Blockchain This Week: How Blockchain Can Help Healthcare Tackle Covid-19 & More

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown starting from midnight, March 25, 2020, there has been a complete focus on healthcare in India. The need for blockchain technology in the healthcare industry has become more evident than ever. The government, techies and entrepreneurs across the country are now looking at leveraging blockchain technology in the healthcare industry to help solve the spread of the virus. Can blockchain in healthcare really prevent future pandemics?

Since the blockchain technology is synonymous with security, transparency and decentralisation, the implementation of this technology in managing the healthcare system could be a game-changer. Seamless communication across the healthcare system is key — a transparent way to track the disease, monitor patients, treatment histories, equipment requirements, supply chain etc. can actually build efficiency in the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Most importantly, when data is secure, the medical fraternity and authorities can easily monitor the spread of the virus locally and contain it accordingly in real-time. This, in a way, also stops the spread of any miscommunication or rumours caused because of a lack of data transparency. Blockchain in the healthcare system can become a single source of truth for data collation.

On the other hand, if you look at the present day scenario of the healthcare industry, the critical patient data and medical information are spread across different departments and systems. Therefore, data is not accessible and readily available in times of need.

For instance, Acoer, a developer of the blockchain-enabled application has developed a solution to fight against the deadly coronavirus called HashLog, a data visualisation platform that is capable of interacting with Hedera Hashgraph’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) in real-time.

Sharat Chandra, a Hashgraph MVP Ambassador, told Inc42 that the Indian government should emulate the national tracking system similar to South Korea to collate test data in real-time and get actionable insights to mitigate the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

He further said that a national tracking system built on blockchain will not only ensure the integrity of test data but also ensure that the privacy of citizen data is not violated thanks to cryptographic encryption and immutability offered by the DLT.

“Blockchain can be leveraged to unblock the coronavirus medical supply chain by expediting supply chain contracts, procurement systems, and enabling faster payments and remittances,” Chandra said.

Blockchain Graph Of The Week:

Benefits Of Leveraging Blockchain Technology 

According to a research survey conducted across 50+ blockchain companies and experts by a software review company GoodFirms, it showed that nearly 61.5% and 58.5% of them choose transparency and immutability as their first options, followed by reliability (40.8%) and decentralisation (33.7%) among others while rating the advantage of blockchain technology.

Blockchain News Of The Week:

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

UN Lauds Ant Financial’s Blockchain In Covid-19 Crisis 

Ant Financial was recently included in the United Nations (UN) list of companies in recognition for helping economies cope with the financial crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. Interestingly, Ant Financial was the only blockchain company to make it to the list, which was compiled by the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, where it praised enterprises that have helped businesses deal with the aftermath of Covid-19.

In an attempt to mitigate the damage of the coronavirus on Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Ant Financial has been promoting its Duo-Chain blockchain platform, where it offers loans to SMEs and startups, thereby helping them cope with financial challenges during the coronavirus epidemic.

US Homeland Security Banks On Blockchain To Combat Coronavirus

In response to guidelines issued by US President Donald Trump with the rising number of coronavirus cases in the US, Homeland Security recently drafted a list which included blockchain as a critical tool to combat the outbreak. In other words, blockchain managers will now be joining other essential infrastructure industries such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals and food supply chain among others.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a statement that this decision was taken to ensure continuity of functions critical to public health safety, as well as economic and national security.

Japan To Regulate Blockchain Gaming Platform 

Tokyo-based Blockchain Contents Association (BCA) is coming up with alternative ways to regulate illegal activities in the gaming community. The regulatory body has come up with a new framework that deals with the laws related to gambling and online frauds. Now, it is looking to promote customer protection for any blockchain-related content, including gaming and social media among others.

Ripple Partner Forte Collaborates With Game Developers 

A partner of major cryptocurrency firm Ripple, Forte has recently partnered with few of the top gaming companies such as Hi-Rez Studios, Netmarble, Magmic, nWay and DECA Games to provide best-in-class gaming experiences based on blockchain technology. Through this collaboration, the game developers will integrate Forte’s blockchain platform into one of its games, thereby enabling new benefits for developers as well as player communities.

Envoy Ties Up With UK-based KYC Hub 

Blockchain-based supply chain and trade finance startup Envoy has partnered with UK-based startup KYC Hub to offer anti-money laundering, business verification, workflow management and know your customer (KYC) solutions to its clients on its trade finance platform. With this partnership, Envoy also raised $13 Mn and launched its platform.