How Blockchain Is Transforming the Way WordPress Works

Over the past decade, blockchain (originally block chain) has become one of the most disruptive technologies of the century. 

With several groundbreaking features such as a truly decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network architecture, keyless signature infrastructure, and a distributed digital ledger system, this game-changing technology has made a profound impact.

This is especially true for areas where transparency and data security are concerned.

WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), currently powering more than a third of the entire web. 

Although the platform has all the basic security essentials in place to protect its websites against online theft and hacks, it still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of data storage, management, and security. 

Interestingly, many developers have already come up with several innovative ways to leverage the power of blockchain to better service WordPress.

7 Ways Blockchain Can Transform How You Use WordPress

1. Blockchain is cost-efficient
2. It can speed up transaction processing times
3. You can accept payments from around the world
4. Monitoring cryptocurrency rates can be profitable
5. Blockchain offers unmatched security measures
6. It can democratize content publishing
7. Blockchain can digitally transform your business

What Is Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain technology was first conceptualized in 2008 by an anonymous developer (or group of developers) known as Satoshi Nakamoto. 

However, the real implementation of this revolutionary technology took place between 2016–2019 as a core component of the new cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The following infographic shows an excellent history of blockchain technology:

Source

The image takes us through blockchain’s journey as its use cases expanded into transactions, smart contracts, and applications.

For most people these days, the words blockchain and Bitcoin are interchangeable with each other. But there's a big difference between both. 

Whereas Bitcoin is a type of highly encrypted digital currency and peer-to-peer payment system that works without a third party or middleman (think banks), blockchain is a highly secure and transparent public distributed ledger system that was initially invented to support Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency options. 

In other words, blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin.

Let’s break the word blockchain down to see what it means:

• Block: A blockchain is essentially made of a chain of interconnected blocks. The term “block” here refers to a digital record or ledger that stores financial as well as other crucial data, though the original purpose of the blockchain was initially to store only financial data.
• Chain: Each block contains a cryptographic hash and a timestamp for the previous block, linking the two. The linked blocks then form a chain. As Blocks are internally connected, any data which has been added to a block can never be changed. If you want to do so, you would have to modify the entire chain.

In the simplest terms, blockchain is a chain of chronological, cryptographically encrypted blocks that are used for the storage and the transmission of digital information.

Since blockchain emphasizes utility, profitability, and security, it can benefit CMS solutions like WordPress in several practical ways. 

Blockchain Is Cost-Efficient

Traditional content monetization services such as AdSense and WordAds require a central trust authority to define the monetization algorithm that instructs the ad servers to display relevant ads on publishers’ sites.

This isn’t the case with a blockchain-based content monetization service, which works without any trusted entity. As blockchain stores trusted records in databases, it eliminates the need for a third party or middleman in the digital transaction. 

Consequently, there is no fixed intermediary fee to ensure guarantees. This means that, if you’re planning to accept Bitcoin payments through your WordPress site, blockchain can help you cut off gateway charges. 

This means that you can save a huge amount of money on transactions since the fees associated with Bitcoin payments are comparatively lower than what you’d have to pay for an existing payment gateway like PayPal or Stripe. 

However, you should always read all the terms and conditions carefully to ensure there are no hidden fees.

This unique feature would also eventually enable WordPress site owners to monetize their content without having to show ads. Although this idea has not yet been tested by any company, we can expect to see actual implementation sooner rather than later.

Blockchain Can Speed Up Payment Transactions

Here the term “speed” has nothing to do with the performance of your WordPress site. Instead, it refers to the speed at which money gets transferred to your account. 

If you’re leveraging the power of blockchain with your WordPress site, you don’t have to wait for banks or payment gateways to process your payments.

Whereas a bank or payment gateway takes several days to settle a transaction, blockchain-powered transaction settles in a matter of minutes. According to a recent report by Blockdata, blockchain transactions are on average 388 times faster and 127 times cheaper than traditional ones.

When using your WordPress site to sell products, services, or digital goods such as software or extensions, you can take advantage of blockchain technology to enable Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions. 

WordPress plug-ins like Digital Paybox allow you to safely accept blockchain payments.

Digital Paybox boasts multiple payment gateways (including credit cards and cryptocurrencies) and encrypted download links to name a few.

Other leading plug-ins are:

• Easy Digital Downloads BitBay Gateway
• GoURL Bitcoin Payment Gateway
• Mollie Payments for WooCommerce
• Cryptocurrency All-in-One

By using a state-of-the-art, decentralized peer-to-peer network, blockchain ensures more secure and reliable cryptocurrency payments.

You Can Accept Payments From Anywhere

When using a payment gateway for your WordPress site or e-commerce store, you need to be aware of which geographical locations it will accept payments from. 

If you have a global audience, you may face problems when receiving payments from certain locations. This minor inconvenience is enough to drive away many potential customers who are outside of the supported locations.

With blockchain, you have no such restrictions because cryptocurrencies are widely accepted by most countries. 

Because it’s easier to accept global transactions, you can cater to a wide array of customers with a blockchain-based cryptocurrency acceptance plug-in. This is especially beneficial if you have a multi-national WordPress-based business.

Monitoring Cryptocurrency Rates Can Be Profitable

Although cryptocurrencies are often viewed as unstable because their exchange rates fluctuate very quickly and frequently, their rates are usually very high. 

As such, if you’re able to monitor the highs and lows of a cryptocurrency, you’ll have many opportunities to make huge profits off of your WordPress site by using blockchain technology.

Blockchain Has Unparalleled Security Measures

Blockchain was built for impenetrable security. Compared to traditional payment gateways and banks that are highly vulnerable to hacking and cyberattacks, it is nearly impossible for anyone without a decryption key to breakthrough blockchain encryption. 

WordPress users can, therefore, use this innovative technology to tighten the overall security of the CMS.

For example, if you run a WordPress-powered website, you can leverage blockchain to:

• Encrypt sensitive business data and login information
• Harden the login process
• Selectively share your data
• Verify identity

Since blockchain stores all data in an encrypted format, there is an extra layer of protection added to the CMS, making it even more robust and secure.

Let’s look at some of those use cases below:

Identity Management and Verification

WordPress takes several security measures to protect its users’ confidential data. But securely verifying the identity of each user is still a huge challenge. 

Strictly speaking, stolen or cracked passwords are one of the most common ways unscrupulous hackers to break into a WordPress site.

As blockchain doesn’t use the traditional password-based system, it can help protect your WordPress site from hacking.

It employs a highly irrefutable and secure identity verification system backed by keyless signature infrastructure (KSI) technology to prevent cyberattacks and other fraudulent activities. 

For example, Lynked.World allows users to securely store and share personal identification documents with businesses and public institutions. 

Other similar blockchain applications include:

• ShoCard 
• IBM Verify Credentials

These apps can help secure your WordPress site.

Better and More Reliable Feedback

If you’re a WordPress site owner who often conducts online polls, surveys, and quizzes to get feedback from users, you can take advantage of blockchain technology to get better responses and feedback from your users. 

Blockchain comes in handy when it’s necessary to keep participating users anonymous. Follow My Vote — a blockchain-based online voting platform — functions on the same concept.

Smart Contracts

Incorporating Smart Contracts is one of the best blockchain use cases for WordPress. 

For those who are not familiar, smart contracts are self-executing digital contracts that run on top of a blockchain. They work without third-party involvement.

These contracts can be created and used for a variety of tasks, spanning online sales to ownership changes. Being highly transparent and immutable, smart contracts are considered the future of deal-making.

Use these handy plug-ins to create smart contracts on your site:

• WPSmartContracts
• EthereumICO

If you run a WordPress-based business that is involved in frequent contracts and transactions, it’s a good idea to look into smart contract plug-ins.

More Secure File Storage

Currently, we store files — including media libraries — on the same server that is responsible for running our WordPress site. Sometimes we also offload that data in a third-party cloud storage solution like Dropbox and AWS. 

This is undoubtedly a smart strategy to run a scalable WordPress site, however, it also put your data at risk for a variety of security breaches due to the centralization of storage.

Blockchain, on the other hand, uses a decentralized approach for data storage, making it almost impossible for unauthorized users to penetrate the data. 

Here’s an image of the Storj solution, which is blockchain-based storage service businesses can use to securely host their data.

It’s currently in beta mode, but it boasts faster speeds and better pricing than their competitors.

Here are other software solutions offer a truly decentralized storage network:

• Filecoin
• Sia

A decentralized cloud object storage solution powered by blockchain can prove to be more cost-effective than the existing methods. 

Blockchain Can Democratize Publishing

Looking at the web, there are only a few big names like Google, Facebook, and Twitter that determine the modern web experience. 

However, all these big giants together acquired a monopoly on data in order to serve ads, deliver better search engine results, and more. This kind of monopoly is a serious bug on the Internet.

By providing users full control over their data and activities in terms of accessibility, security, and ease of use, blockchain technology proves to be a prominent solution to this issue. 

The integration of blockchain with WordPress creates a more democratic environment for publishing, turning the CMS into the world’s most democratic and made-for-everybody platform.

Blockchain Can Digitally Transform Your Business

Finally, the number of brands adopting blockchain technology is growing rapidly. Incorporating the usability and security of blockchain into your WordPress site can help you stay ahead of the curve and remain relevant to your users.

In addition to helping you survive the digital competition, the integration of blockchain technology can also help build your brand’s reputation as forward-thinking and progressive.

Blockchain Technology Is Changing WordPress

The blockchain revolution has just started. With its decentralized ledger format, secure encryption, and cryptocurrency use cases, blockchain has the potential to change the way we use CMS platforms to run businesses.

WordPress is already on board, offering blockchain-based plug-in and themes to help users explore new possibilities. Look into those solutions to see if blockchain-based technology can enhance your WordPress experience. 

Author Bio:

Ajeet is a senior web developer at WordpressIntegration — a PSD to WordPress Service Provider, where he is responsible for writing custom JavaScript code during the conversion process. In his spare time, he writes on different topics related to JavaScript, WordPress, and Web Design to share his work experience with others. You can follow WordpressIntegration on Facebook.