Blockchain technology is the latest form of technology with a significant security and transparency imperative.

Although it was created in 2008, interest in blockchain significantly increased. Due to the specificity of its characteristics, blockchain technology provides many possibilities.

The first association with the word cryptocurrency for most people is Bitcoin, but the thing is, without blockchain, there is no Bitcoin. Every cryptocurrency uses blockchain since it solves the problem of creating a distributed database. This is possible through the usage of various factors. One of the most important is consensus mechanisms like Proof-of-Work.

Blockchain provides an alternative solution to classic technology. To this day, blockchain has found extensive application in many areas – from finance to hospitality and medicine. The reason for this is the security features of the blockchain. 

Regardless of the industry or application, blockchain has the potential to transform the way most processes work. In this article, we will highlight the use of blockchain technology in software development and help you find out if blockchain is a good fit for your application project. Let’s start by explaining the fundamentals of blockchain.

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a creation of a man or a collective of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It was first introduced in 2008 with the invention of Bitcoin. Although we do not deal with Bitcoin as a digital currency in this article, it is essential to mention it because, without blockchain, there would be no Bitcoin and vice versa.

Bitcoin is a decentralized, anonymous, and distributed payment network and digital currency. It is based on the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

In PoW, to create a new amount of currency or implementation of the transaction, it is necessary to solve a complex mathematical problem verified by the single system participant and then approved by the rest of the network (miners). If more than 51% of miners confirm the transaction, it is accepted to a distributed ledger. 

Blockchain was invented and designed to enable the emergence of digital currencies and enable faster, more efficient, safer, and more transparent digital transactions. This is the first time in the history of the internet that we can transfer digital value without intermediaries, in a peer-to-peer way. But let’s talk about alternative blockchain applications in different fields.

What benefits does Blockchain bring to your business?

Regardless of industry, blockchain is used to transform business models and is implemented across financial services, supply chains, government, healthcare, retail, and many other industries. Blockchain adds value and brings benefits to businesses by offering: 

• More transparency
• Increased speed
• Enhanced traceability
• Reduced costs

More Transparency

With the implementation of blockchain, the history of transactions is becoming more transparent. Because the blockchain is a distributed ledger, all network members share the same updated ledger, validated by the consensus in the network.

The data saved on the blockchain is: 

• transparent 
• more secure
• accurate
• available only to members with permission to access

Increased Speed

Traditional business processes and practices are paper-based, time-consuming, prone to errors, and include third-party intermediaries. 

With blockchain, you can execute transactions secure and fast by automating and simplifying business processes. Everyone in the network can access the same information at all times, which results in a quick settlement.

Enhanced traceability

Blockchain can trace the entire lifecycle of food products from their origin to the final destination to the consumer. It bolsters credibility, efficiency, and safety. Blockchain can significantly improve supply chains by enabling faster and more cost-efficient products, enhancing products’ traceability, enhancing coordination between partners, and aiding access to financing.

Reduced Costs

Using blockchain, you don’t need third parties or intermediaries to establish trust. The network participants validate everything on the network through a consensus, and everyone will have access to an immutable version.

Why Use Blockchain for Software Development?

Since blockchain is highly secure, it is used for data traversal in peer-to-peer networks and storing data in transparent ledgers. The increase of mobile applications with enhanced security and higher quality has led to an increasing number of blockchain-oriented apps.

The main features of blockchain-oriented software systems (BOS) that ensures the safety of data are:

• Data Replication: Each node has a copy of the blockchain code. The data is stored and replicated in thousands of systems, which ensures data security. 
• Transaction Recording: Blockchain-oriented software systems (BOS) records transactions in a sequential log of interlinked blocks created by a consensus algorithm.
• Requirement Checks: Before processing for validation, BOS checks the transaction requirements.
• Public-Key Cryptography: All transactions are based on public-key cryptography, a cryptographic system that uses pairs of public and private keys. 
• BOS engineering:The OS serves as the base for BOS engineering.

What does the blockchain software development process look like?

Let’s see how to start with blockchain app development and what steps you need to take. 

01. Set the goal and identify the idea

The blockchain solution should take advantage of your business opportunities. Before starting to build blockchain solutions, companies and developers should conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing projects. It is essential to identify problems you want to solve with blockchain and decide whether you need to migrate your current solution to the blockchain or develop a brand new program.

When you enter the blockchain development process, make sure you have a good idea and think twice about the possibilities of bringing your vision to life. Then start creating your blockchain development project.

For example, suppose you are a hotel owner who wants to develop a blockchain-based application to ensure secure, traceable payments. In that case, you should know the various uses of the app and the benefits it will bring you.

02. Choose the right blockchain platform

When you decide on the blockchain development process, it is essential to ask whether you need to develop a new one from scratch or need an existing blockchain. Building a new blockchain requires research and takes months of the complicated development process, designing nodes, creating APIs, design interfaces, and blockchain instances to work successfully. 

Building a blockchain app on top of a blockchain platform has to meet your exact business requirements. It is crucial to identify the right blockchain platform for your application based on the issues you want to solve and the consensus mechanism. For example, you can build an Ethereum-based platform to develop a decentralized public application (dApp) with smart contracts.

03. Token economics and token usability

Token economics is a new branch of the economy that focuses on token application, token supply, token validation and exists to ensure tokens in whatever form their usage in the ecosystem is intended. It describes the design, study, and implementation of economic systems built on blockchain technology and explains the structure of a particular ecosystem in the blockchain sphere. 

In the token economy, the network sets rules to encourage people to contribute to the platform through personal incentives. Tokens have financial value, and incentives are financially oriented, so people tend to invest their money in cryptocurrencies. The value of tokens depends on the number of investments. People always want more, and when you give or pay them more, they will do more for you.

04. Proof of Concept

A Proof-of-Concept is a method done to represent the practical applicability of a blockchain project. It can be a theoretical build-up or a design prototype. The theoretical build-up is a critical blockchain development step, where each project requires hypothetical cases so that users could understand the applicability and viability of the product for end-users.

After creating theoretical build-up and getting feedback from stakeholders, a designed prototype includes sketches outlining the mockups, designs, tested products, and information architecture. 

When the client approves the Proof-of-Concept, the next step is to prepare technical and visual designs for the app.

05. Technical and visual designs for blockchain implementation

Do you really need blockchain technology to solve your problem?

Through the various stages in a blockchain development project, developers must conduct evaluation, formulation, and prioritization for blockchain experimentation.

In this stage, you need to have the entire program planned and create user interfaces for each software component. Visual designs give the look and feel of the application, while technical designs represent the technological architecture of the application.

When the user interface and administrator consoles are designed, the application is ready for the final step – development.

06. Development work

Once you have selected the essential components for blockchain solutions and carefully planned all the phases, it is time for the blockchain software development process. In this phase, you either have to develop or integrate APIs for particular application use cases, generate key and address pairs, perform data authentication, audit functions with data storage, and retrieve retrieval.

When the client approves it, the app moves to the next alpha phase of the release, where developers test the software and set up the app for end-users. After thorough testing, the application moves to the production phase and gets ready for delivery.

What is Blockchain being used for today? 

All organizations and companies need to deal with asset management, which involves active and careful monitoring all physical and non-physical assets within the organization.

The use of blockchain technology in organizations can significantly contribute to the business. Here are a few examples of blockchain implementation in different areas: 

Gift cards and loyalty programs

Blockchain technology can help small sellers who offer gift cards and have various loyalty programs by eliminating the third party and verifying the person’s identity. 

Financial institutions

Banks and other financial institutions are responsible for transacting loans, mortgages, other financial services, and executing transactions. Nowadays, banks are using blockchain technology to create their own cryptocurrency based on IoT network features and smart contracts.

Oil and gas industry

The oil and gas industry has many pipelines worldwide, which require precise and regular maintenance to avoid and prevent any damage to the pipes linked throughout the pipeline. Most gas or oil transmission system operators have their own systems for managing the data for their pipelines. Every couple of years, they will hire a third-party company for a specific pipeline inspection.

Blockchain technology easily solves these problems and brings many benefits to the oil and gas industry. It can improve the management, efficiency, and data security, reduce paperwork, and time cost transactions.

Gaming industry

Nowadays, games and their growing assets become more and more complex. Blockchain’s decentralized, steady and secure properties in the gaming industry can make it a popular tool. As developers build new games or in-game advancements, blockchain can improve the user experience through ownership, globalization, etc.

With blockchain development, gamers can sell their game, monetize their skills, win digital assets, exchange, and buy from other players to progress in their games. Since blockchain makes transactions more efficient and transparent for players, blockchain creates opportunities for players and developers to enable a new entertainment market. 

It is also essential to mention NFTs. NFTs or non-fungible tokens are “one-of-a-kind” assets in the digital world. You can buy and sell them like any other piece of property or money, but they have no tangible form of their own.

For example, it can be a game asset or a painting. You can buy a print or take a photo of the painting, but there will always be only one original painting. Or you can convert game assets to NFTs. This way, players become the owners of that digital asset. 

Supply chain industry

It isn’t easy to track an item from the place of origin in the supply chain industry. But blockchain successfully solves this problem because it records the supply of goods, from one to another location, on the blockchain.

This way, you get a complete audit trail representing where an asset came from and tracks each stop during the journey. All the records saved on the blockchain can help verify the authenticity of products and protect them from fraud.

One of the blockchain-based solutions is Revuto, a one-stop solution for all subscriptions. With Revuto, you can manage all your subscriptions via a virtual debit card, which allows you to track, maintain, and cancel any subscription. Revuto app can help you easily choose between your credit or debit cards to protect yourself from unwanted subscription charges by approving only a specific payment. 

Revuto is the first project funded through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on the Cardano platform. It raised $10 million in the first-ever Token sale on Cardano, which is pretty impressive. 

Blockchain technology is growing rapidly and reshaping the entire software industry. Its purpose is to ensure productive testing activities, enhance collaboration within teams, and increase the use of smart contracts in software development.

Nowadays, blockchain plays a significant role in software development and brings great value and convenience to the lives of end-users. As more enterprises embrace the technology, we expect to see blockchain growth and innovations for years to come.

Now that you understand the fundamentals, you have to decide whether blockchain is suitable for your next software project.

Want the best blockchain software for your business? Stand out with your next digital solution and contact us to kickstart your blockchain development journey.