The Many Uses Of Blockchain Pt.1

It is commonly regarded that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are trading assets. Along with blockchain, they offer some groundbreaking uses in sectors like housing, energy and personal finance.

Blockchain Technology

Bitcoin and Litecoin might have changed a few people’s outlook on money in general, but the impact of these two cryptos has been biggest in unlikely areas, such as non-profit organisations which are trying to preserve and increase voter participation in democracies. Sovereign is a new startup launched by an organisation called Democracy Earth which uses blockchain technology to provide users with the flexibility in how they cast their votes. As reported by Raconteur:

“The practice is described as a kind of “liquid democracy”, which allows voters to express their opinions on any particular issue and then delegate their vote to someone they think is better placed to decide on their behalf. In turn, other participants can also pass their votes across the chain. Sovereign uses existing blockchain platforms such as Ethereum and produces a finite number of tokens it calls “votes”.

With this, they are then assigned to registered users who can vote as part of organisations on a network for co-operative firms or political parties.

Low-cost transactions

The cost of bank to bank transfers for many customers is primarily regulated by several factors including exchange rates, limitations and the expensive transactions fees. The average cost of just one bank transaction can be over five percent of the transfer amount, according to a World Bank study. It’s also common for overseas money transfers to take up to five business days.

The company behind the XRP token, Ripple is taking advantage of this by using digital tokens to make the process quicker whilst also reducing costs. The company is based in San-Francisco and has come up with a $300 million fund that will pay businesses to use XRP for transferring money across international borders.

“The company recently announced the launch of another programme, known as Xspring, which will pay developers to code software with a focus on using XRP. Earlier this year, several leading money transfer companies, including Western Union and MoneyGram, announced they are working on pilot programmes using XRP.”

Traditional money transfer companies are also provided by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and earlier in the summer, TransferGo (based in the UK) started to offer crypto to its customers in the form of buying and selling major cryptocurrencies.

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