Blockchain Technology: Benefits and Challenges

Currently, the Blockchain technology is one of the sizzling and most exciting technologies available in the market. The Blockchain is the primary support behind the Bitcoin. The Google search for the Blockchain technology is increasing every year. With the help of Blockchain technology, it is possible to disrupt the various industries and to create the processes more democratic, secure, transparent, and effective. Blockchain ledger has recognized as a revolutionary technology by different sectors such as start-up companies, investors, global organizations and governments, etc. We know that the Blockchain ledger is a decentralized and more secure technology system which is responsible for recording the information on the connected blocks and storing it on an encoded digital ledger. In Blockchain, instead of storing the data at a single place, it is stored at the multiple locations, because if any computer fails to perform its intended function, then Blockchain provides you the option to control the access to the digital ledger. This pattern of information exchange makes sure that the correct person is accessing the accurate information without any anxiety of losing the data or hacking.

Attend live webinar on Blockchain

In a Blockchain system, the uploaded data cannot be changed or modified, and due to this, the Blockchain is called a write-once and append-only system. The parties which can access the record can only be able to add information which cannot be edited by anyone. The Blockchain ledger is a distributed system; this means that the data is kept at a different location and a single person does not control it. Each arranged ledger or block kept in a safe sequence or chain which is time stamped and contains a connection to the previous block, which makes it simple to note when the block is created or enhanced and in which order.

There are significant benefits and challenges associated with the Blockchain technology. Let us have a look at them:

Benefits of Blockchain Technology:

1. It produces high-quality data: The Blockchain data are comprehensive, reliable, timely, accurate and available extensively.

2. Authorized User: The Blockchain users can get the control of all their transactions and information.

3. Process Integrity: With the Blockchain technology, users can believe that the operations will be performed accurately, similar to the protocol commands eliminating the requirement for a reliable third party.

4. Durability, reliability, and longevity: The Blockchain technology has a distributed network; thus it does not have a central point of failure, and it can handle several malicious attacks. Therefore, the Blockchain technology is more durable, reliable and longevity.

5. Disintermediation and trustless exchange: With the help of Blockchain technology, it is possible for the two different parties to make a conversation without the inaccuracy or intermediation of a third party. It sharply reduces or even eliminates the counterparty risk.

6. Transparency and immutability: Whenever there is any modification done in the Blockchain they can be viewed publicly by all the parties generating transparency, and all the transactions are absolute which means that they cannot be modified or deleted.

7. Faster Transactions: With the help of Blockchain technology, it is possible to perform the internet bank transactions quickly because it can reduce the transaction times to minutes and can process 24/7.

8. Lesser transaction costs: It is possible to reduce the transaction fees with the help of Blockchain technology, by just removing the third party mediators and overhead costs of replacing the assets.

9. Ecosystem simplification: The Blockchain technology decreases the disorder and difficulties related to the multiple records because in this all the transactions are being added to a single public record.

The advantages of Blockchain technology are not limited to these, but it has also shown its great benefits in the field of healthcare as well, thus let us explore these benefits in detail:

Benefits of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Industry:

1. Data Security: Blockchain is a smart technology, which has provided a solution to protect patient information. It avoids illegal persons from accessing the information.

2. Managed Consent: With the help of Blockchain technology, patients can allow any specific person to access their medical information.

3. Public Health: With the help of Blockchain technology in health care, it is possible for the regulatory bodies to create a standard stream of de-identified patient information which will help the experts to recognize the epidemics or threats so that the required action can be taken to control the issues promptly.

4. Patient Generated Data: With the help of Blockchain technology, the patient will be capable to easily upload and firmly store their updated medical information without mixing up any previous records.

5. Simplified Claim Processing: The complicated therapeutic billing process can be made simple with the help of Blockchain technology, by removing the sequence of authentications and multiple third parties acting on behalf of other persons.

Source: medium.com

Challenges of Blockchain Technology:

Though the Blockchain technology has provided several benefits, on the other hand, it also has various problems. Let’s explore the top 5 challenges of Blockchain Technology in detail:

1. Ambiguity concerning monitoring status: Nowadays, the modern currencies have always been produced and controlled by central banks of national governments, due to the absence of regulatory supports by federal governments the Blockchain and Bitcoin technology have to face several serious issues which have delayed the possibility of acceptance of the technology by typical companies and financial institutions.

2. There would be massive consumption of energy in excavating of cryptocurrencies: Because of a large number of transactions, the removal of Bitcoin includes final consumption of energy. For example, the miners in the Bitcoin network average at least 450 thousand trillion solutions per second in a proposal to authenticate transactions using the significant quantities of computer power.

3. Emerging Technology: As this technology is comparatively new, there have been few issues arises related to the transaction speeds, verification processes, and data limits. Correcting these issues on time will make the Blockchain to be broadly applicable.

4. Integration Concerns: The Blockchain technology application typically provides solutions which require essential modifications to the current systems. Thus, to make a successful shift, the companies have to prepare a strategy on how they can make a complete switch.

5. Cultural Adoption: The Blockchain technology is entirely about a complete change to a distributed network, which requires the buy-in of its users and operators. It is a massive task for the people to receive the cryptocurrencies as a substitute currency.

6. Cost: There are incredible savings in costs and time provided by blockchain, but the high original capital costs could be a warning.

Challenges of Blockchain Technology in Healthcare industry:

Few technical and organizational difficulties limit the usage of Blockchain technology in the healthcare industry.  Let us have a look at those challenges:

1. Storage Competence: Healthcare industry includes several medical records, images, documents, and lab reports, this needed a particular amount of storage space. Every member involved in the chain must have a wide-ranging copy of the full medical record, and this volume possibly may exceed the storage capacity of existing Blockchain technology.

2. Uncertainty: The Blockchain technology is not a high technology yet, and there are only a limited popular creativities based on this modern technology at the time. Well, this is considered to be the main difficulty as we do not have many successful Blockchain models to follow which generates an undefined situation.

3. Cost: It is not yet decided the cost of keeping and starting a healthcare blockchain, and this technology cannot be considered without knowing it costs ahead of time.

4. Rules and Regulations: Well, there are no such rules available that talks about the use of Blockchain in the healthcare industry.

5. Data Ownership: The structured department or process has not yet begun which tells about who will own the healthcare data and who will give the permission to share it.

Want to know More about Blockchain Training? Click here

Conclusion:

Blockchain technology has shown its several benefits in different fields, but at the same time, there exist few challenges too. There are unknown factors regarding the Blockchain Technology and how it is going to disturb the current technologies. But, due to these challenges, the adoption of Blockchain technology will not be going to stop. The trust on Blockchain technology will grow with time, the guidelines and standards will also prepare. Like any other emerging technology, the Blockchain will continue to grow and change. And due to the possible disruptive power in other industries, this technology will advance more quickly.