Bivek Khatiwada

The advent of blockchain technology is one of the most revolutionary development. Essentially, blockchain is an open distributed ledger that records transactions between parties. The main thing differentiating a blockchain from a normal database is that it cannot conflict with the data that is already present on the database. It is decentralized, replicable and most of all it is immutable. Blockchain keeps track of the in and outs of items or tokens that are stored and can only be altered with the right permissions, which in this case requires a crypto key.
It has revolutionized varieties of industries such as e-commerce, supply chain management, healthcare, data integration and many more. Companies no longer have to rely on third-party platforms for a secure transaction with consumers. Patients have more control over their sensitive medical information. Indeed, this is much true for any industry involved in compiling and distributing sensitive information about individuals between practitioners and departments.
The world continuously is shifting towards the digital ecosystem. As a result, blockchain will become a critical part of an organization’s digital business transformation journey. Many industries have already started following this trend to ensure secure and decentralized data processing.
With technologies developing at a quick pace, blockchain can bring us new possibilities. Some of the notable trends that will dominate blockchain technology in 2020 are:

Integration of blockchain with Governments
The USA, Japan, Denmark are already practicing blockchain implementation in government agencies. So, this trend is not new. Since administrations, services, and ministries have to process huge amounts of data every day, this trend will get even broader coverage in 2020. There is also a chance that governments will accept the blockchain-based currency as legal. Venezuela launched its national cryptocurrency Petro in 2018, and it is rumored that 5 other countries are to follow the suite in 2020.

Deeper integration with Finance and Economy sectors.
Banking and finance experience lots of issues with data storage and transaction delay. This can be easily solved by implementing the blockchain technology. According to a recent PWC report, 77 % of financial institutes are expected to adopt blockchain technology as part of an in-production process by 2020.

Combining blockchain with IoT
IoT is a big target for cyber attacks. IoT network hacking will become more common in 2020. In 2019, there were 26 million devices that were breached. In 2020 many IoT companies will adopt blockchain for their business solutions. It will bring a lot of advantages since blockchain provides a secure and scalable framework for communication between IoT devices.
Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The integration of AI with blockchain technology can potentially increase its effectiveness. It can help AI explain itself by leaving a clear audit trail to improve the trustworthiness of data. Also, secure data sharing means better new data for AI to process.
According to International Data Corporation, 51% of all businesses will be making the transition to AI with the blockchain integration.

Blockchain as a solution to social networking issues
Some of the major issues that social media platforms face these days are data control, privacy violations, and content relevance.
Introducing blockchain in these platforms will help to store the data securely and maintain ownership.
Blockchain As A Service (BaaS)
Blockchain As A Service is a cloud-based service that enables the users to develop their digital products by working with blockchain. It is being integrated by several startups as well as enterprises. Microsoft and Amazon are some of the companies that provide the BaaS.

Content Streaming
Content streaming platforms can use this technology and its solutions to store user data in a secure and easily accessible manner.
Hulu and Netflix have already jumped on the bandwagon. Similar companies can also opt for an API of blockchain that will enable third parties to read and write information on the respective blockchain.

Hybrid Blockchains
Hybrid blockchain is an ideal solution for institutions that cannot go entirely decentralized with a private blockchain. These include organizations such as the government and educational institutes. Hybrid blockchain provides the best features and functionalities of both public and private blockchain. It allows organizations to use public blockchains in some of their services.

Crowdfunding
These platforms exist to create trust between project creators and supporters. But their downside is that they charge high fees. Blockchain-based crowdfunding will utilize smart contracts and online reputation systems, which will remove the need for a middle man. New projects can raise funds by releasing their tokens that represent value and can later be exchanged for products, services, or cash.

Voting
Blockchain technology will help change voting scenarios in many ways. It can introduce a system that is seemingly impossible to hack. Voters can receive a token to vote exactly once. This will get rid of the double voting problem. Also, it will eliminate the need for any central authority to verify and legitimize the votes.
There will be no industry that will be left untouched by blockchain. Any industry where data, privacy or transfer of assets is involved, is likely to be disrupted by blockchain in the coming decade. Blockchain will facilitate the growth of business and economy and will be regulated by the governments soon. The fad of investing in cryptos to mint quick bucks may fade away, but we’ll see more and more startups raise money through ICOs as blockchain becomes the norm. The blockchain market is moving into rapid growth mode as the digital economy takes hold. Blockchain is a core enabling technology that will help banks and other financial services organizations move into the modern age of real-time transaction processing. In today's Internet-driven world, copyright and ownership laws on music and other content have become vague. Blockchain will help considerably for digital content downloads, ensuring the artist or creator of the content gets paid fairly. It could also provide real-time and transparent royalty distribution data to musicians and content creators.
As with everything, blockchain also has its pros and cons. A company needs to do its research before deciding to integrate blockchain technology. Their primary task is to check whether it fits their product or service without damaging their current fame. Like all great inventions in the tech sector, it gets hyped and companies tend to see it as for silver bullet. This is of course not the case, usage of any technology must be considered carefully.
When deciding on using a Blockchain there are complex decisions ahead.
It can be mostly used in banking sectors and also sectors where a huge amount of transactions are involved.
Being in its initial stage of implementation, blockchain is bringing many innovative solutions for mankind. The blockchain has a great boom ahead if it can provide more innovative solutions for all kinds of industry sectors present currently. Blockchain will bring about a layer of trust, which will enable trustworthy currency and so many more layers. In the future, AI/ML and Blockchain could create a layer of predictive, analytical LEGAL contracts and God knows what else, to create layers that could change how we live in this world. Judging by the number and diversity of businesses that are currently or have plans to implement blockchain technology, it’s probably more than just a fad. Considering that it allows verifiable yet anonymous and secure transactions of all kinds, it or new versions of it will likely always be around.