Blockchain is a shared immutable ledger for recording the history of transactions. A business blockchain, such as IBM Blockchain and the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Project, provides a permissioned network with known identities. And unlike Bitcoin, there is no need for cryptocurrency exchange.
<p>BlockChain Technology
Beyond Bitcoin
Abstract
A blockchain is essentially a distributed database of records or public ledger of all transactions or
digital events that have been executed and shared among participating parties. Each transaction in
the public ledger is verified by consensus of a majority of the participants in the system. And, once
entered, information can never be erased. The blockchain contains a certain and verifiable record of
every single transaction ever made. Bitcoin, the decentralized peertopeer digital currency, is the
most popular example that uses blockchain technology. The digital currency bitcoin itself is highly
controversial but the underlying blockchain technology has worked flawlessly and found wide range of
applications in both financial and nonfinancial world.
The main hypothesis is that the blockchain establishes a system of creating a distributed
consensus
in the digital online world. This allows participating entities to know for certain that a
digital event happened by creating an irrefutable record in a public ledger.
It opens the door for
developing a democratic open and scalable digital economy from a centralized one. There are
tremendous opportunities in this disruptive technology and revolution in this space has just begun.
This white paper describes blockchain technology and some compelling specific applications in both
financial and nonfinancial sector. We then look at the challenges ahead and business opportunities
in this fundamental technology that is all set to revolutionize our digital world.
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Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Technical Report