By Staff Writer
The coronavirus crisis definitely shook the world. No one was prepared for this and everyone is talking about how it putting the last nail to the coffin of our already debt-ridden economy with huge financial crisis!
The panic has already made people to seek financial shelter in traditional hard assets such as gold, and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Since the beginning of April, the price of bitcoin has steadily climbed 33%, and over the past twelve months, it has approximately doubled in value. Thus, more savers are now turning to the world of “decentralized finance” (or DeFI) interest-earning platforms, a number of which have been started by Indian entrepreneurs. We can also expect the Facebook-driven Libra project, which recently unveiled) “Libra 2.0”, to focus significant attention on India as its majority of users are from India. The successful launch of Libra in India could introduce hundreds of millions of people to the many benefits of digital currencies instantly.
There are a number of non-currency uses of blockchain technology that may also receive a significant push in the wake of Covid-19. Ehealth passports and digital identity, food supply chain tracking, and electronic voting are just some of the broader uses of blockchain technology that are being proposed to help with the Covid-19 response and to mitigate the effects of future pandemics.
How Blockchain Can Help Cure COVID-19
The use of blockchain was already growing at a nice clip thanks to a growing list of usecases spanning almost every industry. Industry research consultant MarketsandMarkets projects that the size of the blockchain market will grow at a 67.3% CAGR over the next five years from $3 billion to $39.7 billion in 2025.
With regard to COVID-19, the blockchain provides significant solutions for the medical supply chain as well. For instance, IBM’s Rapid Supplier Connect to help connect buyers with non-traditional suppliers of items in the medical supply chain such as masks and other PPE needed to combat COVID-19. The blockchain can also be used in the testing and contact tracing of patients. Due to the inherent transparency of the technology, medical providers can guarantee that all patients’ health records were “tamper proof” while also ensuring the data’s privacy in compliance with medical privacy codes such as HIPAA and GDPR.
In the “new normal” of digital post COVID-19, blockchain will be an important tool used in healthcare to help source supplies, facilitate the anonymous testing and tracking of COVID-19 patients, and help with the medical research targeting an end to the virus.In the “new normal” of digital post COVID-19, blockchain will be an important tool used in healthcare to help source supplies, facilitate the anonymous testing and tracking of COVID-19 patients, and help with the medical research targeting an end to the virus.
