Blockchain technology was set to revolutionize the world. It came into being in 2017 and at the time, it showed great promise, as there were so many different ways it could be used. But even with the great promise it showed, blockchain was not as widelyadopted as most people hoped, with the traditional financial industry skeptical -this skepticismwas borne out of blockchain’s relationship with cryptocurrencies. However, now, as Covid-19 ravages the world and decimates our ways of life, maybe it is time to have a second look at blockchain technology.

Disruption to Life

Our lives have shifted to stay-at-home mode and all this happened without warning. Now, most of us are trying to work from home, feed ourselves and take care of our kids. We now realize that even though it is possible to track a taxi ordered using a taxi-hailing app all the way to our homes, there is no way of knowing exactly when a shipment of items we bought online will arrive at our doorsteps.

All the frustrations we now face can be seen as one of the best things to happen to blockchain. Blockchain has so much potential, and Covid-19 can let us focus on it to help increase its adoption across various sectors.

Adopting Blockchain

Blockchain can be used and adopted in many different ways:

- Improving the supply chain - Although the supply chain in most industries is already robust, blockchain can help make it better. The pandemic has made people realize that we need better ways to track our deliveries and orders as we stay at home and shop online a lot more. Each year, there are over four trillion products that are made and shipped around the world. For most people, they do not know where their products are until they reach their doorsteps. This can be detrimental, especially when we are talking about life-saving products. In this light, IBM has created a blockchain network that will help improve medical product supply through the pandemic. Kettering University Online graduates with a supply management degree and who have some programming skills can work with companies to help streamline the supply management solutions they come up with.

- Public medical records - Tracing patients is one of the most important things we could do to prevent and stem the spread of the coronavirus. Blockchain will allow doctors around the world to have medical records of any patient. This will make for better outcomes as doctors will understand their patients before they start treatment. Even though we have not yet seen blockchain adapted for this particular use, we are seeing some companies changing their protocols to enable medical practitioners to track Covide-19 test results using blockchain. When you consider the number of mistakes made in Israel with their test results, it is clear to see why such a solution is needed. Once we can track all results and patients using blockchain, it will be easier to issue immunity certificates. Keep in mind that issuing the immunity certificates hinges on whether or not immunity from this particular coronavirus can be achieved.

- Acceptance of digital currencies by central banks - One of the reasons why digital currencies have not been adopted as widely as most people hoped is because they were not fully accepted by most central banks. Now that we understand how dangerous it can be to use money during this pandemic and how money contributes to the spread of the coronavirus, it would be a great time to adopt digital currencies. China was way ahead of the times because they started working on a digital state currency in 2019. They did this before the pandemic broke out. After the massive outbreak in the United States, the government is considering issuing the FedCoin through the Federal Reserve. It is likely that if the United States releases a digital dollar, other countries might develop their own digital currencies.

Blockchain Can Change the World

Bitcoin is perhaps one of the biggest indicators that digital currencies can change the world. It took the world by storm, and were it not for speculation and distrust in the currency, it might have seen better adoption. Blockchain, using digital currencies, can change the way we transact by:

- Enabling cross-border payments

- Reducing the need to exchange currencies when we need to trade

- Creating an easy way to track and regulate digital currencies

Huddles to Adoption

Even with all the advantages blockchain affords us, using it to create digital currencies and making them widely adopted will face some challenges.

- One of these is taxation; digital currencies such as bitcoin were created with the aim of reducing government oversight on currencies. If governments create their own digital currencies, they will be able to see all transactions that happen using that currency. They will, therefore, be able to take their cut as soon as a transaction is made.

- Skepticism and distrust;many people do not understand digital currencies and are therefore skeptical about them. Because of this, these people are less likely to accept digital currencies as the new normal. Also, a lot of people do not trust a currency that is not backed by anything other than trust.

- Theft;in recent years, there have been cases of digital currencies being stolen from exchanges. When people look at news like this, they think it would be better to have physical money than digital currencies because physical money is much harder to steal.

Blockchain Can Still Evolve

Even with the low adoption of blockchain relative to the potential it holds, it can still grow. The use cases afforded by blockchain are well documented, but there are so many other edge cases where blockchain could come in handy. Now that many people have a lot of time on their hands, maybe it is time for all of us to sit down and see how best we can use this technology to battle Covid-19.

Blockchain has so much potential even if a lot of it is still untapped. That said, most people will appreciate the small role it is playing in making the work of medical practitioners easy, the tracking of samples and test results easier, as well as providing new and novel ways to store information on patients.