Crypto and Blockchain Technology

Disruption, revolution, people connected to each other - directly. No intermediaries. Trust built on the collective memory. Not exactly a corporate story. More like John Lennon's fantasy 'Imagine'.

Yet, it is reality. A reality, which is impacting the lives of millions in a way that is barely recognized, but constantly perceived. This is the blockchain revolution.

Blockchain is a technology that does away with the central server. Information logs are distributed, copied and copied again. Every user has a copy of the log, and these copies are pooled and compared to ensure the integrity of transactions.

Let's make it more concrete:

Imagine that you are managing the distribution of a pharmaceutical drug across the globe and you want to make sure that no 'fakes' enter the system. Every batch of medicine is given a unique serial number or hashcode and is logged into the system. A copy of this log exists in the computer system of every single distributor across the globe. If someone wants to check if a particular batch of the medicine is genuine or not, these logs are accessed and compared and you come back with a definitive answer. The beauty of the system is that there is no original log - hacking into one (or even multiple) systems and changing the log entries will not actually change what the sum of logs say. The only way to do that would be to hack into the majority of logs across the globe - a nearly impossible task when these are likely to number many thousands, if not more.

Ever heard of bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency with no central bank. Bitcoin was my introduction to blockchain, and the beginning of my love affair (and not just because my bitcoins are worth a lot more now than when I bought them).

About a year ago, a friend introduced me to bitcoin - as a way to buy things, to send money to friends and family overseas, and as a (relatively) safe haven for some of my savings - and all without transaction costs. Of course, I wasn't going to take her word for it. I had heard of too many pyramid schemes, property bubbles, and other 'too good to be true' money options that I was highly skeptical. How could a currency exist if there was no central bank to back up its value?

The answer it seems is community, built upon a foundation of blockchain. Transactions can't be faked, money can't be counterfeited, and the whole foundation can't collapse. That's because the foundation, the tracking of money, the log of every transaction, is distributed amongst every single user. I fell in love with bitcoin and I fell in love with blockchain.

A continuing affair

Blockchain is a revolution that is already happening. A revolution that promotes integrity and community, that reduces costs (transaction costs, costs arising from fraud) reduces complexity and makes life better for people.

However, blockchain is not a solution. It is a technology, which makes it even more powerful than a solution, because it is a technology that can underpin countless different solutions. That's good for me, because my job is to come up with solutions and now I have a great bit of technology that can help make them even better.