Proponents of blockchain technology say that it is set to revolutionise the world with wide-reaching applications in finance, academia, and international trade.

Blockchain – known as distributed shared ledgers – is a technology that records and verifies transactions based on cryptography.

“Blockchain technology is not only be connected with money, is more about economy’s structure,” Kadir Kurtulus, the head of Blockchain Association of Eurasia (BLASEA) told the Anadolu news agency.

Brad Bulent Yasar, cofounder of the US-based Blockchain Investors Consortium, said that he expected blockchain to develop into a larger system, like other internet technologies.

“Something similar [will] probably [happen] for blockchain where people will have got their own versions and then find ways to link in all together,” he explained.

Academic validation

The blockchain technology can be used in the verification of university degrees and diplomas.

• If a person says they got a degree from a university in any country, it can just check via blockchain to show it, said Yasar
• This can happen if academic institutions share their academic records on the blockchain. The information storage would be distributed globally via the blockchain network, while governments and other authorities audit the records, instead of keeping them.

Efficient transactions

“Blockchain and protocols based on blockchain enable us to revolutionise the world’s financial system,” Kurtulus said.

• Global ID: The United Nations is working to develop a kind of ID, which gives opportunities to transact globally, based on blockchain technology for all humanity by 2030.
• “If governments use this type of ID, a person can transact money in any bank immediately,” Kurtulus said.
• The president of the World Bank, Jim Kim, said about blockchain: “We are engaging and learning from innovators and disruptive technology firms; collaborating on research; and exploring new partnerships to leverage data, knowledge, and new technology to help achieve our goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.”
• Banks embrace: “Most banks in the world, right now, are secretly trying different blockchain technologies for their inner operations, as well as interbank operations,” he added.
• Bank of America was ranked first with 43 patents, while the global finance company Mastercard and technology giant IBM followed it with 27 patents related to the blockchain technology.
• “Goldman Sachs, Citibank and JPMorgan also apply for patents,” he added.

International trade

Blockchain technology can be used to create new currencies for trading partners or regions, Kurtulus explained.

• Regional currencies: “Countries such as Turkey, Russia, Japan, China, India and Iran … can be more competitive with this kind of [currency],” Kurtulus said.
• Blockchain can be used to tie together a single digital marketplace, like the one the European Union is pursuing in the European Digital Single Market.
• Such markets could generate considerable economic growth, with the European Commision seeing “a potential for economic growth equivalent to over 415 billion euros ($511.3bn) and the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs.”
• “Singapore, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands and some smaller countries are already realizing so [many] economic opportunities and they [want to] be [a] frontrunner,” Yasar said.