The origins of blockchain technology can be traced to David Chaum, who first proposed the idea in the early 1980s. You might be most familiar with blockchain today as the home of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. In an effort to increase transparency, blockchain technology keeps track of all Bitcoin transactions. However, blockchain technology is not just for cryptocurrencies. Because it provides a safe means of completing transactions, blockchain has a wide range of applications in the financial sector today. Let’s look at a few of these applications.

Blockchain Finance Use Cases

#1: International Transactions

The capacity to conduct financial transactions internationally has grown crucial across many businesses as the world grows increasingly economically connected. These issues may be challenging and time-consuming due to bank and credit card regulations. Due to their sensitivity, they also run the danger of fraud and cybercrime. Blockchain technology may help to alleviate certain money-related problems.

#2: Insurance Claims

One of the biggest sectors in America is insurance, which has benefited greatly from blockchain technology. Almost everyone you know is covered by insurance, whether it be for health, auto, life, or another type of property. With so many various types of insurance available, blockchain has applications throughout the sector due to its capacity to increase process security and efficiency.

Blockchain, for instance, tremendously benefits insurance businesses by lowering administrative expenses. Organizing administration with blockchain technology can improve operations and reduce costs because the administration can be time-consuming and expensive. Reduced fraud is among the biggest advantages of blockchain for insurance businesses. Customers will be able to submit a single claim for an occurrence by using smart contracts, saving insurance firms the headache of dealing with bogus claims.

#3: Inheritance Money

Although it is a new concept, people are starting to use blockchain technology for their assets. Inheritance can be a complex concept and many money heirs do not achieve the best results without care and planning. It is common practice to plan for tangible assets like cars and homes, but doing so for cryptocurrencies presents many challenges. Currently, there are no regulations regarding the transmission of cryptocurrencies. After your death, the cryptocurrency you own will not be automatically transferred to your spouse or children. It will stay on the blockchain forever unless someone can access your public or private key. One of the solutions offered by the companies is financial services dedicated to cryptographic inheritance.

Businesses can allow customers to lock their crypto keys among other private keys and make those passwords available to designated people. Once the crypto owner passes, the heirs can initiate a secure process to access the cryptocurrency. For example, a person can give the key to his/her spouse. After the person dies, the spouse can activate the lock and access the inheritance after a certain period of time. If the person is not dead, they can stop the transfer. These blockchain security measures help reduce instances of financial fraud in real estate.

#4: Real Estate

The market for real estate will be worth $370 billion in 2022, making it a significant and complicated sector of the economy. Rent, mortgage payments, and title transfers to new owners are all common real estate transactions. By introducing an additional layer of protection, blockchain can aid in handling a huge volume of financial transactions. By lowering the quantity of paperwork and expediting transfers and other processes, this technology can improve processes.

#5: Musician Royalties

To make their music available, musicians use streaming sites like Bandcamp, Apple Music, and Spotify. The musicians receive royalties when their music is made available on these platforms. Blockchain can help stop music piracy when an artist releases their song solely on one service. Blockchain technology can guarantee that a musician’s music file only exists on their affiliated service, which makes piracy more challenging. By utilizing smart contracts, blockchain technology can help streaming services. They can increase the transparency and security of payments made to artists on their platform using this technique.

Blockchain Becomes Mainstream

Although you may have only ever heard of blockchain as a mechanism to store cryptocurrencies, new applications for this technology are being developed in fields like finance. Companies are beginning to embrace blockchain for international transactions, insurance claims, and real estate because it makes transactions transparent and secure. Even though blockchain is a relatively new idea, as bitcoin investment grows in popularity, people are starting to use it for inheritance.