The document discusses blockchain and its applications in various business sectors, particularly highlighting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. It outlines the features, history, and challenges of blockchain, alongside potential adoption frameworks in areas such as finance, e-government, healthcare, and supply chains. Key challenges mentioned include transaction throughput, latency, and energy consumption related to Bitcoin mining.

1. Blockchain Applications in Business
Ahad Zare Ravasan, PhD
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Ahad.Zareravasan@econ.muni.cz

2. My Bitcoin Background
• Heard about Bitcoin from a friend in college in early
2011 (BTC/USD ~10 each)
• Began Bitcoin mining in 2011, made several bitcoins
• Biggest regret: selling over 100 BTC < $1000 (today
value > $ 1m) 
• Bought some bitcoins in 2017 
• Traded on Bitfinex and Binance
• Second Biggest regret: Engaging with trading which
resulted in losing 80% of my initial coins due to recent
market collapse 
BITCOIN PIZZA DAY
On MAY 22nd 2010,
10.000 BTC
PAID FOR A PIZZA
Laszlo Hanyecz

3. Outline
• Part 1: Blockchain features
• Part 2: Blockchain Applications, starting with cryptocurrencies
• Part 3: Criticism and Challenges
• Part 4: Adoption framework
3

4. 4
WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN?
WHAT IT IS NOT?

5. Blockchain opportunities by industrial sector
Zare.Ahad@gmail.com 5

6. 6

7. A brief history on money
• Physical cash
– Non-traceable
– Secure
– Low inflation
• Can’t be used online directly
Electronic credit or debit transactions
Banks see all transactions
Merchants can track/profile customers
7

8. Chaum’s anonymous e-cash
Features:
- anonymous
- secure (no double-spending)
- Low inflation
- Privacy-preserving
Various practical issues:
- only transfer (no creation/storage)
- Need for trusted central party
- Computationally expensive
…and bankrupted in 1999
8

9. Bitcoin (BTC)
• is a global crypto-currency (symbol BTC)
• Around since January of 2009
• Based on Blockchain
• Not issued by any entity/ No trusted third-
party required
• Peer-to-peer / decentralized / Uncontrollable
• Cryptographically sealed (cryptoCurrency)
9
• People who verify transactions are
called miners
• The maximum number of Bitcoins
will be about 21 million
• Fast transactions
• Low-cost transactions
• Irreversible trades

10. 10
SWIFT
11,000+ financial institutions use the service in
more than 200 countries
34 million FIN messages per day
Settlement time= 30 min- 48 hours
XRP (Ripple)
150 financial institutions use the service
1 million transaction per day (network cap is
130 m)
Settlement time= 5 seconds

11. Implications for Cryptocurrency community
11
R3CEV consortium

12. Potential areas to adopt in the financial sector
Zare.Ahad@gmail.com 12

13. E-government-public sector
13
• promote transparency of the national and local budgets
• create crowdfunding platforms enabling investors to trace
expenditures on their projects
• e-voting
• education

14. Healthcare
14
• manage Electronic Medical
Records (EMRs)
• pharmaceutical supply
chain

15. Energy
15
• POWER LEDGER Project

16. Insurance
16
• Fraud detection
• Integration with IoT

17. Supply Chain
17
• EVERLEDGER
• MAERSK

18. Zare.Ahad@gmail.com 18

19. Some modules
19

20. Blockchain: technical challenges and limitations
• Throughput: The
potential throughput of
issues in the Bitcoin
network is currently
maximized to 7tps.
• Latency: currently
roughly 10 minutes to
complete one transaction
(for BTC).
20

21. Blockchain: technical challenges and limitations
• Wasted resources: Mining Bitcoin
wastes huge amounts of energy
($15million/day).
21

22. Blockchain Fit Assessment Framework
22
Source: Deloitte

23. Thank you for your
attention!
Questions, comments or remarks?
Email: Ahad.Zareravasan@econ.muni.cz