It was coming and in an Apple-like way; slowly more and more details were being published, leading to the big announcement last month. However, the launch of the “Libra” project, also called the Facebook “coin,” was very different in many ways from what most experts were expecting. Not only the legal structure but also the list of already confirmed partners and various applications surprised many people. And frightened them.

IMF-director Lagarde already predicted, that ‘big tech’ would have a disruptive effect on the financial sector in the upcoming years. With a player like Facebook, a ‘point of no return’ could be achieved, if a large part of its users will start using its product short-term. In comparison; 350 million people worldwide use the Dollar. If only 14% of the current amount of Facebook users will start using the Libra, this user basis is already larger as the Dollar. The coin is therefore seen as a potential competitor of Paypal, Western Union, and Adyen, but also world currencies such as the Euro and Dollar.

Facebook Coin

Many media, experts and governments stumbled over each other, to mention that this project really went a step too far. Where it is impossible for a highly decentralized project like Bitcoin to call in a responsible person or agency for hearings by legal authorities, it is, fortunately, possible for Libra to do and this has already been done by European and American regulators. In particular, the recent scandals that continue to haunt the initiating company of the currency on a daily basis, are an important reason why many organizations and governments shudder at the idea that it would now also gain access to the financial data of its users. Something that fits perfectly into Facebook’s strategy, just like the Chinese WeChat not to be an open platform, but really a “private messaging” tool, with payment functionalities linked to it.

It was hard for me to find really positive responses to the project by media and governments. Many Western media and governments are looking down on the project in every possible way, but from (mostly developing) countries where the currency is likely to have a major impact, people are already eager to start using it. With our outstanding financial infrastructures in the West, such as the Dutch online banking solutions Ideal (online payments) and Tikkie (peer-to-peer payments), we sometimes forget, that in many countries this is far from the most natural thing in the world.

Remittance Payments

In 2019, one-third of the world’s population does not yet have access to banking services, such as a bank and/or savings account and insurance. In many countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, only 10–25% have this type of facility, simply because they are refused them by banks, as they are not an interesting type of client. A large part of the money being used in these countries ($ 500 billion), is being sent from other countries. Relatives send their families so-called “remittance payments” from the (often Western) country where they work. The costs for this type of transaction are so shockingly high (8–30%), especially for the people who can use each penny very well, that I understand why the reactions from the Western world are completely at odds with those from the rest.

Social Inclusion

With more than $ 6 trillion in cross-border transactions per day, there is also enough room for new models and systems. A currency like Libra can greatly contribute to the “social inclusion” of countries and thus economic growth and the achievement of the “Social Development Goals,” calculated the World Bank and McKinsey. With a digital wallet of their own, people who don’t get/have a bank account can finally save money digitally. You hardly read this argument anywhere else, while it is so incredibly important for the further development of many countries.

Yes, I’m still no enthusiastic about; not only the entire discussion about privacy and data, but also the fact that you don’t get interested in your Libra coins (only the facilitating partners, who according to calculations will earn a lot of money with it) and the absence of a concrete approach to prevent money laundering (AML) and to prevent financing of, for example, terrorism (KYC). It will take a while before the project will be made available; only next year the official launch is expected. On the one hand, I am curious about what is left of the project after the regulatory grill.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

With 350 ‘Tikkies’ (easy app to send payment requests via Whatsapp) and 1100 ‘Ideal’ (Dutch standard for internet payments) payment, being processed in The Netherlands, we’re belonging to one of the most cashless societies worldwide. When we look to countries like Congo (Africa), where government workers are still paid with stacks of cash from a truck and several South-American countries, where most people don’t have a bank account but have pigs in their backyard that act as savings account, the situation is totally different.

Globally, over 2 billion people don’t have a bank account, according to the World Bank. In some South East Asian countries, this amount is 25% of the inhabitants, whereas in some African countries it is only 10%. While cash is still king in some countries, in some countries alternative payment solutions like M-Pesa, where money transactions are being sent between mobile phones, are very popular. In Kenya, 50% of the GDP is being sent via M-Pesa and 95% of the inhabitants have access to it.

The denationalization of money

In 1976, Friedrich Hayek wrote in his book ‘the denationalization of money’ about setting up competing currencies, that would start a battle about the monopolies of central banks. It looks like, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg has read this book during the many sleepless nights he definitely has had in the past months, which have been devastating for his company. The scandals keep on being revealed and several governments are grilling the company legally. In The Netherlands, 600.000 users closed their account and the users that remained, are using the platform less intensive, impacting the financial results. Not even thinking about all the advertisers that walked away.

New Revenue Streams

New projects should give the company not only a more positive image but could also provide new revenue streams. The company knows all the details of our personal life and could, with all the data they have, run some very interesting and effective services. After the announcement that the company will focus on the dating market (a $10 billion market), project ‘Libra’, with which the company would like to create an own digital currency, has gained momentum at rapid speed. The ‘GlobalCoin’ will be a so-called ‘stablecoin’ (which I explained in a previous blog), linked to several currencies like the Dollar and Euro. It is the second try of the company making its own digital currency after it silently killed project ‘Facebook Credits’. Zuckerberg described the purpose of this coin as:

“it should be as easy to send money to someone as it is to send a photo”.

The project has been officially registered in Switzerland, the company currently has conversations with the American and British government about the necessary regulation and would like to launch the coin already this month (earlier reports told 2020) in 18 countries. The business case is of course very interesting, as one-third of the world populations logs into Facebook at least once a month and in countries like India, 80% of the SME’s are using Whatsapp to promote goods. Because of the European PSD-2 regulations, it is furthermore very easy to obtain financial details from consumers and for the 8.5 million websites and shops, using the Facebook Login, it should be very easy to accept payments with one click.

GlobalCoin

Users could furthermore be paid in the ‘GlobalCoin’, for watching ads on the platform, just like the Brave browser is facilitating already for all websites. Although the company is denying, it is almost completely inspired by already working solutions of the Asian companies AliPay and WechatPay, which are currently bigger and mightier then Chinese banks and credit cards.

When we zoom into developing countries, you see where the ‘GlobalCoin’ will have a siginificant effect. Several academic research reports have shown that financial inclusiveness (having an own digital savings account etc), can significantly contribute to both the country’s economic growth and accomplish the UN Social Development Goals. McKinsey found that this can even add $3.7 billion to the GDP of developing countries in the upcoming 10 years. Furthermore, over half a trillion Dollars of so-called ‘remittance payments’ (payments between for example workers abroad and their families at home) was sent in the past year, where transaction costs of these -often Western banks- are ranging from 8–12 and sometimes even 30%. Imagine how significantly lowering these costs (Facebook is thinking about a fee of 1%) would impact the receivers of these payments in developing countries.

Implementing Globalcoin

Directly implementing this ‘GlobalCoin’ globally, would most people say, based on the things mentioned above. But we almost forget the reason why all the latest scandals surrounding the company started. It is known as the largest ‘data slurper’ and because of the unconventional and irresponsible way of how it is sometimes using this data. Photos of the nice team outing are not that exciting, but research done by the Dutch Central Bank shows that Dutch citizens see their financial data as very privacy sensitive. Would you like to give all this data to a company, being known because is it using all possible ways to commercialize your data and often blames others for acting safely?

Globalcoin Useage

Cryptocurrency fanatics are very positive about the project, as they think it will kickstart the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. If only 2% of the 1,5 billion daily Facebook users will use the ‘GlobalCoin’, it would double the current global amount of cryptocurrency users. The project will face lots of hurdles; from regulations and demographic problems (the user base is getting old very fast). For me, it is another new, devastating step, in losing our privacy. The business model of Facebook has, notwithstanding all scandals, still huge conflicts of interest with its own interests and those of its users. Conflicts I see growing, with their new services, like the ‘GlobalCoin’.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

Like several other industries, the publishing industry (accounting for $26 billion of revenue in 2018), is busy reinventing itself, due to the huge impact of the digital revolution. The old-fashioned creation, distribution and revenue models do no longer work and blockchain technology can help the sector to take the next “quantum leaps” in various ways.

Several large companies active in the sector, such as the New York Times, are already busy with the implementation of the technology and new startups working on new solutions emerge on a weekly basis. Recently, I was invited to speak at the Telegraaf Media Group (one of the largest Dutch media companies) about the impact of blockchain on the sector, where I mentioned these four points of interest:

A Fair Compensation For The Producer Of Content

Some bookwriters earn millions of euros from their work, like Harry Potters’ JK Rowling ($ 55 million). However, they are in the minority; a sold book yields the writer between 50 cents and 2 euros and on average, only 3000 copies of a book are usually sold. The same holds for music makers. Spotify pays an artist between $ 0.006 to $ 0.0084 per stream. If you want to earn a modal income as an artist, you need at least 6 million streams of your song on an annual basis. Although platforms like Amazon KDP (self-publishing books) and Spotify have given the sector a boost in terms of revenu and reach, the majority of revenue is earned by all the intermediaries at the supply chain and only a small portion ends up at the original maker of the content.

There are various blockchain startups, that want to tackle this. Give content creators a more fair share for their work and make it easier to put the user of content in more direct contact with the creator of it. Good examples are Publica, which enables book writers to crowdfund a book. In exchange for the investment, the consumer receives tokens, with which he can retreive a copy of the book. The Chinese startup Weifund does this for all types of media and has already successfully facilitated the crowdfunding campaign for the movie ‘Braids’. The counterpart of the popular blog medium Medium, Steem, does this for blog writers.

Content Creators

Academics are one of the few creators of content, who are actually not producing this content for a financial reward. Looking at the huge time investment, this is of course strange. It is the current system, causing this. If you are not in a well-known research database such as JSTOR or Wiley, you’re not ‘on the map’ and can basically forget a nice career as a researcher. But these platforms are not paying anything (while they earn hundreds of millions of Dollars) to the creator. Former CERN and NASA-employees have set up the Orvium startup for this, with which on the one hand the peer-review process is clearly facilitated on the blockchain and on the other hand, academics are paid for their work. The Pluto startup focuses solely on reimbursement.

Is blockchain going to remove all intermediaries? No, there will certainly be parties like marketing agencies still be involved, but makers of the content will finally receive a fairer compensation fort heir work

Who Is The Creator Of The Content Anyway?

There is such an incredible amount of free content available on the web and every minute, there is so much content added, that it is virtually impossible to see which content should actually be paid for to whom. The much-discussed new European “Article 13” law is a first step in the direction of better licensing (and therefore payment) of content and prevents abuse of it. Technologically there are still a lot of hurdles to take, but blockchain can make this work a lot more transparent, fairer, more sustainable and more efficient.

As an example of this process, the organization Editions at Play has placed the book “A Universe Explodes” on the blockchain to show how this works. In addition, there are various startups that already offer working solutions to facilitate this. Mediachain offers a solution that securely stores and makes the metadata of music availible for everyone and was recently purchased by Spotify. The music streaming service was being sued because of unpaid royalties, which is, according to research because 25% of streaming music is not licensed. The Grammy-winning artist Imogen Heap has launched a similar solution on the market; Mycelia.

Through Civil, journalists can be paid directly by readers of their content and are no longer dependent on large media channels. There are also several solutions available for amateur writers, like the popular PO.ET, which offers authors a decentralized database to store content, but also shows who is uctually using your content (even if it is just a sentence). The startup offers a WordPress plug-in, making it very easy to direcly publishing the blog and put it ‘on the blockchain’. Moreover, The Dutch company Fintage House is offering the same solution for movies and series, Artlery does this for art.

The End Of “Fake News”?

Every day I’m faced with fake news. On all online and offline channels and in the most ingenious ways, that make it look very real. In their research, MIT discovered that “fake news” is shared 70% faster on Twitter than real articles.

Blockchain can be used here in an interesting way, especially by using “wisdom of the crowd”, to prevent this from happening. There are therefore several startups that reward tokens, in exchange for creating real content, which is validated by users. For example, the startup Trive and Dirt have built a system that rewards fact checkers fort his. Publiq works with the authenticity score of readers, just like Civil. Not only startups are busy with solutions to this ever-growing problem, but the European Commission has also now made it one of its spearheads.

Ad Fraud Prevention

Digital advertising fraud (also known as click fraud) costs companies worldwide almost $7 billion a year. This number is furthermore increasing by 50% per year. Over $1 of every $3 spent on ads is fraudulent and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) expects the total cost of advertisement fraud to increase to $50 billion in 2025. In the most ingenious ways, bots (now accounting for 48% of all global website visits) are used to artificially increase the number of clicks and views. Even online configurators of cars, such as BMW (for which euros are paid per configuration), are being manipulated.

It is a huge problem for advertisers and publishers and several solutions are build or building, with the help of blockchain. Several startups are busy with building platforms, that verify the authenticity of the ad impressions but also map relationships between advertisers, publishers, and consumers. IBM is currently working with Salon on their AdLedger project; a pilot to offer a shared “ledger” for making clicks transparent and transparent for both advertisers and publishers. AminoPay also offers such a solution, which furthermore helps with the optimal use of advertisements. AdEx goes one step further and offers “ad auctions” on the blockchain.

Making Content Easier Together

The use of blockchain technology can not only be interesting from a commercial point of view, but also in the area of ​​collaboration when creating content, major efficiency gains can be achieved. To make a great piece of content, often different experts are needed to create, edit, design, and market it. Currently, due to the costs, these type processes are only possible to setup and execute, for large companies.

One of the properties of blockchain is that the stored data cannot be modified, which prevents fraud and makes the history of a document with respect to ​​changes (made by whom, for example) completely transparent.

As I wrote in an earlier blog; blockchain technology is still relatively new and in many areas, still in its experimental phase. Although many startups have already successfully launched working products, their impact is still small. The possibilities are endless and I truly believe that the publishing industry can take great advantage of this new technology in the upcoming 5 years.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.

De uitgeefsector, goed voor 26 miljard dollar omzet in 2018, is druk bezig met zichzelf opnieuw uitvinden. Net zoals verschillende andere industrieën. Dit komt door de waanzinnige impact van de digitale- en internetrevolutie. De ouderwetse creatie-, distributie- en verdienmodellen werken niet meer. Blockchaintechnologie kan de uitgeefsector op verschillende manieren helpen bij het nemen van de volgende quantum leaps.

Verschillende grote bedrijven, zoals The New York Times, zijn al druk bezig met de implementatie van blockchain. Ook schieten de startups uit de grond. Recent sprak ik voor IAB Nederland, de Nederlandse branchevereniging voor digitale marketing, bij de Telegraaf Media Groep over de impact van blockchain. Daar haalde ik de volgende zaken aan.

Een eerlijke vergoeding voor de maker

Sommige schrijvers van boeken verdienen miljoenen euro’s met hun werk. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan de schrijfster van Harry Potter (55 miljoen dollar). Maar dit soort auteurs zijn in de minderheid. Een verkocht boek levert ze vaak tussen de vijftig cent en twee euro op. En gemiddeld verkopen ze 3000 exemplaren van één boek.

Bekende DJ’s als Armin van Buuren daargelaten, waar je vroeger als artiest binnenliep met de verkoop van albums, betaalt Spotify-artiesten tussen de 0.006 en 0.0084 dollar per stream. Voor een modaal inkomen moeten mensen jouw nummer zes miljoen keer beluisteren op jaarbasis.

Hoewel platformen als Amazon KDP en Spotify de sector een boost gaven qua opbrengst, blijft het grootste gedeelte van de opbrengst achter bij de vele tussenpersonen in de keten. Zo komt er maar een klein deel terecht bij de oorspronkelijke maker.

Blockchain-startups

Er zijn verschillende blockchain-startups die dit willen aanpakken. Zij willen contentmakers enerzijds een eerlijkere beloning geven voor hun werk. Anderzijds willen ze het makkelijker maken om contentgebruikers in contact te brengen met de makers.

Een mooi voorbeeld hiervan is Publica. Dit bedrijf stelt schrijvers in staat om boeken te crowdfunden. Consumenten krijgen tokens in ruil voor de investering. Daarmee kunnen ze een kopie van het boek krijgen. Het Chinese WeiFund doet dit voor alle soorten media en faciliteerde de campagne voor de film BRAID al succesvol. Steemit, de tegenhanger van het populaire blogmedium Medium, doet dit voor blogschrijvers.

De academische wereld

Academici zijn eigenlijk één van de weinige contentmakers die dit niet voor een financiële beloning doen. Dat is best raar, want in hun werk zit ontzettend veel tijd en moeite. Het systeem zit dan ook vreemd in elkaar. Als je niet in een bekende database als JSTOR of Wiley staat, hoor je er niet bij en kunt je een mooie academische carrière vergeten. En dat terwijl deze platformen geen enkele euro van de honderden miljoenen die ze verdienen, uitkeren aan de makers.

Oud CERN- en NASA-medewerkers zetten hiervoor de startup Orvium op. Dit zet enerzijds het peerreview-proces overzichtelijk op de blockchain, en anderzijds betaalt het academici voor hun werk. Startup Pluto focust zich enkel op de vergoeding.

Gaat blockchain alle tussenschakels verwijderen? Nee. Er zitten altijd nog partijen zoals marketing tussen, maar makers krijgen een eerlijkere vergoeding.

Wie is de maker eigenlijk?

Er is waanzinnig veel gratis content beschikbaar. En elke minuut komt er weer ontzettend veel content bij. Daardoor is het vrijwel onmogelijk om te zien aan wie voor welke content betaald moet worden. De veel bediscussieerde nieuwe Europese Artikel 13-wet is een eerste stap in de goede richting van een betere licensering van content en het voorkomen van misbruik ervan. Dit is dus ook een stap richting een betere betaling van content. Technologisch gezien zitten er nog veel haken en ogen aan.

Transparanter en efficiënter

Blockchain kan dit geheel een stuk transparanter, eerlijker, duurzamer en efficiënter maken. De organisatie Editions at Play zette als voorbeeld voor dit proces het boek A Universe Explodes op de blockchain. Ze willen daarmee laten zien hoe het werkt. Daarnaast zijn er verschillende startups die al werkende oplossingen aanbieden. Mediachain heeft bijvoorbeeld een oplossing die de metadata van muziek veilig opslaat en aanbiedt.

Recentelijk kocht Spotify dit. De dienst kwam onder vuur te liggen door niet betaalde royalties, wat volgens onderzoek komt doordat 25% van de gestreamde muziek geen licentie heeft. Grammy-winnend artiest Imogen Heap zette ook zo’n soort oplossing op de markt, genaamd Mycelia.

Databases voor teksten, films, series & kunstwerken

Met Civil kunnen lezers journalisten direct betalen. Op die manier zijn journalisten niet meer afhankelijk van grote mediakanalen. Ook voor amateurschrijvers zijn er verschillende oplossingen beschikbaar, zoals het populaire Po.et. Dit bedrijf heeft een decentrale database waar auteurs hun content in op kunnen slaan. Je kunt er ook inzichtelijk maken wie jouw content gebruikt, al is het maar één zin.

Po.et biedt een WordPress-plugin aan. Daarmee kun je een gepubliceerd blog direct in de database van de startup zetten. Het Nederlandse bedrijf Fintage House heeft net zo’n oplossing voor films en series. Artlery doet dit voor kunstwerken.

Het einde van fake news?

Dagelijks komt het voorbij: fake news. Op alle mogelijke kanalen en in de meest ingenieuze vormen die het heel echt doen lijken. MIT kwam in onderzoek tot de ontdekking dat we fake news 70% sneller op Twitter delen dan echte artikelen.

Een groeiend probleem

We kunnen blockchain inzetten om het gebruik van wisdom of the crowd tegen te gaan. Er zijn dan ook verschillende startups die tokens geven in ruil voor het maken van echte content. Gebruikers valideren deze content.

Startups Trive en DIRT bouwden bijvoorbeeld een systeem dat fact-checkers beloont. PUBLIQ werkt met de echtheid-score van lezers, net als Civil. Maar niet alleen startups zijn druk bezig met het vinden van oplossingen voor dit alsmaar groeiende probleem. De Europese Commissie maakte het inmiddels ook één van haar speerpunten.

Clickfraud

Fraude met digitale advertenties (clickfraud) kost bedrijven wereldwijd bijna zeven miljard dollar per jaar. Dit groeit momenteel met 50% per jaar. Eén van elke drie aan advertenties uitgegeven dollar is frauduleus. En de World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) verwacht dat de totale kosten in 2025 groeien tot vijftig miljard dollar.

Bedrijven zetten bots op de de meest vernuftige manieren in om het aantal clicks en views omhoog te krijgen. Dit is inmiddels goed voor 48% van het websitebezoek. Het gaat zelfs zo ver dat bots bijvoorbeeld online configuratoren van auto’s als BMW (waarvoor je euro’s per configuratie betaalt) nep invullen.

Ad-fraude tegengaan

Dit is een ontzettend groot probleem voor adverteerders en uitgevers. Momenteel werken bedrijven er op verschillende manieren met behulp van blockchain aan om dit tegen te gaan. Deze bedrijven zijn vooral bezig met het bouwen van platformen die de authenticiteit van de impressies verifiëren, maar ook relaties in kaart brengen tussen adverteerders, uitgevers en consumenten.

IBM is op dit moment samen met Salon bezig met het project AdLedger. Dit is een pilot om een gedeelde ledger aan te bieden voor het transparant en inzichtelijk maken van clicks voor zowel adverteerders als uitgevers. Ook Amino Payments biedt een dergelijke oplossing, die daarnaast helpt met het optimaler inzetten van advertenties. AdEx gaat nog een stap verder met ‘advertentie-veilingen’ op de blockchain.

Samen makkelijker content maken

Blockchain inzetten is niet alleen op commercieel vlak interessant. Het kan ook samenwerkingen met betrekking tot contentcreatie een stuk efficiënter maken. Als je een goed product wil maken, zijn er vaak verschillende experts nodig om de content te maken, bewerken, designen en om het op de markt te brengen. Dergelijke processen zijn vanwege de kosten eigenlijk alleen mogelijk voor grote bedrijven.

Door het decentrale karakter van de blockchaintechnologie is dit nu ook mogelijk voor kleinere partijen. Eén van de eigenschappen van blockchain is dat niemand de opgeslagen data kan aanpassen. Dit voorkomt fraude. Blockchain maakt bijvoorbeeld de geschiedenis van een document op het gebied van wijzigingen (wat en door wie) volledig transparant.

Blockchain maakt de geschiedenis van documenten volledig transparant.

Eindeloos veel mogelijkheden

Zoals ik in een eerder artikel schreef: de blockchaintechnologie is nog redelijk nieuw en bevindt zich op allerlei vlakken. Nu zit het voornamelijk nog in de experimentele fase. Hoewel veel startups werkende producten al succesvol inzetten, is de impact nog klein. Maar de mogelijkheden zijn eindeloos en ik geloof er dan ook echt in dat de uitgeefsector in de komende vijf jaren geweldig kan profiteren van deze nieuwe technologie.

Heb jij ervaring met de blockchaintechnologie in de uitgeefsector? Hoe gaat dat je af? Deel het met me in een reactie hieronder!

Although many eyes are still focused on the financial sector, the impact of blockchain technology on various other sectors is just as interesting. There are several major challenges in healthcare that are currently being addressed with technology. According to a survey by IBM, 15% of healthcare executives claim that they will implement the technology this year, and 50% say the same of next year. Dutch minister de Jonge recently responded to parliamentary questions from D66: “Blockchain has the potential to organize cooperation, data exchange, and mutual trust differently. This can, among other things, lead to a reduction in the administrative burden.” Research Deloitte conducted among care executives confirms the following: 70% of these executives indicate that the significant improvement in collaboration between the various parties within and outside the sector is the main reason for considering implementation.

Many healthcare organizations are already busy implementing the technology and, during the various keynotes and training sessions about blockchains I was allowed to give in the past few months, the participating healthcare professionals also asked a specific question: In what area can we get started? Here are my top 4 focus areas:

1) The Decentralized Patient Register

One of the biggest issues in healthcare is access to an exchange of information about the patient. In many ways, this causes a lot of inefficiency, errors and unfortunately also many other nasty consequences. According to Frost research, nearly 40% of patient data contain errors. Research shows that miscommunication between medical professionals costs the industry $11 billion per year. This is partially caused by inefficiency, but according to the start-up Labchain from Heerlen, the Netherlands, this is also due to the fact that healthcare institutions in the Netherlands still exchange patient data by mail, which is re-entered manually. Unfortunately, this increases the chance of incorrect entries, not to mention the errors made on the basis of erroneous data.

Data Breaches

The safe storage of patient data also unfortunately often goes wrong. According to IBM, some 2,181 data breaches within the healthcare industry were reported between 2009 and 2017, with 176 million patient records stolen. This is interesting data for hackers because a patient’s file yields more than credit card details.

How nice would it be for you to always have access to your file, no matter where you are in the world? That you can track the status of medical treatment and share data with parties you trust? The GDPR legislation, which dictates that consumers should be able to access their data themselves, is a great first step. Unfortunately, that is technically impossible for almost all healthcare organizations despite blockchain being able to play a great role in this. The Personally Allocated Budget (PGB), whereby different organizations work together to provide consumers with the right care and that I discussed in an earlier post, is a perfect example. But the sharing of vital data with researchers, to allow them to use it anonymously for their research into diseases and medicines, is another example. Intel has recently launched a ready-made solution for the latter.

Solutions to the Challenges

Many dozens of companies are already building or even successfully implementing solutions to the challenges mentioned above. Together with SNS Bank and Deloitte, Radboudumc built “Prescrypt” to easily arrange repeat prescriptions. The patient can determine him or herself with whom the information is shared (doctor, pharmacist, etc.), in order to conclude a prescription request. In its Blockchain Lab, Philips is working on solutions for sharing data between the various healthcare providers and connecting researchers and patients who monitor themselves.

There are many companies that focus on improving the safety of patient databases. It has led the well-known MIT Media Lab to establish MedRec for this purpose and internet giant Google, with its AI department Deepmind, has already made it possible for hospitals in England to put patient records on the blockchain. Guardtime has already successfully implemented the same solution for the governments of Estonia and the United Arab Emirates, and BurstIQ, Factor, Medicalchain, SimplyVitalHealth, Patientory, Nebula and Medicalchain also offer working solutions for this issue.

There are also various cool companies that use blockchain technology in an even more radical way. Coralhealth uses the technology to make personalized medicines possible and recently successfully tested this. EncrypGen has launched a platform that allows people to sell their DNO in exchange for cryptocurrency. Lancor has used a combination of AI and blockchain to develop a tool to increase the reliability of cancer screenings from 60% (by people) to 90%.

2) Get Rid Of The Deadly Fake Medicines

People in the Netherlands are used to obtaining medicines from a pharmacy and they can assume that they are also “real”, i.e. directly supplied by the pharmaceutical company. However, according to HRFO, 15% of the medicines sold in developing countries are fake, something the World Health Organization claims causes 1,000,000 deaths per annum! This market for fake drugs is now larger than that of illegal drugs and it costs pharmaceuticals an estimated (HFRO) $200 billion per annum.

Several industries are already successfully using blockchain technology to make their supply chain transparent for consumers, be it for orange juice or diamonds. American legislation already obliges manufacturers and suppliers of medicines to track medicines from production to sale, to combat fake medicines. Dutch hospitals and pharmacists will have to comply by 2020. Easy “tracking & tracing” is, however, a technical challenge, and some pharmacists consider blockchain the big “game changing” solution. Chronicled recently won the Newsweek Blockchain Impact Award with their “MediLedger” solution which was used by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and Genetech to place their supply chain in a decentralized manner on the blockchain. The French startup Blockpharma also offers a ready-made solution.

3) Preventing Fraud & Mistakes

Research shows that 5–10% of healthcare costs are fraudulent in nature. On a global scale, this is a very large amount. In addition to fraud, too many errors are still being made in the administration, and the increase of this, in addition to the many intermediaries that further amplify it, causes an unnecessary amount of costs, says Deloitte. It involves a massive amount of money that, obviously, could and should have been spent on providing real care.
 One of the advantages blockchain is being praised for is the removal of the “middleman”. By putting data on the blockchain in a decentralized way, many administrative processes can be automated and thus operate much more efficiently and fraud is prevented. Estonia has already taken a major step in this direction by having 95% of all healthcare data validated automatically and their operations made transparently. In the Netherlands, insurance company VGZ has successfully piloted an app that allows the entire maternity care to be placed on the blockchain. Parents can see on the app how many hours they have been receiving care and how many hours of care they are still entitled to. A maternity nurse can indicate how many hours they have actually worked. The insurance company can use this data to pay the maternity caregiver directly and to prevent fraud with the number of hours claimed.

4) Personalized Care

Personalized care is one of the biggest trends in healthcare. Gone are standard solutions for the masses: a customized pill or treatment based on, for example, big data from a patient, is the new norm. This is not only better for the patient, who therefore receives better care, but also for the sector itself. As an example, the industry calculated that $300 billion is spent on ineffective drugs per annum. Blockchain ensures the secure transfer of data between different parties, who can use this for the aforementioned research, but also personalized medicines. The company Robomed, which combines blockchain, artificial intelligence and the “Internet of Things” is a good example. Through chatbots and wearables, they collect and analyze a unique flow of information and translate this into practical advice for the patient.

Panacea for Healthcare

Blockchain is not directly the panacea for healthcare that will immediately help the entire sector with its greatest challenges. However, Frost & Sullivan claim that successfully applying the technology can save the sector many billions of dollars, mistakes, and human lives. The first thing it then really has to do is to make an effort in stopping the forming of data silos that currently are hardly shared and that, according to many experts, is already causing major problems. Just like in many other sectors, the time has come to fully experiment with and invest in technology, to ensure that healthcare is still affordable and effective in the coming years.

Jan Scheele is active in the web3 (blockchain, crypto, NFTs, DeFi) industry since 2013. Besides (former) CEO of a web3 scaleup and founder of an advisory boutique (working for governments, family offices and several multinationals), he is Digital Leader at the World Economic Forum and Board Member at the Blockchain Netherlands Foundation (BCNL). He is writing, consulting, speaking and training regularly about everything web3, all over the world. Furthermore, he is currently finalizing his book about the rise and global impact of blockchain technology.