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Summary
- At home miners are contributing to Covid-19 research
- Blockchain banking comes to the rescue as traditional banks come to a grinding halt
- Blockchain supply management can ensure that everyone has necessary supplies
- Blockchian-based information management ensures transparency
By now everyone has heard of coronavirus Covid-19. Infecting over 1,200,000 people worldwide, the virus has affected every aspect of daily life. However, the question remains: how do cryptocurrencies fit into all of this?
In short, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology may be just what we need, offering decentralized solutions and computing power in times of chaos and panic.
Medical Uses
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a whole offer numerous advantages, most notably, their decentralization. Unlike centralized currencies and services, the blockchain is decentralized and thus not reliant on a single party. Unlike the government, blockchain technology can never shut down and will continue to function flawlessly during times of panic.
- The advantages of blockchain technology
Furthemore, many major crypto institutions have spent millions in aid amid Covid-19. These include decentralized cryptocurrency charities and for-profit cryptocurrency exchanges. Without cryptocurrencies, these massive donations would not be possible.
Compute for Research
The most significant way cryptocurrencies are combating Covid-19 is through mining, or rather the lack of. Many cryptocurrency blockchains employ POW blockchains.
- POW mining — what it is and how it works
These blockchains require massive amounts of computing power to process and verify transactions. However, many individual miners are now directing their miners to Folding@Home, a program that allows Covid-19 researchers to use excess computing power to create models that assist in the fight against the virus. This program works by assigning various graphics cards fractions of a model to compute. These models are then pieced together to create a full model. This is truly a revolution in decentralized computing.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of GPUs mining cryptocurrencies are now available to researchers to compute necessarily models quickly. Without POW cryptocurrencies, many farms and individuals would not have significant excess computing power at their disposal.
In addition to contributing to the greater cause, many cryptocurrencies compensate users for sending their power towards research. Although these payouts are far less than typical mining payouts, they help cover a fraction of the electricity expense to run power-hungry GPUs.
Blockchain Banking
With financial markets mimicking the 2008 financial crisis, many are rightfully concerned about bank failures. In addition to the fear of bank bankruptcies, many banks have drastically reduced their workforce to cope with the crisis. Thus banking has come to a grinding halt with many looking for alternative options.
Blockchain banking is a viable solution to this problem. Blockchain banking involves financial smart contracts that are not controlled by any party, and thus reliable, quick, and secure. Amid coronavirus Covid-19, blockchain banking will get an opportunity to shine. Prior to this, the technology was not needed and did not provide a significant benefit.
Blockchain Supply Management
There are many applications that utilize blockchain technology. These include blockchain supply management. Supply chains can be tracked with the help of the immutable decentralized blockchain. There are many blockchain platforms that employ RFID tags to track items through the supply chain. What’s more is that blockchain-based supply management has been proven to be cheaper, reliable, and more secure than traditional centralized methods.
Blockchain-based management has several advantages during times of crisis. Firstly, the blockchain can never be taken offline contrary to centralized tracking services. Furthermore, blockchain tracking is immutable, thus the whole chain is transparent. Transparency is essential during times of crisis and chaos. Transparency allows everyone to see where crucial supplies are being sent and can prevent bad actors from siphoning off supplies. This will help control chaos and panic and, thus, streamline operations.
Blockchain Information Management
As blockchain technology prides itself in being transparent, it is the perfect candidate for information management, specifically medical data. Publishing Covid-19 cases and statistics on the blockchain will effectively create a public database. This database will be tamper-proof and provide much needed transparency.
In addition, blockchain-based information management can be used to collect survey data during this unprecedented time. This data will not be alterable and can provide far greater accuracy than traditional alternatives.
Future/Conclusion
The future offers a glimmer of hope during uncertain, panic-ridden times like this. With individual home miners offering their computing power to researchers, a cure for Covid-19 can be found quicker.
Furthermore, blockchain-based technology can help ensure transparency and distribute information and supplies in a controlled manner. We believe that as blockchain technology steps up amid the crisis, many will see its true value. As a result, we expect to see greater awareness and adoption of blockchain technology post-Covid-19.
Adit Gupta is the founder and editor-in-chief at The Crypto Associate, a crypto media publication.
Featured Image: Shutterstock/Maridav