Most people associate blockchain with cryptocurrencies – but its uses extend far beyond this. Blockchain is so much more than just Bitcoin.

The blockchain is being adopted by more and more businesses. In many cases, it is completely transforming old business models and pumping new life into companies. IBM is only one example of this. In as little as three to five years, the number of businesses using blockchain is expected to increase exponentially.

What Actually is Blockchain?

Essentially, blockchain is a huge decentralized ledger of transactions. It is maintained by many decentralized sources, meaning there is no centralized authority (such as a bank or government).

As a result, transactions that are recorded in the blockchain are secure and irreversible.

This transparent method of tracking transactions is quickly proving to be one of the most exciting revolutions of the century. There is no end to the list of applications it can be used for.

How Can Businesses Make Use of Blockchain?

There is a huge variety of applications for blockchain. Some examples of potential future blockchain applications include:

• Audits – Blockchain offers a permanent, immutable transaction record. It is guaranteed to be accurate, which makes it easy to create an easy-to-follow trail for audits.
• Voting – Using blockchain for voting allows votes to be moved along the blockchain in an accurate and secure way – much like how cryptocurrencies are transferred. Immutability and transparency are both a necessity for election results, and using blockchain could strengthen their validity.
• Smart Contracts – Using blockchain to implement smart contracts will enable organizations to handle large sums of money automatically, without divulging sensitive information.

Even a quick glance into the technicalities of these examples demonstrates how blockchain isn’t just a revolutionary advancement in technology – it’s a complete paradigm shift that changes who is in control.

How Can We Implement Blockchain in Businesses?
There are already several companies racing to be the first to bring blockchain to the business landscape. One of these companies is Jelurida.

Jelurida is the company behind the popular Nxt Blockchain Platform – an advanced open-source platform. It was one of the first blockchains on the market, meaning it offers many functionalities that newer companies are still yet to implement – such as a marketplace, a voting system, and a shuffling functionality for anonymity purposes.

Nxt was the first 100% Proof-of-Stake (PoS) that is completely scalable for businesses and requires no power consumption.

This is huge news – especially at a time when the Proof-of-Stake mechanism is becoming more and more popular. Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, recently released a rough implementation guide outlining the planned transition from Proof-of-Work to the Proof-of-Work/Proof-of-Stake hybrid.

There are many reasons why more and more blockchain startups are making the transition. The switch has only become more urgent following the China ICO Ban, amidst fears that the next ban will fall on crypto mining factories.

Following Jelurida’s success with Nxt, they are going full steam ahead with their next project – Ardor – a scalable blockchain platform for businesses

Jelurida’s platforms allow businesses to leverage the power of blockchain to build their own smart contracts. They are even more secure than Ethereum for this purpose, and they are also easier to adopt. This is because they are built in Java, and will not require business employees to learn new programming languages, such as Solidity or other blockchain languages.

This dramatically cuts the learning curve and saves time and money for companies who want to get started using blockchain technology.

Ardor’s platform design even allows businesses to make their own ICOs and collect their funds directly in whichever currency they require.

When Can Businesses Start to Implement Blockchain Technology?

Given how much blockchain technology is going to disrupt our conventional methods, it could be quite a while before we see mass adoption. However, many experts have agreed that the mass adoption of blockchain technology is becoming inevitable.

After 1 year of testing, Ardor will be released on January 1st. This will be a huge step forward in enabling businesses to adopt blockchain technology in an easy, scalable way.

It is very likely that 2018 will be the first year we start seeing successful blockchain-based businesses.