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Blockchain applications in the Marketing industry

Eatzilla — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:04:39 +0000

The blockchain is a Decentralized digital technology that does not stop growing and that is increasingly important in the field of digital marketing. Thanks to the blockchain, ideas that were just mere theories are being replaced by valid and proven solutions that solve problems related to transparency, efficiency and the fight against fraud. For example, identity identification applications are becoming more and more popular. In this article we explain different applications of the blockchain in the marketing industry.
Blockchain applications in the marketing industry
For those of you who have not just mastered the world of blockchain, first we are going to define what it consists of. In simple terms, we could say that the blockchain is a decentralized database . That is, not controlled by a single central unit but by a group of users. The data you collect in the system is encrypted and cannot be deleted or modified.
In the commercial transactions of the blockchain system, the financial information and the different records of the user are permanent and cannot be changed. The blockchain is a transparent and secure tool for industries such as marketing.
Although it may be a relatively new technology, the world around us is already changing. Marketers are looking forward to seeing how the blockchain will impact and optimize their work.The blockchain development company is building a direct data exchange between consumers and brands to emphasize their relationships. This is crucial because platforms like Facebook generally collect data by tracking user activity, but the resulting information is of poor quality. There is also negative consumer confidence with this type of surveillance.
Let’s take a closer look at the applications of blockchain in the marketing industry:

A more democratic marketing

The blockchain returns to consumers some of the power that was previously in the hands of social media platforms and other companies that collect consumer data. For example, thanks to the blockchain, users can choose to view ads in exchange for a digital currency or a token. It is a way of sharing rewards. In other words, consumers may be directly compensated for viewing advertisements and for transferring their data.
On the other hand, among the applications of the blockchain in marketing is a great improvement in terms of privacy. Privacy is an issue that greatly concerns users when buying online or using an online technological service. Customers are concerned about the anonymity and confidentiality of their transactions. These concerns are due to the possibility of incorrectly obtaining, misusing and disclosing your personal information . Privacy concerns have increased since cookies on web pages capture personal information and store it in information systems.

More transparency

Second, the blockchain can create transparency around where products have been sourced or manufactured. For example, you can indicate if the product is truly organic or if the farmer in the supply chain has received fair payment for his work. Auditing supply chains becomes much easier and consumers can be more confident that product labels are telling the truth.
The Internet is also an efficient communication tool that allows companies to interact directly with consumers and keep them informed about their latest products, services and company developments. Although the importance of having an Internet presence is indisputable, the reputation of the marketing and advertising industry has been plagued with fraud, scandals and deceptive campaigns.
The click fraud is an intentional act in which an illegitimate or deplete the advertising budget of a competitor individual or organization tries to use automated scripts, software or employing individuals to mimic legitimate web users to click on digital advertising.

Elimination of intermediaries

The prevalence of social media has created the need for businesses to reach customers through messaging platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube . Rather than generating revenue through customer payments for content and services, these platforms rely on revenue through data and targeted ads.
In general, organizations are highly dependent on intermediaries to meet the needs of their potential customers. They seek to attract the attention of consumers, but usually depend on their communication channels, since they provide a large amount of information about the demand for goods and services.
On the other hand, consumers may not like the monetization of their data by digital intermediaries. This middle ground approach often prevents consumers from reaping the benefits of interacting directly with brands , such as co-creation, more customer-centric support, or more personalization.
For example, imagine that a retailer routinely pays 3% payment processing to credit card companies or to other online platforms that charge listing fees or sales commissions. With blockchain technology, brands can limit or abolish costs and eliminate non-value-adding activities at the brokerage layer.

Cheaper ads

In this sense, blockchain applications in marketing can be a conducive tool that allows brands and consumers to avoid intermediation and forge stronger relationships. It allows companies to expand their advertising campaigns, improve their customer targeting capabilities and service responsiveness. Its ubiquitous and interactive features allow marketers to efficiently communicate their business content and reduce costs by avoiding middlemen.
Without intermediaries, the cost of digital advertising would be dramatically reduced for marketing teams. Also, the ad metrics would be more accurate by not relying on a third party. Going through one or more intermediaries can make it difficult to track ads. However, with the blockchain marketers can easily access this information.
Consequently, this will also make calculating the ROI of ads much easier for marketing teams.

Check the data

Another application of the blockchain in the marketing industry is data verification. The Blockchain development services can collect, verify, store and update databases automatically with minimal human intervention . Experts believe this will transform the approach to customer insights. It is the perfect platform to generate ideas because it prioritizes data-driven marketing.
On the other hand, data can be linked to a hyper-personalized information generation segment for a much more effective targeting of campaigns.
Information security can be seen as the center of information systems, both at a technological and organizational level. This implies that ensuring a high level of preventive measures and security in transactions is a crucial differentiator for many companies. In the digital world, secure and well-communicated product delivery is a crucial success factor in building brand trust.

PERCEIVED THREATS ONLINE

The main reasons for this negative perception are:
The possibility of data loss or theft
Identity Theft
Credit card information theft
Content manipulation
Unauthorized access to accounts
Database attacks
Patent and copyright infringements
Before incorporating information security into the marketing narrative, brands must build a technology infrastructure that addresses security loopholes and improves consumer confidence in the digital marketing environment.
In this sense, the emergence of blockchain technology can benefit both brands and consumers, guaranteeing an unprecedented level of security. The power of blockchain security is based on its distributed and decentralized data storage. Additionally, the use of various security mechanisms, such as asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, and access control can ensure proper storage, transmission, and retrieval of large amounts of consumer information.

Build loyalty

Finally, among the blockchain applications in marketing is the generation of loyalty. In an increasingly competitive market environment, brands are striving to ensure that consumers remain loyal to their products and services. To improve consumer retention, brands have been systematically collecting and storing their customer data, primarily through loyalty programs. These tools serve to increase brand loyalty, reduce price sensitivity, encourage word of mouth, and expand your customer base.
Blockchain technology has the potential to reshape the way loyalty programs are designed and communicated to consumers. In a blockchain-based marketing ecosystem, loyalty programs are fully integrated. What did you think of this article about blockchain applications in marketing ? Leave your comments and share!
And if you are interested in the world of blockchain, take the Master in Blockchain and Fintech . You will learn, among other things, the operation of the blockchain as distributed systems and understand the architecture and the fundamental algorithms on which they are based. We will wait for you!

What are NFTs and what will their evolution be?

Eatzilla — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 15:26:35 +0000

The popularity of non-fungible tokens or Non-fungible tokens (NFT) has skyrocketed in recent months and, with it, the doubts surrounding this new phenomenon. Therefore, and to clarify possible doubts about what exactly this concept consists of, in this article we explain what NFTs are and we predict their evolution in 2021.

What are NFTs?

We could define a token as a “contract” in which it is stipulated that a person owns a unique and irreplaceable copy of a digital asset, along with that asset. To ensure that the “contract” is safe and truthful, it is stored on a public network, which is blockchain technology . The fact of being on the blockchain development company guarantees that it is auditable and that if these buyers decided to sell said contract for the possession of a single asset, it could be followed up.
Tangible assets that can be touched and seen, such as stamps, works of art, or jewelry are often given value. Now more and more it is also being done with intangible goods that, although we see, are not material. Although cryptocurrencies come close to this definition, NFTs go further, applying this concept to objects oriented, especially to collecting.

Unlike cryptocurrencies, NFTs are not interchangeable because they are unique, although there may be copies outside. However, an NFT can be sold to someone else. Also, most of these “tokens” are written on the Ethereum network .
The relevance of the NFT’s comes from the fact that its origin can be assured by introducing a code in the programming . This allows that if the work is sold to another owner, the transaction is recorded in this public network, which can be ethereum or another, and the creator or artist will be remunerated with a percentage for each transmission of the same. In this way, digital targets with many business possibilities can be uniquely represented.
Examples of NFT’s

As in the world of cryptocurrencies, tokens work as something speculative. One of the most famous sales of NFT’s was carried out by the renowned American boxer and youtuber Logan Paul. A few months ago he put 3,000 NFT’s of Pokemon cards up for sale and in a few days he sold all the assets for 5 million euros.
The interesting thing about this action is the value that these cards will have in the future , since in 2021 they have cost 2,000, but it is estimated that in 2030 it could increase to 30,000.
Another well-known case is that of artist Mike Winkelmann, nicknamed Beeple, who sold his NFT “EveryDay — The First 5000 Days” in March for $ 69 million.

On February 19, the GIF of Nyan Cat or “cosmic cat,” probably the best-known cat meme since 2011, sold for $ 500,000.

A few weeks later, Canadian singer Grimes sold a collection of digital works for more than $ 6 million. But art is not only sold through NFTs. Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, decided to put his first tweet on the social network up for sale for $ 2.9 million.

NFT ARTWORK THEFT

With the rise of NFTs, thefts of digital works of art have also increased . At the end of March, the NFT platform Nifty Gateway reported the theft of its entire collections of NFTs being their accounts hacked, which triggered the theft of digital assets valued at $ 150,000 and the purchase of others through their credit cards.
The platform assured that users who had been hacked for not having two-step authentication activated. This is the main problem with tokens. Even if there is an original version of the artistic product, it does not prevent multiple copies from being made. However, there is only one original, whose ownership is recorded on the blockchain.
How to do an NFT step by step
An NFT is simply the stamp we put on something to say that it has a single or multiple owner. We can make NFT’s with everything, with music, images, with land in a virtual field, etc. It is a new way of verifying ownership.
We can all create an NFT and the process is very simple. You just have to follow the following steps:

Scan a file The first thing we have to do is digitize a file. Although it sounds very complicated, we all do it day by day. For example, when we take a photo with the mobile, a screenshot, when we record an audio on WhatsApp, etc. We are making something that surrounds us something digital. If we take a picture of a plant and upload it to a social network there we already have an image that, if we wanted, we could create an NFT with it.
Register a “node” on the blockchain network
We could auction this image that we have created so that someone could buy it from me for a value of one ether, for example. Let us remember that this contract that we put on the image to say that it belongs to someone, what we do is deliver the digital asset (image) with the seal.
In order to transfer this image with the seal to someone, you must be within the blockchain network, which is the one that works. To do this, you have to register a node. This is like registering your IP address on the blockchain network. It has an associated cost that is moderately low, currently ranging between 19 and 40 dollars.
Minting or coined
Finally, once inside the network, all that remains is to put the seal on your digital asset, which is the process called minting or coining. It is currently a fully automatic process with many platforms. One of the platforms with which you can do it is Open Sea.
How to measure the price of an NFT
To understand how the price of an NFT is measured, you have to understand where the value resides. It depends fundamentally on three factors:
Rarity or scarcity
When we talk about rarity or scarcity, the fact that an element is unique or that there are very few series of something gives it a lot of value. Imagine a painting by Picasso. We have a unique copy of a painting that has been hand painted by Picasso. It is scarce because only that painting exists, despite the fact that there are thousands of replicas. No matter how similar they are to the original, that does not make the copies have value, since the value of the painting is given by the fact that it was painted by Picasso.
Therefore, that scarcity and that rarity is what gives value to that digital asset.
Utility

Second, the usefulness of the asset must be taken into account. You may be selling tokens of something that has a value. For example, you can sell a piece of land from a virtual world, since that virtual world is a kind of game and people can do things in it. This has a specific utility which is that you can later build a house or whatever you want.
In short, if the token is useful this will give it a value.

Property history

Lastly, the ownership history is also very important. If I have created an image because I am a digital artist, I auction it off and a very famous person you know buys it, this will also add a lot of value to the NFT.
If you try to sell any digital asset, they can buy it from you but surely you cannot give it the value you want because it does not depend on you.
The Future of NTFs and the Blockchain Industry
This market for crypto art and Non-fungible tokens or NFTs is expected to maintain the same growth curve despite the slight drop in popularity in recent weeks. In fact, according to a study carried out by the firm Invezz, there are no signs that the NFT market is a bubble and the volume of operations is expected to reach 145 million euros by October .
It is true that the NFTs have had a boom in the press for these large purchases that we have mentioned above. There have been a lot of purchases that apparently may seem useless to us. These large purchases are likely to stop because in the end it is a technology that is being born.
However, it is a great opportunity for digital artists to have control over the ownership of assets and then they can have a greater right to royalties. It is a system that greatly benefits artists and creators of digital content.
Apart from what happens with NFTs, blockchain technology and decentralized finance have come to stay. A fairly large growth is anticipated in the market and it will create a huge disruption in terms of the accessibility and availability of basic financial products.
What did you think of this article about what NFTs are ? Leave your comments and share!
Finally and to help understand the global panorama of blockchain and financial technologies, at IEBS we offer the Master in Blockchain and Fintech , an innovative program to learn about the operation of the blockchain as distributed systems and understand the architecture and fundamental algorithms that are based, among other things. We will wait for you!

What are DLTs and how they differ from Blockchain

Eatzilla — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 14:54:16 +0000

surely you are already more than familiar with Bitcoin and Blockchain technology as a result of all the noise generated earlier this year. However, you may not know the “twin” brother of the Blockchain, DLT ( Distributed Ledger Technology). In this post we tell you what DLTs are and how they differ from Blockchain .

What are DLTs and what is their meaning

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) or distributed ledger technologies are a set of technologies that allow us to design a system structure that allows it to function as a NOT centralized database . This means that there is no central computer or server that stores the information, making it a more secure system (the database cannot be “hacked” as there is no central computer to attack).

Now, not all DLT systems have to be fully decentralized. We can find a complete decentralization (without a control nucleus), distributed (one or several control nuclei, together with several support nodes), or federated (where the local nuclei have great autonomy). Access to these systems can be public or private, taking into account the level of security that you want to apply to the system.

Differences between DLT and Blockchain

If you are wondering what differences exist between a DLT system and a blockchain system, it is completely legitimate. We can say that DLT technologies are the largest category of Blockchain. This means that ALL blockchain networks are DLT technologies but not all DLTs are blockchain technology.

To give you an example we could say that DLT is the category “sports” and Blockchain is the “football”. As you can see, soccer is within the sports category but not all sports have to be soccer.

For its part, Blockchain development services or Blockchain technology is a system whose operation depends on generating blocks where information is stored. These blocks are then linked to each other generating the well-known chain of blocks. This chain ends up generating a linked and non-modifiable record of the information that has been stored in these blocks.

Both DLT networks and blockchain networks use protocols of the P2P or peer-to-peer type , which guarantees that the security and immutability standards are very high. And just as in DLTs there are different degrees of decentralization (complete, distributed or federated), in blockchain networks the exact same thing happens.

In short, a DLT network enables the secure operation of a decentralized digital database and where distributed networks eliminate the need for a central authority to control manipulation.

How DLT works

DLT allows all information to be stored safely and accurately using cryptography. It can be accessed through “keys” and cryptographic signatures . Once the information is stored, it becomes an immutable database and is governed by the rules of the network.

The Distributed Ledger Technology are not entirely new, many organizations and companies maintain their databases “separate” in different locations. This guarantees them a minimum degree of decentralization, however, each location is typically in a central connected system that makes them vulnerable to cyber attacks and local problems.

The very nature of a DLT makes them immune to cybercrime, as all copies stored on the network must be attacked at the same time for the attack to be successful.

In addition, the simultaneous (peer-to-peer) exchange and update of records makes the entire process much faster, more efficient, and cheaper.

Potential and the future of DLT

DLTs have great potential to revolutionize the way governments, institutions, and corporations work. It can assist governments with tax collection, issuance of passports, property and licenses, and disbursement of Social Security benefits, as well as voting procedures.

This technology is changing the way many industries work such as finance , music and entertainment, art, supply chains of various commodities and more.

The benefits of Blockchain and DLT technology

The potential applications of both technologies is, quite simply, immense. You may think that they are simply databases but what is truly innovative about them is that they allow us to have a greater degree of transparency, efficiency and automation.

We are going to review some of the applications that DLT has by field

1 # Financial systems

You have probably heard the applications of decentralized technologies, blockchain and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. And it is that financial systems were one of the first cases of use of this type of technology and have allowed us to build a new payment system that is safer and more accessible to the world.

2 # Cybersecurity

Although it seems that finance is the field with the greatest application of these technologies, it is actually cybersecurity. Remember that one of the most interesting characteristics of these technologies is the potential they have to build secure networks with different degrees of decentralization.

3 # Supply chain and logistics

One of the sectors in which decentralized technologies can cause greater disruption is in logistics and the supply chain. Especially in those logistics processes in which there is a high number of intermediaries. With this technology we can generate and create systems that adjust to the complex realities of logistics processes.

One of the best examples is the TradeLens system, a system designed by Maersk in collaboration with IBM that allows optimizing processes in marine logistics and international trade.

4 # Health

Finally, one of the most relevant areas pending disruption is the health system. An area with great potential for the development of decentralized technologies.

One of the challenges is to develop a distributed system where hospitals are able to store information safely and are quite accessible.

With such a system, for example, the data could only be read or modified by the hospital in question. Something only possible if your access credentials or private keys are used. Of the rest, no one could access or affect those systems. In case something happens, it would be enough to restart the systems, resynchronize and start working again.

In addition to this, the level of auditing and access to patient medical data is granular. That is, you can create systems that only give access to very specific pieces of information if you want.