36 blockchain applications: What’s next?

In our first report, we covered eight of the most exciting blockchain applications for telcos. In this report, we look at what else can it be used for. It explores 36 potential blockchain use cases for telecoms, identifying the current pain point, how blockchain could help, the business driver for telcos, and real world examples.

Why is blockchain important?

Blockchain applications are valuable because they decentralise control. This offers a new way to reduce friction and speed up adoption of solutions that require collaboration between various players, but where no one wants to cede control to a single entity.

Collaborative ecosystems are only going to become more important in the Coordination Age, so mastery of blockchain technology can enable telcos to successfully address their customers’ changing needs.

But telcos are still figuring out what to use blockchain for

Based on an interview programme with telcos and technology partners, our research shows that one of the key barriers to adoption is finding valid use cases that are worth taking beyond the PoC stage.

Part of the challenge of knowing which applications are most worthwhile is that there are few large scale, real-world implementations of blockchain. This means that its key value proposition – that it can ease collaboration by removing the need for a centrally controlling authority, instead distributing power across all participants within an ecosystem – still needs to be proven.

Without many successful examples of blockchain-supported applications, it is difficult to know which ones are likely to succeed in telecoms. Telcos are therefore unsure of where to focus their time and investments.In practice, applications that leverage blockchain’s ability to broker trust through transparency and decentralisation are still at an early stage of development.

In the first report in this series, Moving beyond the lab: How to make blockchain pay we looked at eight of the most promising applications in telecoms in detail.

In this report, we look at a broader range of applications where blockchain is being tested to see if it can deliver better results than other technologies.

We explore 36 use cases across six categories, based on key blockchain capabilities:

1. Tracking / registry: Recording information and data in an immutable and transparent way, whereby no party has asymmetric power over the data
2. Data access / transfer: Enabling ease of transferring data between multiple parties
3. Identity /authentication: Managing identities and permissions for authentication or verification
4. Transactions: Enabling (real-time) payments and transactions
5. Settlements: Revenue settlement by recording movement of goods/revenues or use of services/assets
6. Token exchange: Virtual currency/tokens with intrinsic value traded between multiple parties

Key takeaways

• Tracking / registry and data access / authentication are the two biggest categories in terms of use cases, reflecting the relative maturity of blockchain technology in addressing these pain points.
• While enterprises are prepared to rely on the distributed ledger and shared consensus mechanisms of blockchain technology to support business processes, the regulatory and reputational risks of using cryptocurrency or tokens to exchange real-world value are still too high.
• Therefore, there are fewer emerging use cases around transactions, token exchange, and to some degree settlements, and they will likely take longer to develop into viable commercial solutions.
• Identity / authentication is one of the most technologically advanced application areas where blockchain is enabling enterprises to develop truly novel solutions for consumers, IoT, and to ease commercial partnerships. However, the business model is still untested at scale and/or not directly related to telcos’ core operations, so these applications can be difficult to justify as priority investment areas.

Overview of 36 telecoms blockchain applications

For each of these use cases, this report covers:

• The current problem or pain point
• How blockchain can help solve the problem
• Which of the following blockchain characteristics are most relevant to the use case
  • Security: Decentralisation makes tampering with records or DDOS attacks extremely difficult
  • Cost efficiency: Shared ledgers can disintermediate middlemen
  • Traceability: Immutable, transparent record
  • Business process speed: Automation through smart contracts
  • Token value: Holding real-world value in digital assets, such as loyalty points
  • Neutral and equal: Shared ownership through consensus mechanisms
  • Confidentiality: Blockchain can enable collaboration without having to publicise sensitive information (particularly in a consortium/private application)
• Type of blockchain most suited to the use case (public, permissioned public, or permissioned private)
• The business drivers for telcos, such as:
  • Increase existing revenues
  • Decrease costs
  • New revenues: market disruption
  • New revenues: new market
  • Compliance / regulation
  • Customer experience
• Real world examples in development or production
• Potential challenges or barriers to adoption

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