Sustainability is the buzzword today. Is blockchain the answer? Blockchain, with its distributed ledger technology, records data in blocks and is finding use across industries. The online gambling industry for instance is seeing the rise of blackjack games for real money.
Understanding Blockchain and Why the World Needs It
The applications for blockchain go beyond just cryptocurrency. Where large corporate firms are under constant pressure to showcase their ESG commitments, blockchain holds the key to the solution.
- Solving Supply Chain Issues
In manufacturing and FMCG sectors where the supply chain is complex, data silos prevent transparency and efficient communication. This transaction of information along the chain can be rendered effectively using blockchain. This can allow tracking of information, and citing areas prone to more carbon emission.
Blockchain is the innovation that can synchronize records, making the traverse to sustainability goals easier.
- Enable Better Security
Banks and the healthcare industry are looking at using Blockchain effectively. This is because blockchain technology entails security measures through public-private pairs and majority consensus from nodes across the distributed peer-to-peer computer network, making it impossible to tamper with the data.
So, you can keep patient data safe, and not worry about hackers. Or banks can keep client data secure, with data consistency across the network.
- Easy to Measure
The carbon footprint can be tracked right from ground level through its entire journey, helping firms cut down emissions and imbibe environmentally sustainable practices. Blockchain holds the ticket to the achievement of the SDGs laid out in global talks.
Other Examples of How Blockchain can be Made Sustainable
Beyond the environmental impact, blockchain finds its presence in other use cases as well.
- Avoid Counterfeit Products
Tracking products along the supply chain helps avoid counterfeit products. This finds widespread use in pharma companies to make their supply chains efficient and business operations sustainable.
- Easier Fund Distribution
Seamless and sustainable delivery of cash and resources to those in need was another use case for blockchain success, tried and tested by the United Nations World Food Programme.
- Better monitoring
The accurate monitoring and tracking of recovered waste using this technology yet again propel blockchain as the guardian angel of sustainability.
Top Disadvantages of Blockchain
In spite of these magnanimous beneficial uses, blockchain poses a major hurdle.
Mining cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the like of it – which are all based on blockchain tech – poses a huge negative environmental impact.
- The amount of energy consumed in Bitcoin generation, for instance, is jaw-dropping.
- The transaction of one bitcoin takes roughly 1500 kWh, as stated by the Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
- Dogecoin requires 600 kWh for the same.
Fossil fuels, being the major energy source, release a sizeable amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect. This now requires the mining technology itself to be more sustainable. It’s why Ethereum recently moved away to a Proof of Work (PoW) model, which can consume 99.95% less energy than conventional mining.
Investing in Blockchain Tech
As the industry moves towards a greener future and more coins look to move to the PoW model, we will see blockchain use cases rise. More banks and other financial institutions will take to using Blockchain and its tech, and we will continue to find its use across industries.