Real-Life Web3 Use Cases in Plain English

Web3 Use Case - Decentralized Blogging

The Problem

For the 99.99% of the blogs out there, hosting on web 2.0 works. There is no need to have your blogs on a decentralized hosting platform.

No one is going to take your blog down. But for the 0.01% of the blogs out there, a hosting provider or even the government will want to take your blog down for public consumption.

Why?

There are some legitimate reasons. You could be committing a crime with the content on your blog. And they should be taken down, especially if it involves violence.

But often, it could be because they don’t like your content and are in a position in power where they can take down your content.

It could be something uncontroversial like health and nutrition related. A person could blog about the benefits of supplementing with Vitamin D. Nutrition scientists have increased the recommended dosage of Vitamin D over the years. The dosage recommended now would have been considered dangerous years ago.

I doubt the authorities would take your blog down for advocating high Vitamin D usage, but you never know who will be in power today, tomorrow, or in the far future.

The Solution

Web 3.0 solves this. Instead of hosting your blog centrally on a server, the blog can use decentralized hosting. This is where the blog is hosted on many servers. If someone tries to shut down one of the servers hosting your blog, there are 99 other servers hosting your content.

So if they shut down 90 of the servers, ten servers are hosting your blog.

And some of those servers are being hosted in someone’s garage in various countries around the world where it’s not so easy to shut down.

As long as one server is out hosting your content, you will still be able to serve your blog to others.

When someone updates their decentralized blog, it uses peer-to-peer technology to update the content on all the servers hosting their blog. So the blog content is the same on all the servers.

This allows the blog to be served up from any server when a person tries to access the blog on a browser.

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The Problem

The father and mother of a family die, leaving two kids, one home, and a mixture of stocks and cash in the bank.

The father and mother made a will, but there is a dispute about whether the executioner follows the will. What if the executioner is not following the will, withholding the money in the bank, and preventing the surviving family members from their share of the inheritance?

What if the executioner is one of the kids, and they feel that the will is invalid and they are not getting their fair share? That person may improperly change or falsify the will, so it goes in their favor.

So there can be a lot of issues that arise depending on the executioner.

Could Web3 and smart contracts solve or alleviate this issue?

The Solution

To simplify the problem, we will just deal with the will involving the stocks and cash in the bank.

So the family hires a developer to create a smart contract will.
In the smart contract, upon the death of the father and mother, the stocks and money will be split 50/50 between the two kids.
The Smart Contract will connect to the local county database via API to check if the death certificates for the father and mother exist.
1. The code can check the local county database for the death certificate daily or weekly.
If the death certificate exists for both parents, then it will connect to the Bank via APIs and transfer the ownership of the stocks and cash to the kids.

And that is how smart contracts can be used to replace an executor of a family will.

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The Problem

Your son or daughter wants a new e-bike or something rather expensive. As a parent, you don’t want to spoil your kids with costly gifts they may or may not use.

But kids persist and will keep begging, persuading you to buy them that gift.

So you make a deal with your kid that if they get straight A’s, you will buy them an e-bike.

From the kid’s perspective - you get straight A’s, and your parents still don’t buy you that e-bike. They say the e-bike is too dangerous, which they may have a point, but they did break their word.

And the parents will say that we didn’t have a formal contract and were just joking or saying it so you would concentrate on your grades.

The parents and kids could have made a contract, but who will enforce that? The parents can just disregard the agreement.

The Solution

That is where the smart contract could solve this problem.

A smart contract is code that runs on the blockchain - a decentralized, lightweight database where entries into that database can’t be edited or deleted.

A developer or a no-code program can be used to create a smart contract.

So how would this work?

Imagine there is a no-code website that creates smart contracts designed to look up your kid’s grades at school
You would go onto this smart contract website
Create a smart contract with the following details
1. Checks to see if your kid got straight A’s from the school’s report card website
  1. The school report card website can provide an API that you can use in the smart contract
  2. Or, if there is no API, you can enter the username/password for the report card website, and the smart contract will scrape the webpage for your kid’s grades
2. If the kid did get straight A’s, then trigger a purchase of the e-bike using funds from the parent’s bank account or credit card
  1. The bank account or credit card number will be encrypted in the smart contract so no other party can steal it
    1. Cryptocurrencies can be used too
      1. The smart contract will have the address and amount of the cryptocurrencies needed to purchase the e-bike.
3. The smart contract would run the day after the school’s report card is published.

Running the smart contract:

The day after the school’s report card is published, the smart contract will run
It will use the API or username/password to login into the school’s report card website
Check your kid’s grades
If your kid got straight A’s, it would use the credit card number to purchase the e-bike from the e-bike’s website.
The e-bike gets delivered to your door for your kid to use

I see smart contracts having a lot of value for little things like motivating your kids to get good grades.

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Web3 Use Cases - Vehicle History Reports

The Problem

When buying a used car, it’s essential to know its history.

Was it involved in a car accident?

Did the current and previous owners maintain the car?

The current owner that is selling the car wants the car sold. They may hide information about the vehicle if that hurts it getting sold.

The car could have been in an accident. The owner may have taken some shortcuts to repair the vehicle. Maybe they use aftermarket parts instead of parts for the car manufacturer to fix the car?

There could be deferred maintenance on the car.

The prospective buyer thinks they may be getting a nice car at a reasonable price, but if you add in the deferred maintenance, shortcut repairs, and possibly not knowing the vehicle was in an accident. This can add up to more money later on. The buyer may be forced to get another car because the used car they just bought became a money pit.

Many buyers of used cars use CarFax to get their vehicle history. The history that CarFax provides would be previous accidents and car title history. But that history could be wrong.

There could be data errors. Not all accidents get reported, or not all accidents get recorded by CarFax.

So how can we solve this problem?

The Solution

Imagine a web 3 application that will store a car’s VIN # (or a unique ID) on the blockchain. It will also record any repairs or accidents that occurred with that car.
There are multiple ways the repair data can be recorded onto the blockchain.
One can be a web app that the repair technician can record what repairs are being done for the car.
Another way is to have APIs for common auto repair software that will auto record all repairs being done to a car onto the blockchain.
If a car gets into an accident, the driver reports the accident to their insurance. The insurance company’s software will record the accident. Their software will also integrate with the blockchain to document the accident.
When prospective buyer decides to buy a used car, they can go on a web app and enter the VIN #.
The web app will search for the VIN # on the blockchain and return all repairs and accidents that may have occurred for that used car.

Issues

Now the issues can be similar to CarFax, where not all the data is getting to the blockchain. The blockchain itself cannot solve that problem. It requires the insurance and repair shop’s software to update the blockchain.

But the developers and maintainers of this CarFax blockchain can work with the Insurers and auto repair shops to integrate their software into the blockchain.

Not a perfect solution, but this is a step to prevent data errors and have more accurate data on the car’s repair and accident history.

Also, this solution can be an easy way for car owner’s to track the repairs and maintenance they have done on their car. And auto mechanics look to see what recent repairs have been done on the vehicle they are servicing.

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Imagine a smart contract generator that is geared towards home improvement.
The contractor goes on a website and creates a smart contract.
The smart contract will consist of the following
1. Details of the home improvement
  1. The types of tiles used for the bathroom
    1. Along with more information on the tiles used
      1. Manufacturer
      2. Style, size, the color of tiles
    2. Where Which room will use the tiles
    3. How many tiles
  2. How long will the work take
  3. What days will they be working
  4. Which days will the contractor come on-site to check on the work
  5. The cost
    1. Payment intervals based on the specific conditions
    2. Bank APIs
      1. The contractor and the homeowner have to mark each home improvement task complete for the payment to go from the homeowner to the contractor.
      2. One possibility is to use a 3rd party to check off the completions
        
        This will probably be an added cost to the homeowner, but it could be worth it to make sure that the work that was agreed upon would only get paid if the work is done as specified in the smart contract

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Web3 Use Cases - Farm to Table

The Problem

How do you know the food you eat is from a local organic farm? Sure, the label on the bag of organic spinach says it is organic and came from a farm in the same state you live in. But is that label correct? Could the company that put that spinach in that bag be lying? The spinach could have come from an out-of-state farm, and the spinach is not organic. It was grown conventionally like most spinach, but someone along the way decided to just slap an organic label on it and charge the customer twice as much.

Ouch! The same goes with maybe the Alaskan salmon that you bought. Did it come from Alaska? Is it wild? Or is it farmed off the coast of the Atlantic?

Can you trust the labels on the food packaging? If the label says, it must be true. Or is it? Could there be a way to verify that your food is organic? Or, at the very least, you could see where the spinach originated from and what stops it made along the way before it got to your table? Similar to how you can see where a UPS package originated from and the multiple stops it took before it got to your door.

That is where Web3 and the blockchain can come in.

The Solution

First, we need a farm-to-table blockchain that farmers, distribution companies, and grocery stores would use to record the time and place where the food was picked, processed, packaged, transported, stored, and bought.

Imagine the customer buying organic spinach at the grocery store could scan a QR code or barcode using their phone and see where the spinach originated from, how it was grown, when it was picked and bagged, and when it arrived at the grocery store.

Sure the input data on the blockchain could be incorrect, but at least you are getting a level of transparency that you didn’t get before.

So how would this work?

Assuming a farm-to-table blockchain has been built, all the players - farmers, food processing and packaging companies, food distributors, and grocery stores- have agreed to use this blockchain.
The farmer picks the organic spinach that is ready to be sent for processing and packaging. The farmer uses an app on their phone to log how much spinach was harvested. The app will record the amount, time, and date, along with the farmers’ information - the farm’s name, organic certification, if it had one, and possibly the name of the farmer that picked the spinach.
The food processing and packaging company goes to the farm to pick up the organic spinach. The person from the processing/packaging company uses their phone to log the receiving of the spinach. The app on the phone will log this onto the blockchain.
Each time the spinach gets transferred to a location, the person receiving the spinach would log the transaction on their phone, then record that transaction on the blockchain.
The packaging company would bag the spinach and put a QR code on the bag of spinach. The QR code will refer to an ID already created on the blockchain.
The food distributor will pick up the bags of spinach and scan the QR code as they load them into their truck. This will record the date/time and distributor onto the blockchain.
When it arrives at the grocery store, the grocers will scan the bags of spinach to record the date and time of receiving the spinach.
The customer can scan the QR code on the bag of spinach using their phone. The customer can see which farm the spinach came from, the date and time, and which farmer picked the spinach. The customer can see if the farm itself is certified organic. The customer can also see all the stops the spinach took up when it got to the grocery store.

Now the customer knows that this spinach came from an organic farm in the same state they live in.

Having the blockchain can also help when food poisoning outbreaks occur from a specific batch of spinach. When an outbreak occurs to a particular bunch, that can be recorded on the blockchain. A customer can get notified on the phone that the bag of spinach they bought has been contaminated.

There are some potential issues with data input, the person logging the information into the blockchain could be incorrect, but at least it leaves a trail. And that trail is on the blockchain, where the data can’t be edited or deleted. If someone finds out later that there is misinformation, we can find the source of the error and prevent that from happening again.

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Web 3 use cases - Healthcare Research

The problem

The problem with Healthcare Research is that most research involves white people. And more specifically, white males. And non-white races, mainly black and brown races, are nonexistent. Women are more “complicated.”

Now Web 3 and the blockchain won’t solve having other races be in RCT, random controlled trials - the gold standard in scientific research. Researchers need to recruit other non-white races for their studies to solve that. Also, RCTs are expensive, and many countries with money tend to be the US and Western Europe.

Not every recommendation or advice that comes out of the healthcare research would apply to women or non-white races. Most health recommendations don’t apply to women and non-whites.

But there could be a solution that uses the blockchain and AI to analyze health data, find correlations, and develop better recommendations for specific races, gender, or even patient.

The solution

If we can get a patient’s health data onto the blockchain that involves all genders and races, then we can have data scientists and AI analyze that data and find the correlation. The more patients and their data we can get on their blockchain, along with a greater diversity of genders, races, and ages - we can get recommendations on better health specific to gender and ethnicities.

The advantage of the blockchain is that it is public, and we can’t edit the data - once it’s on the blockchain.

Any researcher or AI can look at the data and analyze it. Researchers have biases that do affect their analysis. The researcher may not think they have any bias, but they are human, and humans have biases even if we don’t think we do. The data could be the same, but two researchers could come up with two different conclusions.

Having the data on a blockchain allows anybody, academic researchers or just someone interested in data science, to look and analyze the data.

We can see competing companies or individuals that would create their own AI to research the data. Some AIs could be better than others.

This could create a marketplace of AIs so patients can submit their data and get a health risk assessment along with any specific treatment recommendations or lifestyle changes.

Potential Problems

Since the blockchain is public, no one wants their health data for all to see - mainly if it is used to discriminate against you. It could be a job that may discriminate against you based on your health because they may not want to pay for your health insurance, or it may affect your career. Terrible, but that could happen.

One way would be to make the data anonymous, so there is no identifying information that can be tied to you - no name, driver’s license, or social security number.

The patient must also consent to submit their health data to the blockchain. And the patient could also choose which data they wish to withhold - like age, race, height, or weight - even though that data would help researchers and the AI find any specific health recommendation by race, gender, or age.

But the patient should have to consent and be able to decide which data gets onto the blockchain.

How will it work

Assumption - The patient uses the blockchain and off-chain to store their medical records.
A health research company wants to research cardiovascular disease and wants access to many patients across many genders, ages, and biomarkers.
The patient hears about this and decides they want to participate in this research.
The patient goes on a website and selects the cardiovascular research they want to submit their health data.
The patient then enters their patient ID.
The patient then selects which data they would like to submit.
1. The patient selects all their data or some of their data.
  1. This includes:
    1. Gender
    2. Age
    3. Height
    4. Weight
    5. Medical History
      1. Surgeries
      2. Current and Past medications
      3. Allergies
      4. Family Medical History
      5. Past doctor visits
      6. Supplements
The patient then consents and submits the data but not their patient ID.
1. That way, the research company will not be able to tie the patient’s health data to a specific person.
The research company will take that data and store if off-chain
Data scientists and AI programs can then analyze that data.
With more patient data, the better for the data scientists/AI to find correlations on what causes cardiovascular disease.
1. They may find that a specific race and gender are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, that they should see a cardiologist, and may need treatment earlier than other races and genders.

Conclusion

Web 3 and blockchain allow the patient to own the medical records that they can access anytime. And it will enable them to select and submit which health data they would like researchers to use.

Web 3 allows health researchers to get more patient data and more variety of patients. The more data a data scientist can get their hands on, the better the recommendations will be.

People tend to lie or not tell the whole truth when being asked about their health. Web 3 makes it easier for patients to submit their health records to researchers. And Web 3 allows researchers to quickly get more patient data and accurate health data instead of relying on patient surveys that may not reflect reality.

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Web 3 use cases in Plain English- Electronic Medical Records

The problem

When a patient visits the doctor, the doctor asks you questions about any health issues, then does an examination, and at the end gives you recommendations that could involve medications, treatments, and lifestyle changes.

At the same time, the doctor is making notes on a paper chart, which a nurse or the front desk will later enter into the computer. Sometimes the doctor will enter their notes and assessment directly into the computer.

Some doctors don’t even have electronic medical records. They have a paper chart. In those cases, Web3 and the blockchain won’t solve that issue. Yikes, but they would need to upgrade to go electronic. But that will improve in the future when dictation and AI get to the point where the doctor can speak into a microphone with their patient’s notes. The AI will record and correctly categorize those notes into an electronic medical record.

Okay, back to the problem. If the doctor’s office or hospital has a computer to store the patient’s health records, the patient will usually have access to those records online.

But what if the patient switches health providers because of a new job that uses different insurance. Or you may have moved out of state. Or you don’t like your doctor and wish to go somewhere else.

When that happens, the new doctor will ask for your health records from your previous doctors. And usually, the records are transferred by fax. Why? Because most doctor practices are old school. They may not have the same healthcare system as the other doctor. They may not even have email, strange but true. Doctor offices tend to be very low-tech outside of medical equipment.

Faxing has a lot of issues. Sometimes the fax fails to send, and the sender has to send it multiple times. Sometimes the receiver says they never received it, putting the burden on the patient to ensure the data gets over to the new doctor.

Sometimes the fax runs out of paper, so the new doctor only gets a partial set of the patient’s records.

Yikes, I won’t go through all the problems with faxing, but we can see the issues that arise with faxing medical records.

Not to mention the person receiving the fax could be the front desk. Should the folks at the front desk be able to view the patient’s medical records?

The other problem is that the patient doesn’t own their medical records. They can’t just switch doctors without telling their previous doctors that they must send their medical records to their new doctor.

Why can’t patients go to any doctor they choose and bring their medical records to the office?

The solution

This is where a Web3 and the blockchain could be a solution. The patient and the doctor can agree to enter the patient’s medical records.

How will it work

A Healthcare Web3 Patient medical record storage system would need to exist
1. And there could be competing storage systems
The patient would sign up for this Web 3 storage system.
1. A recurring payment would need to be involved. If the major health insurers agree to support the Healthcare Web3 Patient medical record storage system, the insurers can cover the expense.
The doctor would then enter the patient’s health medical records into the website.
The website backend would record the data into the blockchain
The patient’s identifying information would be stored in the blockchain
1. The patient’s medical records would be encrypted and stored off-chain.
  1. Why off-chain? Storing on the blockchain can be expensive because of the gas fees, and the blockchain is not designed to store large amounts of data. That is where off-chain storage comes in.
If the doctor needs to review the patient’s medical health records, they will go onto the website and request access.
The patient will get a request that the doctor wants to access their records, and the patient will need to approve the request if the doctor wants to view the medical records.
1. This could be tedious for the patient and the doctor. Especially if the patient is not near their phone and the doctor only has time right now to view the records.
  1. A potential solution would be that the patient would designate the doctor to view the records anytime they want for a specific period - a week, month, or forever in the future as long the patient is seeing the doctor.
The patient approves the request. The website then authenticates that request on the blockchain, redirecting the website to retrieve and decrypt the medical records stored off-chain.
The doctor can view and update the medical records, which will then be stored off-chain.
The website will notify patients that their medical records have new and updated information. The patient can view their records anytime.
If a patient changes doctor, they can give their ID to the new doctor.
The new doctor would use the patient’s ID on the website to request access.
The approval process with the patient and doctor would occur.

The Benefits

The benefit of having the patient’s data on the blockchain is that they can quickly bring their health records when they see a new doctor.

No more faxing. More privacy. The front desk and other personnel that work in the doctor’s office won’t be able to view your records even if it is not intentional.

The best benefit is that patient owns their medical records. Not the doctors. Not the insurance companies. And if the patient wishes to not share their medical records with the doctors or insurance companies, they can revoke access to the website.

I plan to do part 2 on this use case on how having the patient’s medical records stored on the blockchain and off-chain can be used for medical research.

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Web3 Use case for Streaming Music:

Spotify could work with the Music Rights Holders and artists to create a smart contract, code on the blockchain, that would do the following:

The customer listens to an artist’s song using Spotify.
As the customer plays the song on their phone, the Spotify app on the phone will communicate with the smart contract on the blockchain.
The smart contract will record the number of times the song is streamed on the blockchain.
Spotify will pay the Music Rights Holders based on the number of times that song has been played, which is publicly available for everyone to look up on the blockchain.
Then the Music Rights Holders will pay the artist.

Charlie Warzel’s excellent article - The Petty Pleasures of Watching Crypto Profiteers Flounder

Real-Life Web3 Use Cases in Plain English: Recent Episodes

Coding Raj