“What the internet did for communications, blockchain will do for trusted transactions.
”- Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
Although there’s debate about how long it will take for this statement to come true, since we’re in the midst of the blockchain transformation, most industry experts concur that’s where we’re headed. The impact of blockchain technology will be enormous.
Because it is changing the foundation of our economic and social systems, full integration into our infrastructure will likely take years if not decades. Since there’s been a tremendous amount of hype—negative and positive—about blockchains, we’re going to break it down into what it is and what you need to know.
What is blockchain?In the simplest of terms, blockchain is just a new form of decentralized database.
You can think of blockchain as the “internet of value.” It’s a real-time ledger of anything that can be recorded (financial transactions, contracts, physical assets, supply chain info, etc.) but there is no one person or organization in charge of the entire chain.
In fact, it’s open and everyone in the chain can see the detail of each record—what’s known as a block. Each block is time stamped and encrypted; the only person who can edit a block is the one that “owns” it. Owners gain access to their block through a private key that only they have. When there are changes to an individual block, everyone’s distributed blockchain is updated and syncs in real time.
There are several benefits of blockchain technology that promise to revolutionize business and finance. Blockchain technology establishes a peer-to-peer network within one system, so it cuts out the time and costs of intermediaries (the “middle man”) and the complexity of using disparate ledgers and processes throughout the lifecycle of any transaction.
As one example, a stock purchase that’s transacted in a blockchain would settle in minutes. There would be no need to have another entity process the transaction or be required to wait for them to do so. Every transaction goes into a block, and each block connects to the one before and after it which amps up its security.
While nothing is fully hackproof, blockchain is significantly more secure than anything else we have today.
Everyone should know these 14 things about blockchainsI’ve pulled together a list of things that I believe everybody should know about blockchains. These facts will not only help you make better sense of this new technology, but it may even equip you for your next trivia hour or business exchange.
Continue reading to page 2 of this article here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/09/21/14-things-everyone-should-know-about-blockchains...
It’s time to learn all you can about blockchain technology and get your team working to figure out what opportunities it will create for your organization.Bernard Marr is a best-selling author & keynote speaker on business, technology and big data. His new book is Data Strategy. To read his future posts simply join his network here.
”- Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
Although there’s debate about how long it will take for this statement to come true, since we’re in the midst of the blockchain transformation, most industry experts concur that’s where we’re headed. The impact of blockchain technology will be enormous.
Because it is changing the foundation of our economic and social systems, full integration into our infrastructure will likely take years if not decades. Since there’s been a tremendous amount of hype—negative and positive—about blockchains, we’re going to break it down into what it is and what you need to know.
What is blockchain?In the simplest of terms, blockchain is just a new form of decentralized database.
You can think of blockchain as the “internet of value.” It’s a real-time ledger of anything that can be recorded (financial transactions, contracts, physical assets, supply chain info, etc.) but there is no one person or organization in charge of the entire chain.
In fact, it’s open and everyone in the chain can see the detail of each record—what’s known as a block. Each block is time stamped and encrypted; the only person who can edit a block is the one that “owns” it. Owners gain access to their block through a private key that only they have. When there are changes to an individual block, everyone’s distributed blockchain is updated and syncs in real time.
There are several benefits of blockchain technology that promise to revolutionize business and finance. Blockchain technology establishes a peer-to-peer network within one system, so it cuts out the time and costs of intermediaries (the “middle man”) and the complexity of using disparate ledgers and processes throughout the lifecycle of any transaction.
As one example, a stock purchase that’s transacted in a blockchain would settle in minutes. There would be no need to have another entity process the transaction or be required to wait for them to do so. Every transaction goes into a block, and each block connects to the one before and after it which amps up its security.
While nothing is fully hackproof, blockchain is significantly more secure than anything else we have today.
Everyone should know these 14 things about blockchainsI’ve pulled together a list of things that I believe everybody should know about blockchains. These facts will not only help you make better sense of this new technology, but it may even equip you for your next trivia hour or business exchange.
- Bitcoin, a money exchange system, pioneered blockchain technology and today, it has more than 8 million accounts and grew by more than 100% per year since it began in 2010. The person or team behind the service is known by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, but the entity’s real identity is cloaked in secrecy.
- Blockchains can be public (like the internet) or private (like an intranet).
- In terms of its development, blockchain is where the internet was 20 years ago.
- Only 0.5% of the world’s population is using blockchain today, but 50% or 3.77 billion people use the internet.
- There is significant investment by today’s tech giants such as IBMand Microsoft in blockchain technology. IBM dedicates $200 million and 1,000 employees to blockchain-powered projects. The average investment in blockchain projects is $1 million.
- Over the last five years, VCs have invested more than $1 billion into blockchain companies.
- The global blockchain market is expected to be worth $20 billion by 2024.
- 90% of major North American and European banks are exploring blockchain solutions.
- Blockchains are highly transparent, because anyone with access to a blockchain can view the entire chain.
- Similar to a Google doc, all participants within a network see all changes to the ledger. The ledger is constantly updated and each participant has their own copy of it.
- A blockchain is most vulnerable to a breach when it first come online.
- 9 out of 10 agree that blockchain will disrupt the banking and financial industry. It is estimated that banks could save $8-12 billion annually if they used blockchain technology.
- One-third of C-level executives are considering adopting or are using blockchain technology.
- Just like with the internet, there will be jobs that become obsolete. But, there will be new careers that we haven’t even dreamed up yet that will be created as a result of the blockchain transformation.
Continue reading to page 2 of this article here:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/09/21/14-things-everyone-should-know-about-blockchains...
It’s time to learn all you can about blockchain technology and get your team working to figure out what opportunities it will create for your organization.Bernard Marr is a best-selling author & keynote speaker on business, technology and big data. His new book is Data Strategy. To read his future posts simply join his network here.
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(deleted) Can't wait to find out the new exciting careers that will came up in the future thanks to blockchain technology! -
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst Interesting facts and a good list to have when needed!