Beginning your Blockchain Journey — A List of Projects you could do.
By: Abhik Banerjee
Tags: Getting Started, Ipfs, Supply Chain Management, Blockchain, Projects

Blockchain has come a long way since being initially unveiled by Satoshi Nakamoto. And though it is still counted as a “nascent technology”, the developer community has quickly adapted to this tech and this has seen quite a few fascinating projects coming to fruition.

If you are a beginner in this field and wish to fill up your resume with a truckload of projects, you have arrived at the right place. Here’s a list of projects that you could make and build your skills.

But before you proceed, please make sure that you build a full end-to-end application and not just a piece of code which would demonstrate your familiarity with the subject. The reason is simple, a full-stack solution with a well-defined interface is more attractive than just seeing lines and lines of code. Case in point, writing Solidity smart contracts is easy and demonstrates your skills in the programming language as well as in Blockchain. But a more complete approach would be to make an interface using React or Angular and using Web3.js to communicate with the Blockchain Server.

So, without further ado, here is a list of projects that you could make on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology in general.

Supply Chain Management Projects:

1. Tracking Land Ownership via Blockchain.

Land ownership is one of the most classical examples where Blockchain can be used. This can be done to not just display the current owner but also to keep a record of change over ownership of a plot of land. Being transparent and decentralized in nature, these records can easily be used to settle disputes as well as get the whole record of ownership of a land, thus, also settling tax claims. Design a Blockchain project which realizes this model.

2. Design a Blockchain-based platform which checks for Counterfeit Medicine.

It is estimated that more than 250,000 children die each year because of Fake Malaria Medicine. The statistics grow worse every year. This is a serious concern for Pharmaceuticals as it not only hampers their repute but also the overall trust of a Customer. Blockchain can address this by uniquely tracking the origin of not just the medicine but even the components of the medicine. If successfully designed, such a Blockchain platform could help eradicate Medicine Mafia and even Middlemen who sell fake medicine. Could you help in successfully building such an innovative and modern System and help in this fight?

3. Secure Medical Data Records.

Medical Records of a Person can tell the person’s life story. A seemingly boring Medical Record is enough resource for misuse as it can be used to administer the lethal dosage. At the same time, forged medical records are not unheard of. Because of its immense use in Supply Chain Management and use of Cryptography, this problem can be solved by designing a platform where

a) User Data would be encrypted. This would mean that even private data like User Medical Record can be uploaded without worry.

b) Medical Records can be tracked. This would essentially eliminate the risk of Forged Medical Records being presented to the Doctor by the patient with an ulterior motive.

4. Blockchain-based verification for authenticity of Wine.

“A person is only as good as the company he keeps and the wine he drinks.”

The saying might seem comical but it’s true. In fact, just like the Pharmaceutical Industry, Wine Industry is plagued by Forgery. This could mean that a local brand might sell their wine illegally terming it as an “International or Imported Brand”. It could also mean that a locally made wine can be shipped with the name and tag of an International Brand (similar incidents have been reported in Pepsico and Leher Pvt. Ltd). Design a Blockchain System to address this problem and explain how it might be useful for the students living in Mess ;) ).

5. Meat Tracking System with Blockchain.

How often have you heard about meat from another animal being sold as edible meat? For people living in Kolkata, this is not so uncommon. “Bhagarer Mangsho” is a term used for Dog meat which was sold as Chicken Meat and this led to quite a situation in Kolkata.

Similar incidents have been reported around the World. Conversely, it can be detrimental to a Food Outlet selling food made from authentic meat to be accused of using the wrong meat. Examples can include Dominoes being accused of mixing Beef in their Chicken Pizza. These incidents have communal implications as well. By designing a Supply Chain Management Tracking System for Meat Industry, such problems can be alleviated as the source of the meat can be easily confirmed along with the preservation techniques and expiration date of the Meat.

InterPlanetary File System Based Projects:

6. Build your Portfolio site and Host it on IPFS.

IPFS or InterPlanetary File System has been for quite some time now and offers Decentralized Permanent Storage. The extensive use of Hashing of files also prevents unintentional duplicates from being stored. Study this storage system. Because this storage is free and permanent, this could essentially offer “Free-hosting” of Static Websites. Make your own Portfolio site and then host it on the IPFS. It counts as one of the easier projects to do but can demonstrate practical usage.

7. Decentralized Renting for Hard Disk Space.

The IPFS is a literal example of this. But can you design a DLT or Blockchain which would track which user is renting out which hard-disk space and what is being stored by observing the hashes (here a record of hashes is enough, you cannot really guess the content of a file using the hash of the file)?

Here’s a list of resources you can read-up on, Thanks to vasa for the list!

Intellectual Property Projects.

8. Tracking rights and shares of a Company.

Shares of a Company being traded publicly or the rights of the Board of Directors can be tracked and maintained by the use of Blockchain. Though seemingly simple, this kind of system can help to settle disputes arising out of ownership of shares and rights given to the Board of Directors when they join. As the state of the Data in the Blockchain is immutable, the disputes can be settled without the evidence being in question.

9. Blockchain-based tracking of Rights for Painting.

Assume there is an Organization which acts as the maintainer of records for Painting and Sculptures. Any painting being sold would have to register with the organization which would recognize the copies in circulation and authenticity of the High-value Painting sold in auctions. This data can be visible to everyone and is easily auditable. Design a Private Blockchain Solution for this classic problem statement.

10. Blockchain-Based Piracy Detection of Movies.

Piracy is a serious concern for Movie Industry. Be it Hollywood, Bollywood or Tollywood — piracy causes losses which amount to Billions to this Industry. But what would happen if every third-party vendor would have to upload a hash of the movie they are selling or something on the lines of that which would be used to uniquely identify the movie and its origin? These decentralized records would be visible to the Original Rights Owner of the Movie and would help curb the sale of pirated movies. There can be more modifications to this basic idea. A permissioned Ledger would help address the problems.

A similar idea can be implemented to put a check on piracy in the Game Development Industry, Music Industry and other fields where Intellectual Properties are concerned.

Ethereum Projects for Noobs:

11. Decentralized Election System.

Voting and Crowdsourcing are the 2 most common applications of Blockchain. There have been many projects on it. It’s even used for introducing students to Solidity Programming for Ethereum (you can check it out on the official documentation page). This can be a good starting point but doesn’t really count that much. Either way, can you implement a similar system with a twist of your own?

12. Simple Auction using Ethereum.

Again, a very common application with huge resourcefulness. Auction on Blockchain is a basic example and many frameworks use it to ease new learners into the field. You can make an auction for Car (check out Hyperledger Fabric or Convector Suite for even easier way), Bidding (Ethereum Official Documentation) and more. The hard part is to bring in your own twist into it and making it more efficient.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, I would like to state that there is a lot of scope in this field but only if you have your basics clear. You need to have a solid grasp over Cryptography, Decentralized Databases and a sense of where implementing these solutions would bring the best results. You cannot just implement a Blockchain or DLT anywhere you want (also, understand the basic difference between a Blockchain and a DLT).

As mentioned before, whenever you try to make a solution, make sure you build a complete one. Writing smart contracts doesn’t count as complete. Show your skills as a developer by making a full-stack solution. That would give you an edge over others.

Last but not least, never be afraid of reaching out for help. There are great developer communities (not just Stack Overflow) and tons of resources from where you can learn. Good Luck!