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. 2020 Sep 29;142:102067. doi: 10.1016/j.tre.2020.102067

Table 5.

Blockchain applications in different sectors and their societal impacts.

Sectors Societal impacts
Financial services
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    The emergence of cryptocurrency based secured and tampered proof transactions (e.g., bitcoins) will influence the society and people’s lives with multifold benefits to their credit accounting and financial services

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    Helps in enhanced asset management, trade finance and smooth VAT services

Technology sector
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    Enhance robust cybersecurity and improve the scalability of cloud networks

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    Covert the tradition ERP systems into a super secure structure and development of sustainable SC

Manufacturing sector
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    Helps in transforming the manufacturing ecosystems through a shared and distributed systems

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    Enhance the real time transparency, agile manufacturing, enable product customisation, smart automation and improvement in employee empowerment

Shipping industry
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    Creates a verifiable and distributed shipping system to integrate and interconnect all the business activities

  • -

    Reforms the maritime industry by organizing projects, people, information, payment and communication in safer, smarter and more efficient ways

  • -

    Ensures minimum delays in real time transactions, transparency of transactions from remote areas, extra vigilance for data confidentiality, transaction validation and fraud management

  • -

    Blockchain based solution with IoT enabled smart containers, smart contracts can be used to manage shipments, automate payments, track violations and make the whole SC efficient

Automotive industry
  • -

    Benefits include integrated, personalized and on-demand services through a connected, shared and autonomous environment

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    Enhances automated maintenance services, ability to audit records, transparency, execution speed and cost reduction

Energy sector
  • -

    There is a good potential to transform the energy sector by enablingmore transparent, secure and efficient electrical energy transactions

  • -

    Helps ensure energy is well-utilized, well-supplied and the allocation is efficient and transparent

  • -

    Users will have access to low cost, high quality energy at all times and places

Healthcare sector
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    Helps to improve better usage of healthcare data, patient outcomes, lower costs, enhance compliance and ensure security

  • -

    Support many healthcare operations such as neuroscience, EHR medical, genomics medicine, biomedicine, clinical trials, vaccine supply and traceability

  • -

    Helps monitor for SCs of drugs, blood, etc. for temperature sensitive drags

Agriculture and food sector
  • -

    Increases the transparency and security of transactions, privacy of enterprise information and achieve proper resource allocation among all stakeholders in the agriculture sector

  • -

    Helps in establishing a strong end-to-end link between the sources or farmers and big buyers.

  • -

    Democratizes the supply process that eliminate food adulteration, ensure food safety and quality, and enhance the social sustainability

  • -

    Helps to establish a redit evaluation system supported by blockchain technology to strengthen the supervision and management in the food SC

Aviation sector
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    Blockchain integrating with RFID and IoT can transform the aviation industry with better tracking of ports, more efficient scheduling of air logistics and transportation.

  • -

    Blockchain also helps mitigate risks and high end security which eventually benefits the human life and the society

E-commerce sector
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    Helps in transforming the e-commerce sector by enhancing the payment systems, e-procurement, SC risk management, last mile logistics and data security

Education sector
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    Helps through decentralized data distribution, data immutability and disintermediation that enhance the institute’s reputation, trust, productivity and review process that creates high societal impacts among the peers

Entertainment and tourism sector
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    Reduces the overall cost of infrastructure for ICT, enables tamper resistant transactions, reduces systematic risks for tourism industry

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    Enhances the efficiency for virtual reality-based tourism

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    Helps in securing the ownership and digital rights, distribution rights and secure transaction in entertainment sector which directly support the social welfare