We are all dealing with the effects of Corona virus, which has disrupted daily business activities, education and notably health systems. All this happened without notice or preparation. The world is turning to technology as the way out of this crisis and back to running as it we were before or even better. This is seen in not only trying to find way to mitigate spread through efforts like contact tracing, but also support the new way of life be it remote working or staying in touch with loved ones.

Blockchain technology is more relevant now than ever. Amos Mburu, Blockchain researcher and Founder of DLBRT shares two main solutions that he believes will change the world as it is right now.

Automation of Payments

Cashflow is the lifeline of any Business. Today’s financial systems do not allow for instant payments and reconciliation, and at a time such as this when every coin is stretched, automation of payments could be the saviour for many businesses, especially small businesses. Imagine a world where once a business transaction has taken place, payments to the respective value chain providers is done instantly, thereby speeding up the flow of money in the economy. This is not possible with the legacy credit systems that we currently running on.

Picture this example. If you buy a Coke from a supermarket today, the following happens. Payment to Cocacola will happen probably after 30 or so more days, and Cocacola will manage its suppliers’ payment cycles to support this. Taxes are filed and paid also a month later so the Government as well has to wait to get its money.

Now picture this. Supermarket systems were running on a blockchain system, the payment to the various stakeholders would happen instantly due to a blockchain feature called ‘’smart contracts.’’ where accounts are created prior to executing a contract, then when the contract is executed the relevant accounts are deposited/withdrawn with the value in the contract. Everyone, from Coke to the Government to the Distributor to the providers of the raw materials are paid instantly.

When M-PESA was introduced, the circulation of a Kenyan shilling per day grew 10 fold. In the world of Blockchain, this could be 100 fold. Imagine the impact of this on the economy.

Ease of Liquidation of Assets

Assets can be converted to cash easily and managed efficiently on a blockchain system as records will be:

• Immutable i.e unchangeable
• Tamperproof from fraud and
• Trust will be established on who-owns-what, as everything will be in one public record

Currently, if you want to convert land or a car to cash you will have to go through various procedures and middlemen to get cash and there is a possibility of getting less than the value quoted if you are really in a fix, or worse yet, get defrauded.

If the land was existing on a blockchain where its accessed by all then you have more probability of getting a good buyer and the integrity of the land title will increase the trust of the buyers and sellers. Extend this to laptops, cars or anything that has value can now be converted to cash easily in what now becomes akin to a barter trade market of the digitised assets.