Industry applications

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)

Blockchain technology provides the trust and traceability to all the food, beverages and other FMCG products that are needed to ensure their safety, originality and sustainability. Manufacturers can certify that the products bearing their marks actually come from them and have passed all the appropriate health and safety controls, and are not counterfeit. This technology is disruptive in the mass consumption sector, as it allows the following:

• Avoiding counterfeiting of their Trademarks. Each of the units is digitally signed by the manufacturer, with a unique identifier that can be verified with a Smartphone by the consumer.
• Ensuring the originality of its components. Consumers can verify the traceability of the composition of products, where and when they have been produced, and if they meet their expectations.
• Avoiding parallel imports. They protect the manufacturer against possible imports of their own products from third countries or regions, ensuring consistency and control over which products have been sold in which areas.
• Giving protection in case of Health Alerts. Allowing the consumer to be contacted directly with appropriate messages if products have to be withdrawn and prevent them from being consumed, or conversely, ensuring that the products are safe in the event of Health Alerts from other competitors
• Protecting against defaults. The manufacturer maintains control of communication with the final consumer, allowing negotiations in possible situations of non-payment by the distributors.

Healthcare Industry

Blockchain technology transforms health care systems by placing the patient at the center of the health ecosystem, increasing safety, privacy, and facilitating the transfer of clinical data. The cryptographic tools of this technology allow each member of a healthcare network to participate and interact (for example, store, exchange and view information), without having to know or gain the prior trust of the other members.

The implementation of blockchain technology in the health sector is strong in two major areas:

• Verify and authenticate the information. This includes the digital identity of the patient, their genetic data or the pharmacological history. The ownership of the data now resides in the patient who authorizes or cancels access to their information to the appropriate care providers.
• The transfer of value. Institutions use this technology to generate and transfer value, either by gaining efficiency in the care and administrative processes or by promoting healthy behaviours.

The use of the blockchain presents two great opportunities to the pharmaceutical sector: the fight against counterfeiting and optimization of the supply chain. Manufacturers, wholesalers and pharmacies are compelled to show the same transparency in the audit and follow-up of the inventory, since each one depend on the others to guarantee that the patients get real medicines in the safest and fastest possible way.

The benefits from the use of blockchain technology in this industry include:

• Seamless integrity of the supply chain
• Fraud elimination
• Cost reduction
• Transparency
• Traceability
• Decentralized management

Blockchain technology contributes to face effectively the challenges of the industry: poor customer engagement, limited growth in mature markets, and the trends of digitization. Not only does blockchain offer the promise of cost reduction and efficiency, but it could also enable revenue growth, as insurers attract new business, improve relationships with stakeholders, and even reduce capital requirements.

These are the main areas of blockchain application in this industry:

• Fraud detection and risk prevention
• Contract Documentation
• KYC/AML
• Claims management
• New product development
• New distribution and payment models
• Customer engagement
• Emerging markets

Financial institutions can innovate by applying the blockchain technology. The initiatives observed in the sector are coming from two different directions. On one hand, new companies and new technological products and services are entering the market. On the other hand, institutions begin to study the market and generate examples of new applications and areas of interest. Banks should not only see this technology as a a cost savings lever but to find new opportunities that can grow their top line.

The evolution of blockchain in financial institutions will be evident in a segmented and progressive way in these major application areas:

• Consumer facing products
• B2B services
• Trading and capital markets
• Back-end processes
• Inter-industry intermediary services

Governments and public administrative bodies are ripe for blockchain technology. Jurisdictions in national, state, provincial, county, and municipality settings will see it as an evolution from the current e-services being offered. They will undoubtedly start by analyzing the full impact and ramifications of such projects, then evaluate the scalability requirements. Blockchain can improve client service, increase efficiency, and improve outcomes while enabling both integrity and transparency of government.

Among the services that can benefit from applications developed with blockchain technology, the following may be found:

• Procurement auctions
• Birth certificates, Certificate of Registration, Marriage registration
• Passport and national ID card issuance.
• Land registration, Property ownership
• Taxes and Patents
• Licenses and public notary services
• Voting
• Government bonds
• Filings
• Compliance