White Paper #7: Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

Blockchain

This is an article on a (relatively) new piece of technology that is dominating our discussions and the media at the moment – blockchain. This digital ledger is believed to be able to revolutionise the way we transact and trade.

There is also the whole issue around the rise in cryptocurrencies (see comments below), which has added an extra dimension to the subject and led to some interesting comments from the likes of Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, who last month referred to bitcoin a “fraud”.

However, blockchain has a madness of markets with everyone talking about it and few understanding it.

The only agreed terminology is that this is a shared system, which means that more than one player has to be in the game for a blockchain development to work.

I will therefore endeavour to give a high-level overview to the current situation and hopefully prompt an enthusiasm for more information. In other words, I can only scratch at the surface for this article.

What is Blockchain?
Currently, most people use a trusted middleman such as a bank to make a transaction, but blockchain allows consumers and suppliers to connect directly, removing the need for a third party, in a digital format.

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