Everyone by now has heard of Bitcoin. At first I was sceptical, I wish I hadn’t been. Those that had the foresight or luck to buy this first crypto currency has made a large fortune by now. A Norwegian Man bought U$27 worth of Bitcoin (5,000 Bitcoins) in 2009 and forgot about it. At todays price it’s worth a staggering U$57,997,422! There are now over 1,200 so called cryptocurrencies, some successful and some died at birth. However what is common to all of them and  the key to understanding this new sector, which I believe will change the way we do things, is Blockchain.

What is Blockchain I hear you ask.? Well I am going to start by giving you a couple of definitions and then, over time, will try and address each aspect of the definition as I become more familiar with this new technology.

Definition One:

Blockchain is a distributed and decentralised ledger, where all of the participants have a copy of the ledger and collectively reach a consensus on the validity of new transactions. The ledgers are grouped into blocks, chronologically created, so that each block is cryptographically linked to all previous and future blocks and future blocks and a change to data in one block would alter the hash output of subsequent blocks thereby ensuring all information is appended only and immutable

A definition from The Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme, Said Business School, Oxford University.

Definition Two:

‘’Blockchain’’ is a descriptive term for a cocktail of technologies comprising; cryptography, peer-to-peer connectivity and consensus algorithms which, when combined, creates a shared database that manifests as a secure ‘cradle to grave’ decentralised digital ledger within which assets may be recorded, accessed and transacted.
The word ‘’Blockchain’’ is derived from the fact that any transaction of an asset is recorded on the digital ledger as a ‘’stand-alone’’ entry, or block, and within that entry there are direct links and references to the previous transaction involving that asset, which creates a chain of data upon which the integrity of the database sits.
This security of the chain of data comes from linking each block of data with conditional cryptographic reference outputs resulting in a consensus acknowledgment, which creates an immutable record on that data base.”

My Definition of what ”Blockchain” technology comprises

You choose which one you prefer and join me on the exciting journey of enlightenment and understanding  of Web 3.0, the future of technology.

You can read more by clicking here to go to the Blockchain index tab.

Post Script: for those who need to know, the answer is still ”42” (HHG2G) !!