A Blockchain is a decentralised ledger of peer-to-peer transactions taking place over a digital network. This technology provides the basis on which Cryptocurrencies are built, but Blockchain has also grown to fulfil functions beyond Financial Services.
The Blockchain system records and stores information on a transparent and public network, making it difficult to alter, hack or interfere with the data. Each block in the Blockchain contains permanent information about transactions that occurred in the network, marked by an immutable cryptographic signature (or a ‘hash’).
Blockchain offers many advantages to its users, including increased transparency and highly accurate tracking. Moreover, it reduces transaction costs by removing any intermediaries and its decentralisation makes it harder to tamper with.
The innovative technology has the potential to disrupt the ways in which human beings live, interact and work. Here are a few of the potential applications of Blockchain:
The immutability of Blockchain makes it an ideal fit for real-time trackers needed in monitoring supply chains.
Storing health data on a Blockchain would allow individuals to access information without being able to identify individual patients.
Blockchain may be used for energy supply transactions, as well as storing information about metering, billing, emission allowances and more.
Blockchain can make the process of moving house easier, through financial verification, reduced fraud due to encryption and enhanced transparency between buyer and seller.
Online voting can be made secure through Blockchain, as the stored data cannot be changed by hackers and each vote will be attributed to a single ID.
The decentralisation of Blockchain technology is an advantage for cybersecurity, as hackers cannot identify a single point in the chain to target and all data can be stored with end-to-end encryption.
The Early Years of Crypto at a Glance:
Bitcoin
the First Cryptocurrency
Litecoin
Built by an
ex-Google Employee, Charlie Lee
Ripple
A Real-time Global Settlement Network
Dash
A more anonymous version of Bitcoin
Monero
Secure, Private and Untraceable
Ethereum
Built a ‘Programmable’ Blockchain
Zcash
Privacy and Selective Transparency on Transactions
EOS
First Crypto without a Mining Mechanism
Libra
Facebook propose their own Blockchain Digital Currency
What will the future hold?
