If one technology trend could prove to be even more tectonic and enduring than cloud computing, it is the blockchain. While the cloud challenges how we build software and modifies how we operate businesses, blockchain technology potentially alters how we think about and process transactions, authentication, and more. Beyond serving as a foundation for cryptocurrency, blockchain could influence in a fundamental way how we propose and record agreements.
The revolutionary nature of blockchain and the cryptocurrencies it enables are much touted. When contemplating how current technology developments might play into the future, it’s tough to identify another development more likely to influence the shape of things to come. Blockchain may prove to be the most significant innovation since the internet.
So what is blockchain technology, and what makes it so potentially transformative?
The case for decentralized transactions
Building distributed software systems is hard. The core of this difficulty is the data: protecting it, making it available, storing it. Although much of the difficulty stems from human beings trying to cheat the system, there is also inherent objective difficulty in overcoming failures and maintaining data consistency (for example, see the CAP theorem). Any time data is sent or retrieved—be it a post about your lunch or check the balance of your bank account—it is subject to these hazards.
In the case of something important, like your bank account, the traditional way to make data secure and accurate is via a trusted agent such as a bank. The distributed version of banking was the result of grafting traditional financial management practices onto the internet. The bank was trusted to persist and retrieve our financial information.
Continue reading: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3653379/a-quick-guide-to-blockchain.html
The revolutionary nature of blockchain and the cryptocurrencies it enables are much touted. When contemplating how current technology developments might play into the future, it’s tough to identify another development more likely to influence the shape of things to come. Blockchain may prove to be the most significant innovation since the internet.
So what is blockchain technology, and what makes it so potentially transformative?
The case for decentralized transactions
Building distributed software systems is hard. The core of this difficulty is the data: protecting it, making it available, storing it. Although much of the difficulty stems from human beings trying to cheat the system, there is also inherent objective difficulty in overcoming failures and maintaining data consistency (for example, see the CAP theorem). Any time data is sent or retrieved—be it a post about your lunch or check the balance of your bank account—it is subject to these hazards.
In the case of something important, like your bank account, the traditional way to make data secure and accurate is via a trusted agent such as a bank. The distributed version of banking was the result of grafting traditional financial management practices onto the internet. The bank was trusted to persist and retrieve our financial information.
Continue reading: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3653379/a-quick-guide-to-blockchain.html
