Blockchain Technology and Digital Governance -Smart Contracts

SMART CONTRACTS

The most popular applications of blockchain by far are Financial instruments like crypto currencies, after Bitcoin revolutionising the financial market by showing how a P2P money works, many cryptos flooded the market , in the recent times the applicability of blockchain expanded beyond financial instruments to improve many aspects of our lives, smart contracts helps us to transfer or exchange value of any form in a conflict free way with less inefficiencies.

Smart contract is a word used to describe computer code that exists on distributed ledger on blockchain which has a set of rules specifically designed for the purpose, smart contracts provide a framework upon which users across the globe agree to transact, they run on a multiple nodes which are distributed across the widespread network.

WHY SMART CONTRACTS ?

Our existing model of business relationships always have a centralised third party who acts as an intermediary to make a transaction and affirm the terms and conditions of a contract. This third party can be a bank (if it happens to be financial transaction), a government establishment ,a public or private institution or any another intermediary, and the risks have always existed with them because of their poor practices , execution risks or increasing chances of misusing their role to benefit themselves.

Smart contracts can remove intermediaries in businesses by taking their role and interpreting it effectively , with a properly executed code businesses can establish direct relationship with the customers , smart contracts automate the process of transactions and code helps to follow the rules written at the time of contract creation and nobody can change it, all transactions stored chronologically on blockchain can be accessed for future audits.

Smart contracts are immutable by nature because of the fact that there is no human intervention to execute them and once the contract is set it cannot be modified , the transactions can only be validated through all the assigned nodes, these assigned nodes are distributed across the widely spread network throughout the globe which outputs in cost effective transactions with high security and reinforces the trust without a middleman, a properly written code can solve many of today's world problems.

Some potential smart contract use cases include :

1. Royalty Distribution in Music and Digital Media : Smart contract eliminates digital rights theft and allows royalty revenue on purchases of creative work to be automatically calculated and distributed to artists and other associated entities according to the rules of the contract.

Platforms to keep an eye on :

▵ Viberate (Symbol-VIB) — https://www.viberate.io/en is the world’s biggest crowdsourced platform for listing and mapping the live music industry, it covers many aspects of the music industry: musicians, music professionals, booking agencies, venues, organizers, events, and even fans and the media,it runs on user contributions, unique reward protocol enables users to earn VIB tokens in exchange for their contribution to the service, as the core of the Viberate platform, the VIB token is the ultimate driver of growth and we intend to turn it into a go-to digital currency for the music industry in general.

▵ Library Credits (Symbol-LBRY) — https://lbry.io/ LBRY is a free,open,and community run digital marketplace, It is a protocol that allows anyone to build apps that interact with digital content on the LBRY network. applications built on the protocol allow creators to upload their work to the LBRY network of hosts (like BitTorrent), and set a price per stream or download (like iTunes) or give it away for free (like YouTube without ads).

▵ SingularDTV (Symbol-SNGLS) — https://singulardtv.com/ is a blockchain based Entertainment Platform for the future of rights management, project funding, and peer-to-peer distribution, SingularDTV’s platform empowers artists and creators with powerful tools to manage projects from development to distribution.

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2 .Digital Identity : effectively creates a self-sovereign identity system that gives the control back to the individuals /People by eliminating centralised databases, only user has control over his data there by prevent tampering , access can be used to enter into contractual agreements , can login with single click to secure places and services such as bank accounts or any other digital or physical assets and authorise various transactions , owners can cashout their data in the data driven market.

Platforms :

▵ SelfKey (Symbol-KEY) — https://selfkey.org/ SelfKey is a blockchain based self-sovereign identity system that allows individuals and companies to truly own, control and manage their digital identity, securely manage their cryptocurrency portfolio and instantly onboard onto financial, immigration and cryptocurrency services, you can create your SelfKey ID with your personal details and kyc documents, such as a passport, id card, driving license, proof of address or a selfie,you only need to set up your SelfKey ID once, when it’s done you won’t need to upload the documents again when applying for products and services, All data and documents remain stored locally in your device — not in a SelfKey server or in the blockchain. No one has access to your information but you and it can never be shared without your consent.

▵ Civic (Symbol-CVC) — https://www.civic.com/ Civic platform provides multi-factor authentication without a username, password or third-party authenticator, keys are generated by a third-party wallet, providing a firewall between Civic and users’ keys , Identity data is fully encrypted in the App on the user’s device and can be accessed only with biometrics.

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3. Global Supply Chain and Trade finance : Effectively records and transfer assets, tracks orders, generate receipts, issue shipment notifications and other trade related documents, effectively links goods to serial numbers ,barcodes and RFID based digital tags,timestamps information about the whole process from manufacturing till customer.

Platforms :

▵ Vechain (Symbol-VET) : https://www.vechain.org/ VeChain is based in China , Vechain uses a mix of blockchain technology and its internal smart chip to keep track of items throughout their life cycle. The smart chip can be implemented in various IoT objects such as NFC chips, RFID trackers or QR codes.

▵ Morpheus Network (Symbol-MRPH): https://morpheus.network/ Morpheus Network is based in Seychelles , aims to build blockchain based global supply chain platform, Morpheus addresses the privacy problems of multi parties transacting in single blockchain by building on the innovative zk-snark protocol.

▵ Exim Chain (Symbol-EXC) : https://www.eximchain.com/ Eximchain is a Chinese Based Company with a strong team from MIT working to build a protocol with privacy for enterprise grade supply chain applications, unlike others eximchain conduct consensus through a process called Quadratic Voting.

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4. Insurance claim processing : Performs error checks, routes and approves workflows, and calculates payments based on the type of claim, payee and underlying policy.

Platforms :

▵ PolicyPal(Symbol-PAL) : https://www.pal.network/ Policypal is based in singapore building a Dual-layered protocol for financial assets where individuals and partners can design and customise new financial products.

▵ Etherisc (Symbol-DIP) : https://etherisc.com/ Etherisc is a Switzerland based company building Decentralized insurance protocol and offering products such as Flight Delay, Hurricane, Crop and social insurance.

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5. Electronic medical records :
Stores medical data from different providers that are stored in different formats spread across different systems and securely stores in blockchain and allow patients to share their medical history around the world by approving through digital multisignatures.

Platforms :

▵Patientory (Symbol-PTOY) : https://patientory.com/ Patientory is based in Atlanta developing a platform that allows users to create a patient profile to keep track of their clinical history,doctor visits ,insurance etc.

▵Medical Chain (Symbol-MTN) : https://medicalchain.com/en/ Medical chain is based in london and aiming to build a decentralised medical data sharing platform , it also supports telemedicine on its platform,it allows patients and share their medical data and consult with their doctors online.

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6. P2P Transactions : Automatically matches parties and transfer payments in all person to person transaction , no third party involvement needed, Ex-lending&borrowing, p2p energy trading etc.

Platforms :

▵ Ethlend (Symbol-LEND) : https://ethlend.io/#/main Ethlend is based in Estonia building smart contract based transaction system to connect lenders and borrowers, in collateral management by using the platform borrower will be able to refill or withdraw the collateral partly in case of market movements and the lender is able to initiate margin call in case such right is not exercised.

▵ Nexo (Symbol-NEXO) : https://nexo.io/ NEXO is a european fintech company building “crypto to crypto” and “crypto to fiat” loan and overdraft system based on a blockchain that allows users to make instant cryptographic borrowings and lendings,with the platform whole process of disbursing loans is simple and can be done in minutes, this all of which are performed in its native Nexo Oracle module.

▵ PowerLedger (Symbol-POWR): https://www.powerledger.io/ Powerledger is Peer to Peer interoperable Energy trading platform based in australia which supports a wide range of energy-related applications. by using X-grid users can buy and sell energy on the existing electrical grid , power ledger secured multiple partnerships that will bring its platform to many countries.

▵ Restart Energy (Symbol-MWAT) https://restartenergy.io/Restart Energy is the fastest growing private energy and gas provider operating in an EU country (Romania) building RED platform , it offers peer to peer energy trading between consumers and energy producers.

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7. Voting : Eliminates voter fraud and boosts turnout, voters from across the globe can cast their vote, recorded votes are time stamped and cannot be changed or removed and no illegitimate votes were added.

Platforms :

▵ Horizon State (Symbol-HST) https://horizonstate.com/ Horizon state is based in Australia building Blockchain based Community Engagement Platform which can be considered a digital ballot box suited to communities where paper recording systems are incomplete and susceptible to tampering by corrupt individuals.

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8. CAR DATA : Stores information about customers and their vehicles distributed on many systems, such as those of car manufacturers, insurance companies, service centers etc, using a blockchain-based data market users to cash out their valuable data.

Platforms :

▵ Car Block (Symbol-CAR) https://www.carblock.io/ CarBlock is a data transportation protocol aiming to build key infrastructure for applications launching on platform ,it is trying to disrupt current car business landscape by launching several potential applications in P2P Rental,Insurance and used car dealership, by using data driven market place,owners of the data can earn CAR tokens in exchange for granting third parties access to their data. Used car buyers and sellers can form better deals and enjoy safer transactions, knowing that the vehicle’s conditions have been verified with real data and smart contracts.

▵ CarVertical (Symbol-CV) https://www.carvertical.com/ CarVertical is aiming to build a decentralised car database, when the platform is fully operational, every car buyer around the globe will be able to get authentic and non-faked information about the specific vehicle, including its real mileage and damages list. All its data will be decentralized and tamper-proof.

{Image Courtesy : Google}