As blockchain identity becomes a reality, blockchain profits will explode in 2017

Blockchain identities are already being used in a variety of data management and technology development fields. With these current applications, can we say that blockchain has lived up to its promise?

Some experts think this is overstated, others think late 2016 and 2017 will be the year when real-world blockchain profitability and usage explode. That is, as long as political forces don’t get in the way.

What is blockchain identity?

The concept of blockchain identity is defined by Christopher Bates of Bitland as a 100% verifiable identity that is created through a series of security layers and protocols. This is a system that can be encrypted and prevent anyone who does not need to see the relevant identity information from accessing the system.

Betes explained that this blockchain identity could be used when working with government oversight agencies to protect social security accounts from being stolen by governments that are overspending.

Bates said:

“One of the biggest problems is that once tax money is collected, there is no oversight, and something like blockchain identity can help prevent governments from spending tax money that they don’t deserve.”

The unique opportunity of the Bitcoin blockchain

According to Carl AR Weir, CEO of Aten Group, blockchain identity is the unequivocal immutability of all interconnected electronic mechanisms. Weir said the convergence of mobile/blockchain/cloud computing and manufacturing/IoT in 2014 and 2015 has created a unique opportunity for blockchain to truly arrive, whether it’s the Bitcoin blockchain, Ethereum smart contracts or Hyperledger.

Blockchain identity is based on consensus

According to Bates, blockchain identity is not the first group computing project, nor is it the first experiment in using distributed computing systems and ledgers. However, blockchain identity is unique because consensus is the basis of identity in many ways. Bates explained that when using blockchain identity, the identity of a person or organization is not unilateral and must be verified and accepted as true by at least one party. Bates gave a real-life example:

“If you lose your driver’s license, birth certificate or other state-issued ID, with any luck you can still open a bank account, board a plane or cross a border. If there is a ‘digital’ and ‘distributed’ consensus-based identity, it will be much harder to accidentally compromise it.”

Weir explained another unique feature of blockchain identity, which is that the blockchain's immutable ID is every block, every transaction. In addition, the encryption brought by the blockchain ensures a non-corrupt identity, while ensuring that bad actors cannot change, remove, edit, identify and forge records or transactions.

Is blockchain overhyped?

Some believe that blockchain as a whole is an overhyped concept that has not lived up to expectations. Bates said:

“I think blockchain is overhyped in many areas. Aside from ‘The DAO’, remittances are the most overhyped area. The rhetoric of remittance blockchains is that Bitcoin will save the third world, but it doesn’t really understand or address the problems of converting ‘Bitcoin’ into ‘living goods’ in the third world. The people spouting the most hyperbole are the ones least likely to actually go to the third world and ‘implement the infrastructure’ to support Bitcoin. These people only go to the West to talk about Bitcoin, but let’s see how many actually go to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Cameroon, or Sierra Leone next year.”

2016-2107 will witness the explosive development of blockchain

Weir’s view is contrary to Bates, he does not think that blockchain is a hype, blockchain already has a very enthusiastic use case attribute in one direction - banking. He believes that there are other industries that can scale growth faster and take blockchain technology as a whole further than it is now.

He said:

“I think late 2016 and 2017 will be the year when real-world blockchain monetization and adoption explodes. That is, as long as the political forces don’t get in the way.”

Real use cases

Weir gave a practical use case of blockchain identity from the perspective of the Internet of Things:

"I go to Rakuten or Amazon and buy an IoT-connected fridge. I then buy an IoT-connected washing machine. After the devices are installed, I discover that my fridge won't remind me to buy laundry detergent during the warranty period, or my washing machine won't tell me that my hand towels are in the dryer. That's not a problem, but what if the 'wheel of death' appears on the fridge and washing machine screens and my connection to the IoT device doesn't tell me this, or even worse, I end up with a corrupted reminder input and the washing machine tells the fridge to buy 1,000 pints of milk? It's like the old legal case: If you buy a car from me with cash and you don’t know I bargained for it, you feel you got a bad deal. Legally, it’s the buyer’s responsibility, not the seller’s. Just like with cars, is it the fridge or washing machine, or is it some IoT entity that is responsible? What is covered by the IoT warranty? The solution could be: if the consumer has a digital identity on the blockchain, and Rakuten/Amazon agrees to verify that identity, then that identity can be applied to the warranty on the blockchain, and if the transaction is conducted on the blockchain, then the person, product, purchase and usage information can all be tracked unmistakably on the blockchain.”

At the same time, Bates also pointed out that in addition to Bitland, Tao Network has made great progress in the use cases of intellectual property rights in the music industry.

He also mentioned that Bitland will work with Tao to secure the first government-recognized blockchain land title in October. Tao will secure the physical copy of the land title, while the Bitland blockchain will record the relevant land title information.

Blockpay is also working on point-of-sale systems for digital currencies, he said, while CCEDK has become a major use case for an online digital startup incubator.

As the digital industry gets more and more involved in decentralization, people are reacting more and more to the capabilities of blockchain technology. Basically, as a data processing system, blockchain technology has been mentioned in almost every field of human development. Some people may think that blockchain is overhyped, but the ruthless erosion of blockchain in various industries does not think so.