Blockchain and digital health services could be a perfect match for each other across a variety of applications. From distributed interoperable health records to proof of adherence for medication, the healthcare industry is ripe for digital innovation. More generally, technology is a hyper-deflationary force, and this could be particularly effective in delivering quality health care through more effective channels such as mobile apps.
Investments in the digital health space have increased significantly in the past two years. This is largely possible because of improved low-power sensors and user-friendly cloud platforms that interface with those hardware devices. The Rock Health Funding Database shows a $4.5 billion increase in venture funding in digital health from 2014 to 2015.
Smart contract technology is built on top of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and is a hallmark of "Bitcoin 2.0" platforms. Blockchain is the fundamental infrastructure needed for Bitcoin transactions to work, and an enabling technology for the next generation of asset-based platforms.
A smart contract is simply a piece of code that is stored on the blockchain. It can be triggered by particular blockchain transactions and, in return, read or write data to that blockchain. The rise of smart contracts can be understood in the framework described by Carlota Perez in her excellent book, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages.
Essentially, most technological revolutions have two phases: the first where the groundwork is done, called the installation phase, and the next, focused on innovating and building on the groundwork, called the deployment phase. For example, in the installation phase of the Internet revolution, most companies built the core infrastructure to make the Internet available to the general public. In the deployment phase, companies started building applications on top of the infrastructure such as social media services. Blockchain development is […]
