New kids on the blockchain

So, what exactly is blockchain? It’s a distributed database technology that records and timestamps transactions in blocks, creating a chain that acts as a ledger. The ledger is decentralised across multiple computers, making it virtually impossible to retroactively alter, and thereby inherently secure.

Readers will likely be familiar with bitcoin, the digital currency that introduced the world to blockchain. Bitcoin transactions do not require a trusted third-party, theoretically making them efficient as well as secure. However, it is not just financial transactions where trust and security are desirable, and a new wave of innovation based on blockchain technology is seeking to disrupt a range of industries. But is there substance beyond the hype?

“Blockchain is on the steep upward path to the peak of inflated expectation, which means it’s going to be on its way down pretty soon,” explained Accenture’s Craig Gottlieb at PTC’s Liveworx conference in Boston. “But that’s not to say that there aren’t practical, pragmatic applications for the technology.”