives and make more informed decisions that affect society locally.
5) Digital content management and distribution
One of the key issues with blockchain is that it doesn’t support complex digital content management and distribution firms.
The whole purpose of using a blockchain to create smart contracts is to eliminate intermediaries like lawyers and banks so that they wouldn’t be needed.
If you could manage digital content distribution through self-executing smart contracts, you could keep everything in one place without any need for external oversight. Unfortunately, right now, there are no clear solutions to this problem.
Several companies are working on developing solutions for managing digital content on blockchains, but none have been widely adopted yet.
As more people start thinking about using blockchains for these purposes, we should see some progress on these fronts soon.
6) Data storage, verification, and recovery
As blockchain becomes a more widely adopted technology, it’s only natural that specific changes will occur. Data storage, verification, and recovery will soon become concerns for all of us.
As we move forward into what many call the decentralized age—an age in which we rely less on centralized platforms to verify transactions and record data—we must all be aware of how these new trends can affect our lives.
7) Healthcare data exchange
One of blockchain’s most promising applications is creating secure data exchange networks, especially for healthcare.
Hospitals and other medical facilities can use blockchain to share private patient information with insurers and medical researchers without compromising patient privacy.
Healthcare has been slow to adopt blockchain partly because it requires a high level of security that today’s systems often lack.
Improving IT infrastructure will allow more trust in blockchain systems and give hospitals an incentive to implement the technology. The result should be safer healthcare that costs less.
8) Cloud storage for sensitive data in unsecured environments (Internet of Things, etc.)
One of blockchain’s most prominent use cases is cloud storage. As opposed to a central database that stores all of your data in one place, blockchain distributes data across many nodes (computers), making it much harder for hackers to access any piece of it.
Storing sensitive information on a blockchain will become more common, especially as IoT becomes more widespread.
9) Real estate transactions
Implementing blockchain technology in real estate could increase efficiency by cutting out third parties and dramatically reducing transaction costs.
Making ownership records transparent and fraud-proof could also help prevent homebuyers from falling into a mortgage scam. Overall, decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer of title would create a much more effective and efficient system than current real estate transactions.
It will also primarily impact agents, lawyers, bankers, notaries, land registry officers, and government regulators. They may be rendered obsolete or need to learn new skills.
This disruption is already happening with companies like Ubitquity, Factom, and Bitland making strides in leveraging blockchain for property records management.
10) Process automation
The entire business process needs to be examined and formulated. If any sub-process is cumbersome or takes up extra resources, it must be re-examined.
Also, processes need to be automated, particularly repetitive manual tasks that are especially vulnerable to error.
This will enable companies to work on efficiency parameters and not worry about errors and omissions caused by human intervention in manually operated systems.
It can also help them eliminate third parties from transactions and reduce fraud risks due to single points of failure. However, as with everything else related to blockchains, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Each case has its specific requirements, and every industry has its own set of regulations and requirements that one needs to keep in mind while developing a blockchain system for it.
Read Also: The 10 Cryptocurrency Risks You Should Know About
Conclusion
As we enter 2022, more and more organizations have started to realize that blockchain could be a game-changer for several sectors and industries.
While blockchain development company in India is yet to crack down on blockchain solutions in healthcare or travel, the enormous potential remains untapped.
However, as these 10 trends show, there is no denying that blockchain will continue to grow exponentially over time. It’s only a matter of time before these trends start becoming mainstream.
If you haven’t already begun exploring ways in which your organization can leverage blockchain technology for competitive advantage, now is probably a good time to start doing so!
