The integration of blockchain into different industries is significant proof of the technologys rapid market consolidation. All this is happening at a breakneck pace, with blockchain start-ups emerging at an increasingly rapid rate. This new excitement for blockchain disruption can primarily be credited to smart contracts, one of the essential features of the technology.
How smart contracts work
In the exchange of money, shares, property or any asset, a middleman is required to carry out the legal part of the contract. You contact a lawyer, ask him to prepare a deal, pay him, and wait for the documents to be prepared. Smart contracts, on the other hand, eliminate the need for an intermediary, while still defining the rules of engagement and agreement. Stakeholders are obliged to enforce the contract once they make payment through a cryptocurrency. What is more, no human interference is required to create or see-through the contract. Anyone who fails to meet the conditions, gets penalised automatically.
Changing how care organisations work
Various organisations working in the care sector provide a home for the elderly. They have a staff on duty, regular meals are served, doctors visit frequently, and try to make things better for the elderly. But who owns these care homes? Whose lands are they built on? How reliable are these organisations? First, there are simply not enough homes around the world to house all the elderly people that need the care. There is a big gap between the current number of care homes and the estimated number required. This gap is primarily due to a lack of trust between the care organisations and real estate companies that can provide the space for these homes.
This is where smart contracts can help.
Smart contracts can help in the entire rental process, taking care of all the necessary tasks in one place. Making bids, negotiating terms, e-signing contracts, unlocking security deposits, paying rent, submitting maintenance requestsit all happens through a single platform and without any third-party interference. Smart contracts ensure that everyone gets paid when conditions are fulfilled.
Every blockchain-based platform is backed by a cryptocurrency, and the inclusion of smart contracts can create a regular source of revenue for property owners, who can choose to lease out properties to government or social ventures. Smart contracts can provide complete interoperability between two or more stakeholders in the legal, accounts, validation, and verification processes.
Instead of being bogged down in cumbersome paperwork or being embroiled in a legal quagmire to ensure the other party holds true to their side of the contract, smart contracts smoothen the entire process and make things much easier for care organisations. It even eliminates the chance of someone taking over your home since every transaction is recorded on the blockchain.
Smart contracts are modifying the entire chain of ownership by eliminating the need of involving an intermediary. They have a lot to offer, including interoperability, long-term rental process, trust-sensitive ownership, and easy governance. These features are enough to ensure that smart contracts truly change the way care organisations work and for the good.
With blockchain implementation, we need only secure the initial cycle of the process, and the rest will take care of itself, thanks to smart contracts.
Sunny Kapoor is the chief executive officer of GladAge old age care homes.