4 surprising applications of blockchain besides Bitcoin

Blockchain was created as the system that runs Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Big banks and corporate giants are trying to make the technology work for them, believing it will reduce costs and change the way the world does business.

Financing is just the beginning, though. Blockchain is also being used to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems, such as human trafficking, conflict diamonds and land rights.

How is this possible? Blockchain is a decentralized database shared among a network of computers, all of which must approve an exchange before it can be recorded. There is no need for a trusted intermediary like a bank, as the information is securely and transparently saved on a digital ledger for all users on the network to see.

The impact on society could be huge: blockchain may have been developed as a payment system, but its admirers believe it has almost endless applications and uses, from making online music sharing fairer to giving people registered rights to land.

Let’s look at some unconventional uses of blockchain:

Fighting human trafficking

One in five people in the world, an estimated 1.5 billion people, have no official documentation to prove their identity, the World Bank said. Most live in Asia and Africa, and a "disproportionate number" of them are women and children, the bank said.

Without legal recognition, these individuals are “invisible” to society, which makes them vulnerable to trafficking, prostitution and exploitation.

Microsoft has announced that it is working with partners to develop a secure identity system for independent verifiers using blockchain.

Tracking Blood Diamonds

The Kimberley Process, an international body launched in 2003 to clean up the trade in diamonds from conflict zones, is exploring how blockchain can help track the origins of diamonds.

One startup, Everledger, has used blockchain to digitally verify diamond ownership. CEO and founder Leanne Kemp believes the technology could also be applied to other issues, such as ivory poaching.

She told WIRED, “The issue of authenticity is key because, for example, counterfeit goods are financing terrorist activities, and we can apply this technology to very big problems: ivory poaching, blood diamonds, all these big blood problems that are helping cartels, terrorists, and criminals.

Shaking up the music industry

In the music industry, blockchain has been touted as a way to level the playing field for artists, allowing them to sell directly to fans and solving licensing issues.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter – Imogen Heap released her song “Tiny Human” using a blockchain platform. Users pay for permission to download, stream, and remix the song, with each payment automatically split among all those involved. Heap has now launched her own blockchain project, Mycelia.

Registering land ownership

Sweden is experimenting with putting its land registry on a blockchain.

The plan is to use the technology to enable all parties – banks, brokers, government officials, buyers and sellers – to see the details of a real estate transaction.

For developing countries, creating an immutable title system on a blockchain could serve as a means to eliminate fraud and encourage people to record unregistered land. It might also help banks lend against land.

In Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, U.S. blockchain company Factom reportedly negotiated with the government in 2015 to build a decentralized land title database.

Meanwhile, a different initiative, BitLand, is considering putting titling on a blockchain in Ghana, where an estimated 78% of land is unregistered.

The Georgian government is reportedly working with bitcoin firm BitFury to register land titles using blockchain.