By Sandra Quinn

2018 has been a busy year for the blockchain with innovations and new apps and DApps popping up every week, month and quarter.

There have been a number of sectors to have benefitted from the innovations and thinking outside the box within the sector and these include the health industry, finance, telecommunications and education.

As everyone is starting to get ready for Christmas and we are looking forward to what 2019 will bring, we decided to take a look at our top picks from the year;

  • HEALTH; Patientory was developed in Atlanta and secures health data for patients, providers and medical institutions. It allows users to keep track of their health history and allows them to keep a tab on things like doctor visits, tests, results, bills, insurance, pharmacy prescriptions and immunisations.
  • EDUCATION; Earlier this year, Aeternity Ventures sponsored the first blockchain course at SoftUni in Bulgaria and launched the first decentralised blockchain incubator programme. The programme saw ten start-ups battle it out for the grand prize of $1.3 million in funding.
  • TELECOMMUNICATIONS; The Talketh app developed in Zug, Switzerland brings affordable telecommunication services to developing countries through the blockchain at a competitive price, while also making blockchain technology accessible to the masses.
  • FINANCE; It is well known by now that the blockchain can facilitate financial transactions and cryptocurrency has very much become a viable currency. The start-up OPEN Platform have created a payment solution for app developers, so that developers can easily integrate and enable their application to accept cryptocurrency as a payment.