This is part two of a short blockchain series. The first article explored foundational concepts in cryptocurrency.

Blockchain as a Niche of Safety

The author emphasizes timing’s importance in technology adoption. Artificial neural networks, though 75 years old as a computational model, only became practically viable when supporting infrastructure matured sufficiently. This same perspective applies to blockchain’s future applications—some are currently feasible while others await further technological development.

Death, Taxes and Real Estate — Break Free From Bureaucracy

Public records worldwide suffer from inconsistencies: missing ownership documentation, vague tax recordings, and tampered birth/death records. Access control remains problematic—who can view public real estate data, who grants access, and how is it managed?

Blockchain addresses these concerns through its original design. The technology emerged as a solution for notary databases and has since evolved into its current form.

Keeping Track of Changes — Untouchable Data

Real estate functions primarily as an investment, making ownership history critical. This information requires privacy protection despite regulatory oversight. Public notification should only occur when properties are in transition or dispute.

In a typical transaction, data keys exchange between parties to verify property value and ownership details. Once confirmed, a validation process checks for irregularities, disputes, or conditions affecting the transaction. Upon clearing all checks, new ownership records on the blockchain while other transaction elements (money transfer, etc.) occur outside it.

For birth, marriage, and death certificates, blockchain provides clean, immutable records without requiring extensive node networks—though crucially, different stakeholders must operate separate nodes.

Tax Collection and Insurance Claims — Triggering the Actions

Taxation and insurance present greater complexity. Beyond storing untouchable data, meaningful system improvements require substantial development. Major insurance companies and governments are researching this space through initiatives like the b3i blockchain initiative and China’s blockchain tax research.

Current research centers on Ethereum’s “smart contracts”—the blockchain’s capacity to execute preprogrammed actions when specific conditions materialize.

Global Distribution of Local Controls

Implementation requires interconnected blockchain networks operating at global scale, performing varied validations and inter-network exchanges to determine conditions for executing complex financial contracts.

Consider this scenario: A person relocates mid-year, changing employment and residence while tax obligations span two countries with different regulations. Birth records transfer to residence-processing blockchains, connecting visa dates to contract dates. Taxation blockchains exchange data applying new rules. Identity data links to newly formed files in global private record systems. The complete system recalculates, validates, stores, and executes tax returns accounting for work in multiple jurisdictions, potentially including property ownership and recent mortgages.

“It would just require you to request this change with your private encryption key (which can be retinal scan).” This thought experiment, while technologically feasible, requires unrealistic expectations regarding coordination.

The future likely involves either distributed global networks providing granular role-based access to private and governmental data ledgers, or centralized global governance. Neither scenario appears imminent.

“Bare in mind that it took several months (maybe even years?) for people to adopt P2P networks as a way to safely download entertainment content.” Implementing more complex, less essential systems will require decades (assuming humanity avoids self-destruction).

Every Day Blockchain Application — Importance of Truth

Modern commerce and other sectors require enhanced auditing, verification, and event tracking reliability. Current experiments aim to integrate blockchain into these areas, providing greater trustworthiness.

Humanitarian Aid: This sector desperately needs spending controls, transport verification, and origin-to-destination tracking. Blockchain could provide secure, distributed identity solutions benefiting UN bodies, NGOs, and international organizations. Progress appears slow, though UNICEF members have discussed blockchain with experts.

Fair Trade and Direct Trade: These initiatives’ core purpose involves maintaining records proving products benefit their producers directly. Distributed data systems can verify complete product paths from production through distribution. However, “Educating people to reward fair and direct trade products can’t be handled through blockchain.”

Organic Food: Similar tracking applies here, emphasizing locations, seeds, fertilizers, and distribution networks.

Freshness: Shelf time significantly affects fruit, vegetable, and flower pricing. This domain sees substantial data forgery due to financial incentives. Major US food retailers support blockchain initiatives for tracking and automatic expiration recall.

Vehicle History: Mileage, maintenance records, and tune-ups present persistent tracking challenges, particularly regarding odometer fraud during vehicle sales.

Virtually any sector requiring reliable, immutable, distributed databases could benefit from blockchain implementation.

Blockchain Beyond Database — Remember SETI

Code execution during block creation enables distributed computing. Ethereum and similar implementations allow blockchain node operators to opt into code execution participation.

Current applications primarily involve contracts—checking network condition satisfaction before executing inter-party transactions. However, blockchain-based code execution could revive projects like SETI@home. Many SETI@home volunteers redirected computing power toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining, but distributed systems could theoretically provide supercomputer-scale processing for scientific endeavors globally.

Technical maturity obstacles remain significant.

Cryptocurrencies Are the Solution and a Problem

Cryptocurrencies enable important technological concepts addressing major gaps, but progress carries costs.

Direct Cost: Freedom and anonymity generate illegal marketplaces for drug trafficking, weapons, hired violence, human trafficking, and worse. The Silk Road marketplace exemplified this problem. The FBI seized over 200,000 Bitcoin from it—representing one direct cost of progress.

Hidden Cost: The cryptocurrency community should consolidate technologies and resources. Thousands of currencies cannot address Bitcoin mining’s energy inefficiency. Mining remains computationally intensive, with processors consuming maximum power.

“Bitcoin mining in the world is consuming almost as much power as Switzerland.” This year’s consumption likely exceeds Switzerland’s total energy use. Since mining concentrates in low-electricity-cost regions burning coal for power generation, Bitcoin carries a substantially larger carbon footprint than Switzerland.

“Our children do not need Bitcoin (crypto currencies in general) if mining does not get lot more energy optimized, but I think they can find pretty good use for a blockchain based solutions.” Blockchain research and adoption remain essential, necessitating continued field exploration.