Blockchain trends to look for in 2023

Blockchain advocates have long been excited about distributed ledger technology’s potential for cybersecurity, financial services, internet-of-things (IoT), real estate and supply-chain management. As we look ahead to 2023, some other interesting markets are worth watching for the latest trends in blockchain use. Here are four industries I believe will accelerate blockchain adoption to their great advantage.

Cloud services
The worldwide public cloud services market, including infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service, generated $408.6bn in 2021 revenues, according to International Data Corporation. While the cloud services industry is still young, this tremendous growth drive innovation. For example, “cloud storage is another sector that blockchain can electrify and change. Traditionally, cloud storage companies allow users to purchase a certain amount of storage that is generally sold by the terabyte,” explains a recent article on InvestmentBank.com. It also stated that “blockchain technology provides users with a means to store information on a peer-to-peer network. A cloud storage platform could be run by the nodes that help facilitate transactions. The nodes would be giving up storage on their computers to the consumer, but the node owners would be compensated by the consumers for storing their data”.

More broadly, for cloud services, blockchain brings greater privacy and security capabilities. When cloud computing is integrated with blockchain technology, the main problem, security and privacy get addressed. Data deletion from one computer does not erase data stored on other devices on a blockchain network. As a result, there is no danger of data loss or alteration. Data on a blockchain is irremovable. Such elevated privacy, security and automation can quickly advance cloud computing – not only delivering greater benefits to consumers but potentially lowering costs and overhead for providers.

Government
Governments are likely to begin implementing distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems that will replace traditional paper-based systems. The migration to digital data systems has been going on for quite some time, but DLT has greater advantages that provide better trust, transparency and security via encryption and validation features.

Government organisations can readily improve constituent communications and administration with the innovative adoption of blockchains. For example, blockchain can improve:
• Form processing and chain-of-custody tracking of government documents
• Identification and elimination of errors in government documents, plus reduce tampering and detect forgery.
• Operational efficiency by eliminating paper-based records.
• Cost controls by reducing the expense of manually processing applications, forms and documentation of all kinds and instead implementing digital records stored on the blockchain.

Law
As blockchain transforms government, so it will transform the law and legal services. There are many ways blockchain technology is already transforming legal services. Smart contracts, dispute resolution, IP rights…where the blockchain can support evidence of creation, first use and rights management, and can track distribution. This ultimately prevents copyright infringement and enforces mitigation via time-stamped copies of work, aiding plaintiffs if appearing before a court.

Meanwhile, contract lifecycle management solutions help attorneys to manage the complex and evolving nature of contracts – making them more efficient at producing, executing and upholding contractual agreements. As transactions and records move to digital workflows, digital signing ceremonies and digital storage, blockchain will be a boon to law firms and legal department in 2023 and beyond.

Identity
Finally, with the move to digital commerce and communications, our individual identity – as mapped to digital worlds – becomes increasingly important to control and authenticate. Identity systems are currently flawed in a number of ways. They are porous, operate in isolation and are prone to error. Blockchain systems can solve these problems and provide a single source to verify identity and assets. Blockchain identity can also offer a type of ‘self-sovereignty’ that hasn’t existed before. This desire for control over one’s personal information – and digital data across platforms – lies at the heart of Web3. While Web3 starts with blockchain, its ambition and scope will spread far across the Internet, metaverses and shared networks.

From cloud services, cybersecurity, and IT to financial services, government, healthcare, legal services, real estate, supply chains and other industries, blockchain is changing how we do business, share information, and identify ourselves. These trends are just the start, and the opportunities for blockchain to improve the privacy and security of our digital data will flourish in the years ahead.

Shamsh Hadi is the CEO and co-founder at ZorroSign

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