Blockchain This Week: Blockchain Helps Track Air Pollution, Coronavirus Outbreak And More

According to a Gartner report, the business value-addition of blockchain is expected to grow $176 Bn by 2025 and exceed up to $3.1 Tn by 2030. Over the years, blockchain technology has slowly but surely catalysed real use-cases and applications, be it through distributed databases, smart contracts and other solutions. The technology is on the verge of becoming mainstream soon as it has penetrated fintech, healthcare, education, logistics and governance — the latest examples being the way blockchain is being used by the world to track the spread of the coronavirus infections and for other impactful uses. But the real growth of blockchain is said to be coming in the years to follow, where it will be fuelled by integration into other emerging technologies and collaborative solutions.

Blockchain in the enterprise world is already witnessing a wave of adoption where newer enterprise management solutions are being made using a distributed, encrypted database and cloud solutions. Besides corporate heavyweights such as Walmart, IBM, JP Morgan, Capgemini, ICICI, Hitachi, Infosys, the blockchain wave is also being led by tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon, along with the involvement of startups and governments across the globe.

In the next few years, as blockchain enters mainstream applications, it’s likely to become more democratised, easier to access and consumer-friendly.

Do You Understand Blockchain?

A survey conducted by Accounting Today Research revealed an interesting fact about blockchain technology — that not many people know what it means. Nearly half of the people that took the survey were clueless about what blockchain is, followed by blockchain enthusiasts who were on the edge to know more about the technology.

The graph further revealed that only 1% claimed to be experts. Therefore, this clearly indicates that the industry lacks blockchain experts and professionals, even as it grapples with the opportunity presented by blockchain. Hopefully, the number of experts and professionals rise in the coming years as more and more courses start to focus on blockchain. Edtech startups will have a big role to play in this.

Blockchain News Of The Week:

Here are the biggest blockchain-related headlines from across the world.

Blockchain Helps Track Coronavirus In Real-Time   

Georgia-based health tech startup Acoer which offers blockchain-enabled technology to healthcare and life sciences institutes has developed a platform called HashLog. This platform can easily track and visualise the coronavirus outbreak. It is build using Hedera Hashgraph, an enterprise-grade distributed public ledger, which provides healthcare professionals and users real-time data of the outbreak. The HashLog dashboard allows researchers, scientists and journalists to track the spread of the virus and trends over time based on the wide set of public data available from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Indian Govt Urges Use Of Blockchain Across Departments 

The Indian government think tank Niti Aayog in its ‘Blockchain: The Indian Strategy’ report has stressed upon the importance for policymakers to understand and incorporate blockchain technology in their operations. The CEO of Niti Aayog believes that this will help various government entities to explore how technology can help in creating effective solutions that will improve the socio-economic value of the country. Moreover, the report also highlighted the use cases of blockchain such as the distributed ledger technology (DLT) which help in maintaining land and property documents through digital contracts.

Telangana Launches Blockchain Accelerator Programme 

In partnership with Tech Mahindra, the state of Telangana has launched a blockchain accelerator programme in its recently created ‘T-Block Accelerator’ in Blockchain District. The selected startups in this programme will be pitching innovative ideas and will get mentored by blockchain experts

A total of 25 startups will be inducted for the accelerator programme, and only five will be selected for the next stage of mentorship. The four-month accelerator programme is aimed at startups with a strong blockchain use case. It induces workshops, presentations and discussions.

UAE Gets A Blockchain Data Storage Platform 

In an attempt to increase the efficiency of the UAE ministry of health and prevention (MoHAP) and other health authorities’ smart health services, the government has launched the country’s first advanced blockchain-powered platform for data storage aimed at pharmaceutical companies, government, health practitioners and private facilities.

The blockchain-based data storage platform will enhance the effectiveness of health inspectors and encourage medical and technical personnel, and their experts to make an informed decision in a more transparent and seamless manner.

Blockchain To Tackle Air Pollution 

Massachusetts-based tech company Algorand is building the world’s first air quality monitoring system powered by blockchain. The company believes that the current air quality monitoring methods are inadequate due to their lack of real-time data reporting. This, in a way, results in delays in pollution peaks and a lack of warnings to endangered populations.

The Algorand blockchain platform will be extensively used by PlanetWatch, a company that develops a global network of mobile air quality sensors. The sensors will validate, filter and display the data in real-time through a mobile app and the data will be published onto the Algorand blockchain to create air quality data. Most importantly, the blockchain-powered platform will provide highly secure, fast, transparent and energy efficient-protocol, where the recorded data can be accessed by anyone.