24 April,2023.
Why is blockchain suddenly getting so much buzz?
Frequent we keep reading about Information Breach of unauthorized access to and acquisition of unencrypted or unredacted records or data containing personnel information where illegal use of the personnel information has occurred. Critical classified information being compromised by major security lapse, allowing access
Aadhaar data being leaked, Company Payroll information, Voting, Examination QP Leaks (UPSC Civil Services, Medical and Engineering, CA, MBA…etc) Military Secret information, Hospital patient information, BFSI Banking, Financial Services and Insurance records, Mortgage ………and the list is endless
Login details of major tech firms leaked in two data centre hacks, big tech firms hit. (Bloomberg) ET Pg6, 23-Feb-2023. Companies dependency on third parties to house data and IT equipment.
Using blockchain to monitor the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain…Tackling COVID-19 will require the first-ever deployment of blockchain in the global distribution of a vaccine. One of the biggest challenges is still ahead – how to distribute this vaccine to every living person around the globe.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/using-blockchain-to-monitor-covid-19-vaccine-supply-chain/
I bet you didn’t realize blockchain technology solution could do all of this. Several real-world uses for Blockchain Technology includes….Wills or Inheritance, Equity Trading, Managing Internet of Things networks, Payment processing and money transfers, Digital Voting, Real estate, land, and auto title transfers, Digital ID’s, Retail loyalty rewards programs, Food Safety, Medical Record Keeping, Weapon Tracking, Securing access to belongings, Tracking Prescription Drugs…..etc
In India, blockchain solutions have found the most takers in banking, financial services and insurance industry. But the public sector has also been actively using this technology for use cases such as land title registry, vehicle lifecycle management, farm insurance and electronic health record management.
The world is Digital, wherein mostly all transactions are done digitally. Blockchain is a distributed immutable ledger, in which the blocks containing transaction details are connected chronologically to form a series of chains, thus raising the possibility of improving the process and innovating business model for the financial institutions. According to Gartner, blockchain’s business value-add will grow to $176 billion by 2025.
What is blockchain? First and foremost, Blockchain is a public electronic ledger — similar to a relational database — that can be openly shared among disparate users and that creates an unchangeable record of their transactions, each one time-stamped and linked to the previous one.
Each digital record or transaction in the thread is called a block (hence the name), and it allows either an open or controlled set of users to participate in the electronic ledger. Each block is linked to a specific participant.
Blockchain can only be updated by consensus between participants in the system, and when new data is entered, it can never be erased. The blockchain contains a true and verifiable record of each and every transaction ever made in the system
As each transaction occurs, it is recorded as a block of data. Each block is connected to the ones before and after it. Transactions are blocked together in an irreversible chain. This renders blockchain tamper evident, delivering the strength of immutability (Immutability: In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created) If you can’t change it, it’s immutable. There are many things in life that are immutable; these unchangeable things include death, taxes, and the laws of physics.
At the heart of Blockchain is Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). This is a peer-to=-peer network consisting of replicated data (in different nodes) without the need for central administrator.
It is a distributed ledger in which participants of Blockchain peer-to-peer (P2P) network, and not the central administrator, generate blocks. The possibilities of use of Blockchain are acknowledged in many different fields, resulting in many developments and studies being conducted, and investments are being made actively. Blockchain is a digital ever-growing list of data records. Such a list is comprised of many blocks of data, which are organized in chronological order and are linked and secured by cryptographic proofs.
Blockchain is an online record of transactions backed by cryptography. It’s at the heart of currencies like Bitcoin and can be used to document financial transactions, the movement of goods or services and or exchanges in information.
Blockchain owes its name to the way it stores transaction data — in blocks that are linked together to form a chain. As the number of transactions grows, so does the blockchain.
Blocks record and confirm the time and sequence of transactions, which are then logged into the blockchain within a discrete network governed by rules agreed on by the network participants.
The Relationship between Blockchain and Bitcoin (uses Blockchain Technology) While bitcoin is the digital asset (currency), blockchain is the technology that bitcoin is built on. Therefore, bitcoin is dependent on blockchain technology. Without blockchain, bitcoin would not be valuable because there would be no secure method of transacting in it.
Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, blockchain… So what does it all mean?
Blockchain is the technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrency (among other things). Bitcoin is the name of the best-known cryptocurrency, the one for which blockchain technology, as we currently know it, was created. A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange, such as the US dollar, but is digital and uses cryptographic techniques and it’s protocol to verify the transfer of funds and control the creation of monetary units.
Blockchain allows digital information to be recorded and distributed. Blockchain is an irreversible record of transactions, which cannot be changed, deleted or destroyed.
Case Study: Blood Bank
The objective of using Blockchain Technology (BCT) in blood bank system is to ensure that the patient gets safe blood. This can be achieved by the different entities in the chain; verifying the quality / expiry of blood from the blockchain that provides the trust factor that is required. The donor details could also be verified by the collection centres to ensure unsafe donors are excluded. As a fallout , all the stakeholders will be able to know the availability of blood in different blood banks.
using bloodchain we will be able to achieve the following benefits:
– Quality of blood can be ascertained by any node of the chain
– Donor history can be known to each node
– Details of blood including expiry of blood in each stage can be verified
– Sample to recipient integrity is maintained
– Availability of blood with respect to blood banks
Blood Chain brings all the key stakeholders of blood cycle management blood banks, donors, blood collection, Testing Centres, hospitals and patients on one platform.
Another challenge in blood cycle management is the gap in demand and supply. On the one hand 30% of the patients don’t get the components which they are in need of, and on the other hand 10-12% of the components get wasted due to expiry.
Most blood donation drives are occasion driven or time driven with less co-relation with the actual demand at that time. The need is to get all the stakeholders of the blood ecosystem on a single platform and align the drives with the actual regional requirements, develop a solution which helped address these challenges with the latest technological advancement as well as align with the actual working on the ground..
Blockchain provides a shared ledger technology that participants in a business network can use to record the history of business transactions that cannot be altered. Blockchain provides a single point of truth: a shared, tamper-evident ledger. Blockchain uses consensus to commit transactions to the ledger, the results are final. Each member has a copy of the same ledger, so asset provenance and traceability are transparent and trusted. Blockchain can be applied to any industry. Blockchain is a distributed and replicated data structure that is shared among the members of a network. Multiple nodes connect to a block chain and make up the network. Each node can make transactional changes and each block in the chain represents a list of transactions and a hash to the previous block, except for the first block.
The Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise blockchain platform for building, deploying, and running distributed ledgers. The smart contract abstraction provided by the Sawtooth allows application developers to code in a language of their choice. The platform facilitates the development of blockchain solutions by separating the core system from the application domain. Programmers can specify the business rules appropriate for their application, using the language they want, with no need to know the underlying design of the core system. Sawtooth’s core design allows applications to choose the transaction rules, permissioning, and consensus algorithms that support their unique business requirements.
Bloodbank use case is recording transactions right from Donor registration, to Hospital, and other important properties of blood like group, testing remark, expiry date, temperature maintained, on blockchain. (Status, availability of blood, assurance on availability-quality)
Entities involved
- DONOR
- COLLECTION CENTRE
- TESTING CENTRE
- BLOODBANK
- HOSPITAL
- Dept of Health and family welfare, DCD, Citizen
Different entities interact with the existing system each other:
· Approach 1:Node.js is used as client application with local RDBMS SQL Server 2012 and transactions are posting to Validator API
· Approach 2:Asp.net is used as client application with local RDBMS SQL Server 2012 and sending the transactions to middle layer node.js API and then it will post to Validator API
· Approach 3:Asp.net is used as client application with local RDBMS SQL Server 2012 will create transactions as per SAWTOOTH at client level and post Validator API
· Blockchain technology can have a significant impact on reducing HIV rates in developing countries and help to protect the future of our people.
How this blog is useful for classroom: Technology for Managers
References:
Centre of Excellence – Blockchain Technology – Ministry of Electronics & IT, NIC – The Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology
What is Blockchain Technology? – IBM Blockchain | IBM
https://www.ibm.com/topics/what-is-blockchain
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/blockchain/
Prof. PV Rajaram Sastry
Faculty