BSCA ASSIGNMENT 2

SUBMITTED BY:
ANMOL SINGAL
18PGDM198
 Introduction
Blockchain is currently one of the most widely dis-cussed and hyped
technologies. There are only a few industries that are not either excited
or worried about the concept, as use cases, proof-of-concepts, and
fully-fledged businesses based on blockchain principles are emerging at
an increasing pace. This much is certain: blockchain has the potential to
disrupt existing but also to enable new business models.

What is a blockchain?

Before going into the industry specifics, let’s clarify what a blockchain
is:
“A blockchain is a digital, immutable, distributed ledger that
chronologically records transactions in near real time. The prerequisite
for each subsequent transaction to be added to the ledger is the
respective consensus of the network participants (called nodes),
thereby creating a continuous mechanism of control regarding
manipulation, errors, and data quality.”
 Blockchain For Education: 5 Use Cases

1. Records, Certifications, and Credentials Verification :

Proponents of blockchain tech claim that there is an easier way for
educational records to be quickly, affordably verified. Right now, the
universities have complete control over a siloed system of records, but
if those records could be decentralized and put in the hands of
graduates to share with employers, it would represent a superior,
simpler way to vet job candidates. A blockchain-enabled store of
verified degrees issued by accredited universities would save employers
time and money while preventing cons from skating by on a lie.
Companies Trying to Solve This Problem
 IBM & Sony – Partnered to create education data storage on the
blockchain.
 LearningMachine – Company helping institutions issue certificates
and academic records on the blockchain. Southern New
Hampshire University did an early pilot with them.
 Blockcerts – Open standard for blockchain credentials.
 RecordsKeeper – Company using blockchain to create secure
records and academic certificates.
 2. Expanding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
MOOCs have recently been one of the more rapidly expanding sectors
of higher education, now totaling 81 million users populating 9,400
courses and working toward more than 500 credentials and roughly a
dozen graduate degrees. However, programs specializing in paid
customers are seeing an increase, an indication that MOOCs offer
enough value compared to traditional educational paths that users are
willing to pay for superior content. Coursera saw a 70% increase in
paying customers in 2017, while another prominent MOOC service,
Udacity, boasts 50,000 paying students. Blockchain technology could
lend a measure of greater legitimacy to the many MOOC services by
providing universally-accessible certifications and facilitating
transactions for easier micropayments on a course-by-course basis.

Companies Trying to Solve This Problem

 BitDegree – Free online course marketplace with a $22 million
ICO.
 ODEM – Decentralized marketplace for educational resources.
 3. Open Source Universities
open source universities typically offer a means for all of one’s
education credentials to be stored, adding an air of legitimacy to more
affordable, alternative means of education that still carry weight with
employers. Open source universities also offer their own courses,
making them a sort of one-stop shop for students at a reasonable price.
By storing the certifications and credentials earned through OSUs on a
unified blockchain database, credentials could become verifiable and
easily accessible, reducing the sort of fraud that has riddled the
traditional diploma marketplace.

Companies Trying to Solve This Problem

 LiveEdu – Decentralized ecosystem of courses in key technology
fields. Powered by a native token.
 Gilgamesh – Open source, knowledge sharing network to support
participation in education.
 Open Source University –Digital credentials wallet connecting
learners to decentralized credentialing opportunities.
 4. Payment via Cryptocurrencies
The first thing when Bitcoin was created was for facilitating payments
between two entities without the need for a middleman. Following in
the tracks of that philosophy several universities like King’s College in
New York, University of Nicosia, and Simon Fraser University in British
Columbia have started accepting payments in cryptocurrencies. It
makes sense to offer payments in cryptocurrencies for college students
as college students tend to be more adept at using cryptocurrencies
compared to other demographics. Doing so also helps colleges avoid
middlemen fees and save time in the clearing of payments.

5. Cloud Storage
Colleges and universities are known for providing large amounts of
online cloud storage to students and faculty to promote collaboration.
However, existing cloud storage platforms like DropBox and Amazon
Cloud are quite expensive, and the cost of those subscriptions is usually
passed on to the students in the form of higher tuition. Blockchain-
based file storage can be very useful here as it can bring the price of
cloud storage by a lot. For example, projects like SiaCoin and Filecoin
are called the Airbnb of file storage because of the lower costs
compared to traditional file storage platforms. They do so by leasing
out unused hard disk space in computers around the world in exchange
for payments in cryptocurrency.