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5 Applications of Blockchain in the Healthcare Industry

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5 Applications of Blockchain in the Healthcare Industry

Digital transformation in healthcare has had a positive impact on technology in healthcare. Wearable fitness technology, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence-enabled medical devices are all concrete examples of digital transformation in healthcare. These are all supposed to revolutionize the healthcare industry by improving patient care, streamlining operations, and reducing costs but instead, the industry faces significant challenges in terms of cybersecurity and privacy of patient data, billing, payment processing, medical supply chain, and drug integrity. 


Blockchain technology can absolve the healthcare industry from facing these challenges, as you can establish a blockchain of medical records.


Blockchain is considered to be highly secure, transparent and immune to hackers due to its digital encryption; it also plays a prominent role in lowering intermediate fees as it is entirely decentralized.


Now, let’s see the 6 key applications of Blockchain in healthcare! 

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1. Healthcare Data Exchange and Interoperability

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has developed a definition of interoperability. As per HIMSS, interoperability has three levels.

  • Foundational – At this level, Health Information Technology (HIT) systems exchange information without the ability to interpret the data.
  • Structural – This is the middle layer that defines the data formats exchanged between HIT systems, while also retaining the syntactic meaning of the data.
  • Semantics – This is a topmost layer, where HIT systems send and receive data, and interpret data meaningfully by using standardized codes.


For the real machine to machine interoperability of EHR systems the system must fulfill all the above requirements. In addition, data privacy is a big concern among healthcare stakeholders; hence any system that supports the interoperability of EHR must support permissions, trust and data security.


Blockchain provides a mechanism to anonymize data and ensures this data cannot be tampered with or forged. Blockchain uses public-key cryptography to create records that are time-stamped and immutable. Copies of these data records are then stored across thousands of nodes on a digital network. Changing these records at each node becomes an impossible task and prohibitively expensive, making the records reliable. The trust network created in this manner is among the most attractive features of the technology.


2. Drug supply chain management

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Effective supply chain management is the biggest challenge in all industries. However, there is both additional risk and complexity in healthcare, as a compromised supply chain can affect patient safety. The increasing adoption of technology and globalization in a multi-stakeholder industry has resulted in a complicated healthcare supply chain.


The pharmaceutical supply chain is prominent in the damaged areas of the health supply chain. An IQVIA

Institute Study says that the worldwide pharmaceutical market will exceed USD 1.5 trillion by 2023. The OECD has found counterfeit goods that account for 3.3 percent of the global pharmaceutical drug trade.


Experts have estimated that the sale of counterfeit drugs is twice the legal pharmaceutical trade rate, which means it is a severe issue.


With its transparent, immutable and auditable nature, the pharma blockchain holds the potential to enhance the supply chains:

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  • Security
  • Integrity
  • Data provenance
  • Functionality


3.  Prescription Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a global epidemic, and real people are suffering. The UN estimates that there are 29.5 million people worldwide with drug use disorders.


What makes this scarier is that much of the drug problem is not in seedy alleys, crack houses or even Hollywood mansions. Part of solving this problem will be ensuring that the right medicine only reaches the people who need it. The healthcare industry has turned to technology to help address the problem.


The healthcare industry is using Blockchain to solve this problem and projects like MediLedger and BlockMedx are leveraging blockchain technology to bring security and transparency to pharmaceutical supply chains.


Blockchain startup BlockMedx has been working on an end-to-end prescription platform using the Ethereum blockchain. This platform uses an intelligent system that uses cryptographic tokens to facilitate transactions. Prescriptions transmitted via the platform can then be verified along with physician and patient data.

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Doctors will be able to explore their own prescription history and even revoke prescriptions if they think something is wrong. Pharmacies could also make sure that they are filling legitimate prescriptions.


4. Health Insurance 


According to

Deloitte, health and life insurers are among the many players who are scrambling to determine how Blockchain could be adapted to improve the way that they maintain records, execute transactions, and interact with stakeholders. Key questions center on whether Blockchain’s unique attributes could help insurers to cut costs, manage risk, improve customer service, grow their business, and, ultimately, bolster the bottom line.


Deloitte’s

Center for Health Solutions and
Center for Financial Services have recently partnered on a crowdsourcing research project to examine how health and life insurers might leverage Blockchain and related technologies in order to strengthen key elements of an insurer’s value proposition. The crowd’s mission was to brainstorm how insurers could apply this emerging technology in the next five to 10 years to improve current standard operating procedures and systems while also enhancing the customer experience.

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They found six use cases that are the most realistic and promising for health and life insurers:

  • Moving towards interoperable, comprehensive health records 
  • Supporting administrative and strategic imperatives with smart contracts
  • Detecting fraud more effectively
  • Improving provider directory accuracy
  • Simplifying the application process by making it more client-centric
  • Facilitating a dynamic insurer/client relationship

5. Clinical Trials


The risky and unpredictable nature of the clinical trial process has been a significant driver of high costs for pharmaceutical drugs. To justify drug development costs, most pharmaceutical companies aim to develop 2-3 new medicines per year, but the success rate and prolonged development timelines with clinical trials are diminishing the chances of a successful product to nearly zero.


This huge uncertainty translates into higher prices for everyone, from the investigator to the end consumer. Fortunately, Blockchain is attracting significant attention in the research community.


Blockchain technology utilizes a distributed computer network platform that enables databases to store time-stamped transaction records and documents. Blockchain is a safe and secure platform for storing and processing all types of valuable information, from clinical trial analysis results to business workflow documents to patients’ medical data and blueprints of genetic information. 

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The uptake of this technology could save the healthcare industry up to $100 billion per year by 2025 in data breach-related costs, including IT costs, operations costs, support function and personnel costs, counterfeit related frauds and insurance frauds. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the technology will be pharmaceutical companies, which lose approximately $200 billion to counterfeit drugs each year. By enabling complete visibility and transparency throughout the drug supply chain, Blockchain will enable the tracking of drugs to their point of origin and thus help to eliminate falsified medication. 

However, a shift to blockchain-based solutions will require significant investments and efforts, including seamless integration with the current infrastructure, and blockchain providers may experience resistance from healthcare players for changing from legacy systems and processes to Blockchain. Industry alignment is necessary for bringing in standardization and promoting interoperability between different networks developed by various enterprises that run on different consensus protocols.

Want to know how to apply a tech solution in your healthcare business? Contact us!

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Crypto World

EngageLab Flaw Opened 30M Wallet Apps to Android Data Theft: Microsoft

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Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

TLDR:

  • Microsoft found the EngageLab SDK bug could expose private wallet data across 30M Android installs globally.
  • The flaw abused Android intents to grant hostile apps persistent read and write provider permissions.
  • EngageLab fixed the issue in v5.2.1 by changing MTCommonActivity to non-exported status.
  • Google Play removed affected wallet apps, while Android added safeguards for already installed versions.

Microsoft has disclosed a severe Android SDK vulnerability that placed more than 30 million crypto wallet installs at risk. The flaw affected EngageLab’s widely used EngageSDK, which many wallet apps used for push messaging features. 

According to Microsoft’s security research, the issue enabled malicious apps on the same device to bypass sandbox protections. Google Play has since removed all identified apps using the vulnerable SDK versions.

EngageLab Android SDK Flaw Exposed Crypto Wallet Attack Surface

Microsoft said the issue centered on an exported Android activity called MTCommonActivity

The component was automatically added during manifest merging after developers imported the SDK. Because it appeared post-build, many teams likely missed it during review. That left production APKs open to hidden risk.

The vulnerable flow began when the activity received an external intent. Its onCreate() and onNewIntent() callbacks both routed data into processIntent()

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That method extracted a URI string and forwarded it deeper into the SDK logic. The chain eventually rebuilt and launched a new intent.

Microsoft’s write-up noted the critical failure happened in a helper method. Instead of returning a safe implicit intent, it returned an explicitly targeted one. That changed Android’s normal resolution path and let hostile apps redirect execution. 

In practice, the vulnerable wallet app launched the malicious payload with its own privileges.

The risk worsened because the SDK used Android’s URI_ALLOW_UNSAFE flag. That allowed persistent read and write URI permissions inside the redirected intent. 

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A malicious app could then gain access to non-exported content providers. From there, sensitive wallet files, credentials, and user data became reachable.

Microsoft Patch Timeline and Android Wallet Mitigation Guidance

Microsoft Security Vulnerability Research first identified the flaw in EngageSDK version 4.5.4 in April 2025. It then notified EngageLab under coordinated disclosure rules. 

The Android Security Team also received the report because affected apps were live on Google Play. The fix arrived months later in version 5.2.1 on November 3, 2025.

In the patched release, EngageLab changed the vulnerable activity to non-exported. That single change blocks outside apps from invoking the component directly. Microsoft said it currently has no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation. Still, it urged developers to update immediately.

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The report stressed that third-party SDKs can silently expand wallet attack surfaces. 

Crypto apps face elevated stakes because they often store keys, credentials, and financial identifiers. Even minor upstream library flaws can ripple across millions of devices. This case pushed total exposure above 50 million installs when non-wallet apps were included.

Microsoft also said Android added automatic protections for previously installed vulnerable apps. Those mitigations reduce risk while developers migrate to the fixed SDK. 

The company urged teams to inspect merged manifests after every dependency update. That review can catch exported components before release.

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XRP Price Flashes Multiple Bottom Signals As Bulls Defend $1.30.

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XRP Price Flashes Multiple Bottom Signals As Bulls Defend $1.30.

XRP (XRP) has been in an eight-month downtrend, with momentum and onchain indicators at levels that previously coincided with macro bottoms.

Data from TradingView reveals that the relative strength index (RSI) of the XRP/BTC ratio is at 24, the most oversold level since October 2025. 

Such low levels in the daily RSI have marked market bottoms for the ratio, ultimately leading to 65% to 345% XRP price breakouts against Bitcoin as seen late 2024 and 2025.

XRP/BTC daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The chart above also shows that the XRP/BTC pair is trading within a long consolidation range, which has previously acted as a strong launching pad for the ratio.

The last time XRP bottomed against Bitcoin around this zone was in June 2025. It marked the beginning of a 61% increase in the XRP/BTC ratio, accompanying a 92% XRP price rally to a multi-year high of $3.66.

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Other instances shown by the yellow bars in the chart reinforce the reliability of this level in marking macro bottoms for XRP/BTC. 

MVRV Z-Score suggests XRP price is bottoming

XRP’s MVRV Z-score is hovering near zero, a level that historically aligns with accumulation zones and market bottoms.

This indicates that most holders are close to breakeven, reducing sell pressure and signalling potential downside exhaustion. Similar patterns appeared in 2021, 2022 and 2024 before major rallies.

XRP MVRV Z-score vs. price. Source: Glassnode

Note that the last time XRP’s MVRV Z-score fell to similar levels in late 2024 coincided with a macro market bottom at $0.30 and preceded a multi-month rally, with the XRP/USD pair rising 500% to a multi-year high above $3. 

Meanwhile, the 0.80 MVRV pricing band, which has historically marked cycle bottoms, is currently at $1.14, coinciding with a 15-month low reached on Feb. 6.

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XRP: MVRV pricing bands. Source: Glassnode

These onchain metrics suggest that XRP is undervalued and may continue the ongoing recovery, potentially rising toward $1.70 or higher

XRP price must hold above $1.30 

Meanwhile, XRP/USD remains cautiously bullish as long as it holds the $1.25-$1.30 support zone. 

“$XRP is sustaining the major support zone between $1.30-$1.25 levels since early Feb’26,” trader ChiefraT said in an X post on Friday, adding:

“If this zone continues to hold, then a short-term bounce towards $1.45 can’t be ruled out.”

XRP/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The importance of this support level is reinforced by cost basis distribution. The heatmap below shows that nearly 1.73 billion XRP were acquired around this price.

XRP cost-basis distribution heatmap. Source: Glassnode

Below that, the next line of defence is the $1.15 demand zone, where the 200-week simple moving average is. 

If XRP/USD drops below this level, it would be in a free-fall toward the measured target of the bear flag at $0.80, or 41% below the current price.

As Cointelegraph reported, holding $1.27-$1.30 would be a sign of strength among the bulls who must push the XRP/USD pair toward the $1.61 range high to regain control. 

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