Do Businesses Really Need Blockchain? How it’s Driving Change in Key Sectors
Updated Jun 12, 2025
Do Businesses Really Need Blockchain? How it’s Driving Change in Key Sectors
Blockchain isn’t an emerging technology anymore; it has now embedded itself as a core infrastructure across industries like finance, retail, and logistics.
From global corporations like Walmart to logistics startups, companies are already tapping into blockchain’s potential to solve age-old problems such as data silos, delays, and trust gaps.
The question now has shifted from “What is blockchain?” to “Where does it drive strategic advantage?”
In this blog, we’ll break down how blockchain works, the different models available, the specific problems it solves, and how forward-thinking companies are using it today to reshape their industries.
Understanding Blockchain Technology
At its core, blockchain is a distributed ledger that records information in a way that is transparent, tamper-proof, and verifiable.
Unlike traditional databases controlled by a central entity, blockchain systems run across a network of nodes that independently validate and record each transaction.
Once data is added, it cannot be modified without consensus, making the system inherently secure and audit-friendly.
Here are the core strengths that make blockchain a business-critical infrastructure layer:
Trustless Collaboration Without Central Gatekeepers
Blockchain enables multiple parties to transact, share data, or automate workflows without the need for a central authority to verify actions. This eliminates third-party intermediaries, reducing both cost and risk.
Data Integrity with Immutable Audit Trails
Once data is written to a block, it cannot be altered without consensus from the network. This immutability guarantees auditability, which is vital in sectors like finance, supply chain, and healthcare.
Real-Time Settlement and Process Automation
Blockchain-native smart contracts allow businesses to encode logic into transactions, automating settlements, disbursements, or compliance checks. This reduces reconciliation time and human error.
Resilience Through Decentralized Infrastructure
Unlike centralized databases, public blockchains operate on a distributed network of nodes, making them resilient to single points of failure, censorship, or downtime.
Ethereum, for example, maintained over 99.99% uptime even during peak network congestion over the past two years.
Together, these strengths reshape how businesses can build systems, moving from siloed, trust-based processes to interoperable, transparent, and programmable workflows.
However, there are different types of blockchains that have emerged to meet diverse business and regulatory needs, each with its own advantages.
Let’s explore the main types.
Choosing the Right Blockchain for Your Business
Not all blockchains are created equal, and choosing the right architecture can make or break your product’s viability.
Different types of blockchain offer distinct benefits and trade-offs depending on how much control, transparency, and decentralization your business needs.
Generally, blockchains fall into three main categories: public, private, and consortium.
Public Blockchain
Public blockchains like Ethereum or Bitcoin are open, decentralized, and ideal for use cases where transparency and permissionless access are critical, such as DeFi, tokenized assets, and public recordkeeping.
Private Blockchain
Private blockchains are run by a single entity or organization, offeringmore control and faster throughput. They are commonly used for internal enterprise operations or supply chain traceability.
Consortium Blockchain
Consortium blockchains are governed by a group of stakeholders (e.g., banks or logistics partners) and are well-suited for industry-wide collaboration where shared control and data confidentiality are essential.
We’ve explored these models in detail, their technical considerations, and when to adopt them, in our blog - “When to Use or Not Use Decentralized Tech.”
Now, let’s look at some real-world business challenges that blockchain solves across various industries.
How Blockchain Solves Real-World Business Challenges
Blockchain is not just a tech trend it is fundamentally solving long-standing operational and regulatory challenges across industries.
Here's how it addresses key pain points, with measurable results within industries:
Finance
Traditional cross-border payments, such as those through SWIFT, are slow and costly, taking 3 to 5 days and incurring transaction fees of up to 10% due to intermediaries and currency conversions.
This creates inefficiencies, especially in high-volume corridors and emerging markets.
Companies such as Ripple have leveraged blockchainby introducing a RippleNet-based payment network using XRP as a bridge currency. It enables real-time settlements in 3-5 seconds and cuts fees by 40-70%.
The XRP Ledger offers transparency and security, and its on-demand liquidity eliminates the need for pre-funded nostro accounts, freeing up capital and reducing costs.
Another company Santander, adopted Ripple’s technology and has reported$10 million in annual savingsafter, proving its financial benefits and efficiency.
Supply Chain
The fashion and retail supply chain faces major challenges in ensuring product authenticity, tracking material origins, and maintaining transparency. These issues lead to inefficiencies, counterfeits, and customer distrust.
Real estate faces delays due to paperwork, title verification, zoning issues, and jurisdictional complexities. And blockchain struggles to integrate with legal frameworks and validate physical property attributes in a digital space.
They haveclosed the first fully blockchain-based real estate transaction in Florida, reducing closing time from weeks to hours thus eliminating fraud and ensuring better legal clarity.
Healthcare
Healthcare systems often have fragmented patient records, raising privacy concerns and causing delays in treatment.
MIT's MedRec uses blockchain to create a decentralized health record system, giving patients control over their data and ensuring data integrity without storing raw data on a chain.
As a result, there was a 30% improvement in healthcare system interoperability while ensuring compliance with privacy laws like HIPAA.
Their parametric insurance policies are linked to predefined triggers like rainfall levels or flight delays. When these conditions are met, smart contracts automatically validate claims using real-world data from sources like weather stations or flight APIs.
It has reduced policy issuance costs by 41% and cut administrative overheads by 40% while speeding up claims processing from months to days.
Energy
Traditional energy systems are centralized, leading to inefficiencies in energy distribution, opaque billing and limited consumer control over energy usage.
The result was 20% savings for energy buyers and higher earnings for solar producers in trials across Australia and Thailand.
These use cases highlight how blockchain is addressing critical operational and regulatory challenges. By providing transparency, security, and efficiency, blockchain solutions are fundamentally transforming industries.
The Future of Blockchain in Business: What’s Next?
Increased Interoperability Across Blockchain Networks
Cross-chain interoperability will allow seamless transactions across multiple blockchain networks, bridging decentralized systems with traditional infrastructure.
Solutions like Polkadot and Cosmos enable different blockchains to communicate, improving efficiency and opening new market opportunities for businesses, especially in finance.
Blockchain for Privacy-Preserving Transactions
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) will enable businesses to verify transactions while maintaining confidentiality.
This solution is already being integrated into platforms like Ethereum 2.0 and Zcash to ensure privacy for sensitive industries like healthcare and finance, allowing secure data sharing without compromising compliance.
Enterprise-Grade Blockchain Solutions
Blockchain-as-a-Service(BaaS) solutions like Microsoft Azure and IBM Blockchain allow businesses to integrate blockchain into their systems with minimal upfront investment.
These services are helping companies like Walmart track product origins in real-time, improving supply chain transparency and efficiency without overhauling IT infrastructure.
NFTs and Tokenization Beyond Art
NFTs are moving beyond art, offering businesses the ability to tokenize real-world assets like real estate and intellectual property.
Platforms like RealT are enabling fractional ownership of properties, while NFTs are revolutionizing the way intellectual property is licensed, providing secure, transparent transactions.
Despite the promising advantages, blockchain technology still faces certain limitations that need to be addressed.
What’s Holding the Blockchain Technology Back
While blockchain offers significant advantages, it’s still an evolving technology with limitations such as:
Scalability Challenges
Public blockchains, especially Ethereum, facescalability issues as transaction volumes increase. Though layer 2 and sharding solutions are emerging, scalability remains a concern for high-throughput industries.
Energy Consumption
Proof-of-work (PoW)networks like Bitcoin are energy-intensive due to the computational power required for transaction validation.
Whereas Proof-of-stake (PoS) offers a more sustainable solution, blockchain platforms still face energy concerns as adoption increases.
Regulatory Uncertainty
Blockchain’s fragmented regulatory environment can create legal complexities, especially for businesses in heavily regulated industries.
Integration with Legacy Systems
Integrating blockchain with legacy systems such as ERP is costly and complex, requiring significant investment in new technology and employee training.
Security Risks
Blockchain itself is secure, but vulnerabilities in smart contracts, private key management, and centralized exchanges pose risks.
Wrapping Up: How Blockchain Can Transform Your Business
Blockchain is a transformative technology that addresses real-world challenges in sectors like supply chain, finance, and healthcare.
Whether your goal is to streamline operations, reduce costs, or unlock innovative business models, understanding both its potential and limitations is essential.
By strategically integrating blockchain into your business processes, you can stay ahead of the competition and fully leverage the benefits of a blockchain-powered future.
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