Blockchain Brings Distributed Computing to Automating More Than Simply Bitcoin

BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Blockchain is beginning to be recognized as much more than simply the technology powering Bitcoin. As this understanding seeps into the popular consciousness, policy-makers will begin to recognize how significant this innovation is for distributed computing and automating processes – financial, transactional, logistical and legal. Shane Tews at AEI Ideas delves into these aspects in this piece.

Blockchain is more than just the technology behind bitcoin, from AEI Ideas:

Cryptographic authentication is part of the baseline in the blockchain platform architecture.  As my colleague Mark Jamison defines in a recent video:

Blockchain is a database of ledgers or “blocks” spread across multiple computers. Each block contains a set of codes called hashes, which keep the blocks in sync. Every time a new entry is introduced, a new hash is created. Once it is verified, the new entry is accepted by all computers. This network of ledgers is what makes blockchain secure. Tampering with just one block, or one computer, has no effect.

This means there is an accurate record of transactions, which makes the platform tamper-resistant. Blockchain platforms allow for much tighter controls and more secure interoperability between partners using the technology.  Platform partners can choose how sophisticated — or perhaps how simple — they want the chain to be.  For example, you could have regulatory or smart contract obligations as part of the basic code, allowing only transactions that have the full set of the desired information to be completed.

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