How Blockchain Technology Can Help Fighting Against COVID-19

Published at: June 7, 2020

Many financial and human resources are being deployed in the effort to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Technologies are also being used in this fight: artificial intelligence for research, 5G to increase information transmission speed and many others.

Blockchain is not being left out of this fight, as it now plays an important role in helping institutions and governments around the world respond to COVID-19, and is currently being integrated into healthcare and food supply chains.

How blockchain platforms can help defeat a pandemic

Blockchain platforms can be used to monitor pandemic material distribution, donations, relief distribution and other responses in a fast and transparent way without the violation of user data.

Digital identity is another way blockchain platforms can help defeat COVID-19: Companies can collaborate through blockchain platforms to help to research the best way to combat the coronavirus, and contact-tracing applications can be built on blockchain to allow anonymity.

Blockchain can bring reliability, transparency and security to medical data. Several organizations have been accused of manipulating data during this pandemic, blockchain can help to solve them by providing transparent and immutable medical data. A blockchain-based global pandemic map can be used to track the spread of the virus, the number of infected citizens and the number of recovered citizens.

The management of health insurance claims can be managed through blockchain and smart contracts.

The role of decentralized payment systems

On the other hand, a blockchain-based decentralized payment method can play a vital role in defeating the virus, as companies can receive payment through cryptocurrencies without the risk of spreading the virus through cash. Additionally, high-speed cryptocurrency payment systems help to facilitate cross-border transactions within a few seconds, allowing the transfer of funds using distributed ledger technology with the use of multiple synchronized ledgers and multiple processing nodes, which has the potential to reduce the risk from a single point-of-failure.

Donation campaigns are being set up to raise money for medical research and equipment, providing relief materials during the pandemic. For example, the Covir blockchain project recently partnered with Octopus robots to fund Biosafety licenses for robots that decontaminate large buildings during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Covir’s main goal is to help Octopus robots gain licenses so its robots can be available worldwide.

Blockchain can be used to promote transparency during fundraising and donation campaigns while providing a means to track the origin of funds and detect if those funds are used for the right purposes.

Tokenization can help countries build the economy after COVID-19

Tokenization provides a unique opportunity to rebuild society after the COVID-19 pandemic. The damage caused by the pandemic will no doubt be huge, with economic recession and a high rate of unemployment felt across the world. Blockchain platforms have made tokenization possible, enabling the division of assets in the smallest possible way. Tokenization allows the person with the smallest amount to invest and contribute to building the economy.

Kelvin Cheng, the chief operating officer at BigONE exchange believes tokenization can help the economy by allowing companies to divide their assets and allowing investors to participate in tokenized assets. As he explained to Cointelegraph:

“Tokenization can digitize a company’s core resources, including the capability of making profits and core assets. Asset tokenization of holding the token is equivalent to holding shares, in which people holding the token can be considered as a ‘token holder’ who can enjoy the company’s benefits. The more token the person has, the more benefit the person can get. Profit digitized means that a company’s profit can issue a dividend or buy back according to the status of the holding of the token.”

Blockchain provides a unique way to contribute, build and track the COVID-19 recovery process. Perhaps when the pandemic is over, we can look at how blockchain helped get us through it, and doubters might be convinced about adopting the tech for everyday use.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

This article was co-authored by Oluwatobi Joel and Virginia Mijes.

Oluwatobi Joel is a freelance copywriter, community manager, blockchain expert, and serial entrepreneur. He has worked with various blockchain startups as a marketing strategist. He's also interested in innovative projects in the blockchain space.

Virginia Mijes is a consolidated business professional in the technology sector with more than 25 years of managing multinational corporations and SMEs. She is a senior blockchain consultant and vice president of Associació Blockchain Catalunya as well as a trainer, entrepreneur and contributor. She is very active in the movement for women’s empowerment.