Let’s face it – the cryptocurrency fad has been on the decline following its explosion late last year. While the remaining players of the trading game are sitting with their fingers crossed and cryptocurrencies squirreled away, the blockchain technology that powers the currencies is just getting started, and…it’s going to make your life better?

Obligatory Blockchain Explanation: blockchain uses cryptography and involves a series of linked “blocks” of information, all containing three key components: a “hash,” which is a unique identification number that acts as a thumbprint for each block, a list of previous hashes that validate the order of the blocks in the blockchain via their identifying hashes, and the data that each block contains, which in bitcoin’s case is the detail of a transaction of bitcoin from one account to another.

The blockchain is validated through a publicly-available “ledger,” which lends transparency and ensures security.  Even if a supercomputer attempted to pull a fast one on the blockchain, it couldn’t feasibly be faster than the combined computing power of everybody else involved, which makes the security of blockchain technology quite robust.

Here comes the fun part. Though blockchain technology is generally attributed to the creation of Bitcoin, the data on each hash doesn’t have to be transactions for a cryptocurrency. Blockchain actually has quite a few applications for your day-to-day consumer, which mostly have to do with the transparency and security of the technology. Here are some of our favorites…