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Decentralized Systems and COVID-19

In cases of pandemics or drastic situations, like the current COVID-19 outbreak, we learn that decentralization is a key point for centralized services.

To make this easier for the reader to understand, let’s take an example: Electricity. Most of the cities depend on central power plants for power. Each power plant needs maintenance, attention, and needs to be operated daily by employees. If the employees who run the power plant fall sick and can’t do their jobs, it would malfunction or stop working and not be able to provide the city with electricity.

In the past, there was an interesting experiment that took place in a small town in Germany to create power generators using the engine of Volkswagen Golf. They ran the engines with liquid biogas (LBG) to create small power generators in each house, and put the surplus energy back into the grid. That way, even if one generator fails, the house can still receive power from the other generators. This is a clear example of how decentralization of a service that is core to society can survive a drastic circumstance.

Many of the services that we use in our daily lives, such as the internet connection, are centralized. Blockchain platforms, such as ZooBC Blockchain, can decentralize many services besides financial transactions, and that is a key element in running important services in society even in cases of pandemics like COVID-19.