Bitcoin innovated the decentralized network and became the first cryptocurrency, Ethereum became the second, and further expanded on the same concept of decentralized payments. Ethereum built a global computer network that connects the marketplace of decentralized applications to users offering user control, security, and efficiency. The groundbreaking feature that Ethereum came up with was its smart contracts. They were used for multiple innovative applications in different sectors, such as supply chain management, identity management, advertising, gaming, web browsing, and finance.
This blockchain is powered by Ether (ETH), its native cryptocurrency. Because of its transparency and immutability, Ethereum has become the go-to platform for applications and products that need to be run and operated on an open network. As you continue reading this article, you will explore many projects based on this open network, ranging from politics, health, and finance apps.
Here are some real-life cases of Ethereum
Non-Fungible Tokens
Non-Fungible Tokens or NFT are the new technology and are incredibly popular, and Ethereum has proved to be one of the best platforms to increase its popularity. NFTs are indivisible, can’t be exchanged, unique, and are scares digital assets. NFTs can be game characters, Tweets, digital media files, and more. NFT became incredibly popular in late 2017 when CryptoKitties started selling their digital cat collectables as NFT. NFTs get secured on the Ethereum blockchain, and each NFT are given a unique code, which differentiates one NFT from another. NFT can’t be copied and has only one owner.
NFTs store every bit of information about the actual product. Anything can be NFT as long as they are unique. For example, you can turn art, music, and even furniture into NFT and sell it to earn money. The top example of NFTs is- Beeple selling its artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days, William Shatner’s personal memorabilia, Nyan Cat GIF, Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, NBA’s unique shots, Bitcoin Origins selling some of the significant moments in Bitcoin history as collectable digital cards, Cryptograph to sell collectable, which can be paintings, diagrams, or drawings.
Decentralized Finance
Decentralized finance, otherwise known as Defi, are financial products and services accessible and available to people who can use Ethereum. With Defi, the market is always open, and no authority can stop someone from making payments or denying access. In addition, decentralized finance removes the risk of human error, and members can inspect the codes whenever they want. Defi is here to reinvent the entire financial system, services, and products. It adds censorship-resistant, decentralized, and programmable features so that individuals can create new financial products. Another critical component of Defi is that it allows P2P lending and borrowing.
Traditional finance has many drawbacks, such as denying people from using some financial services, limitation of trading hours, and there is always a worry of shutting down a finance market. However, with Defi, everything is controlled by the user. The user can transfer funds and gain complete control over their money. Moreover, it is open to everyone. Defi allows users to borrow funds without or with collateral, buy insurance, trade tokens, and send funds anywhere in the world.
ENS Domains
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a decentralized domain name system for the Ethereum blockchain. ENS removes the need to type long addresses by replacing them with human-readable names. For example, instead of having to type out 0x4cbe58c5048026a73f4eff0a845da20f5b37ff1d, you can simply type myetherwallet.eth into your browser or other Ethereum application.
ENS is integrated into many Ethereum wallets and applications, making it the easiest way to use Ethereum. ENS is based on a set of smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. These contracts form a public registrar and resolver that anyone can use.
The registrar allows users to claim names and set the resolver that will be used to resolve those names into addresses. The resolver is responsible for translating human-readable names into Ethereum addresses.
ENS is designed to be extensible so that new types of resources can be registered and resolved in the future. For example, ENS could be used to register and resolve content ids, payment pointers, or any other identifier used in Ethereum applications.
Ethereum and its Emerging Use Cases
Ethereum is creating values and providing utility through a plethora of sectors. Ethereum is working on every industry from real estate, entertainment, and healthcare industries and developing novel tools on the protocol to democratize access and enhance efficiency and trust in multiple services. Ethereum allows music creators to manage royalties in the music industry, which is considered an ideal solution. In the music industry, tokens are being distributed that facilitate seamless and automated distribution of royalty payments. Some of the projects in the music industry include Open Music Initiative, Mediachain, and Ujo.
Artists like Pitbull, Gramatik, and Lupe Fiasco have shown their support for decentralized technologies in music. Blockchain has the power to re-establish the way music is listened to, sold, bought, produced, and managed.
Some of the examples of Ethereum and real-life cases are:
Vezt
Vezt is a Los Angeles-based company and operates a music rights marketplace. It allows music fans to support producers, songwriters, and artists and even fund their favourite artists. And what the fans get in exchange is royalties earned from their preferred recordings. This platform allows both songwriters and artists to share some portion of their royalty. Some of the artists associated with Vezt are- John Legend, Kanye West, and Jay-Z.
MediaChain
MediaChain is a peer-to-peer and New York-based platform and works with multiple organizations and applications. Apart from working with different organizations, the platform also works with artists to get paid fairly and adequately. Smart contracts are provided to musicians, which helps them provide them with royalty without any third parties. Spotify took over MediaChain in 2017.
Ujo
Another New York-based decentralized platform that automates royalty payments is Ujo. It’s a blockchain-based platform that allows artists to control licensing, self-publish original work, and manage distribution. It’s based on Ethereum and pays the artists and provides ownership to music owners. Some of the artists associated with Ujo are RAC and Girrafa*ge, and Imogen Heap. They have partnered with this Ethereum-based platform to establish ownership and manage payments.
Ethereum has impressed many with its cross-border payment projects in the finance sector. With Ethereum, sending money to anyone globally has become inexpensive, quick, and direct. Companies such as BloomX, Abra, and Everex are prime examples of Ethereum finance cutting out on the transaction fees.
Ethereum is also working with the supply chain and logistics companies. Ethereum is allowing them to track the journey of a product. Right from the manufacturing process to the checkout, one will learn that the product has not been tempered; moreover, this technology is turning out to be more fruitful for organic foods and luxury goods.
Some of the examples of Ethereum platforms being used in the finance industry are:
Airfox
Airfox is a Boston, Massachusetts-based company and is a decentralized platform. It allows its members to send money anywhere globally and receive small loans. This platform uses a token called AirToken. With this token, one can make payments for services, goods, and even utility bills.
Zcash
Like Airfox, Zcash is a Denver, Colorado-based decentralized platform that uses its cryptocurrency, Zcash. People can use it to make payments for services and goods, such as buying a house, donating to a nonprofit, and even purchasing electronics. Zcash is associated with a wide range of companies.
Ripple
Ripple makes making payments for different goods and services and sending money anywhere in the world easy and hassle-free. The company is associated with multiple commercial platforms and over 175 banks. Even TransferGo is using Ripple to process their payments.
Talking about the healthcare industry is already revolutionizing the healthcare system. With Ethereum-based healthcare applications, storing, sharing, and accessing patients’ records will become easy and efficient. Take enterprise Ethereum, for example; it operates as a paperless and stable network where it grants authorization to only registered parties to process and share data. And features like smart contract solutions make paying bills, checking ID, and judicial arbitration convenient.
Some examples of real-world Ethereum cases in the healthcare industry are:
MedRec
MedRec follows a decentralized approach to managing data sharing, permissions, and authorization between healthcare stakeholders. It works on the Ethereum platform and allows patients to find necessary healthcare information.
FHIRChain
Another healthcare application that works on Ethereum is FHIRChain. Another blockchain-based application to store and share clinical data. It uses Ethereum and provides a bespoke solution to patients to meet medical requirements.
These are some real-world examples of different industries using Ethereum. Ethereum’s robustness and flexibility have inspired many new applications to emerge, and many more will arise in the future.
Alternatives To Ethereum
Polkadot, Solana and Cardano are all alternatives to Ethereum. Polkadot is an open-source platform for deploying decentralized applications and blockchain protocols. Using a novel consensus algorithm, which allows it to process transactions quickly and securely.
Polkadot also supports cross-chain transactions, meaning that it can be used to connect different blockchain networks.
Solana is a scalable blockchain platform that uses Proof of History to achieve high transaction throughput. Designed to be scalable, Solana can support a large number of transactions per second and is a popular alternative for NFT marketplace development.
Cardano is a smart contract platform that is powered by the Ada cryptocurrency. Cardano uses a unique proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, which is designed to be more energy efficient than other proof-of-work algorithms. All three of these platforms offer unique features and advantages, making them all viable alternatives to Ethereum.
