Jason Leibowitz is a former Wall Street professional who pivoted careers in 2014 to focus full-time on digital currency.
In this opinion piece, Liebowitz discusses why the blockchain is now best perceived as an innovation in distributed, digital trust, despite its early connotations with the financial technology space. It’s been referred to as a "revolutionary technology" by IBM, and a "once in a generation opportunity" by PricewaterhouseCoopers. But perhaps the most descriptive title came from The Economist when they dubbed blockchain "the trust machine".
It is a breakthrough in computer science that holds the promise of reducing the cost of establishing and maintaining trust for both individuals and organizations.
"Blockchain" is a relatively new term that refers to a specific type of computer database. The Oxford English Dictionary defines blockchain as "a digital ledger in which transactions…are recorded chronologically and publicly". The etymology dates back to 2008 when the creator of the cryptocurrency "bitcoin" called its ledger a "blockchain", or a chain consisting of blocks of transactions.
Since then, there have been many competing versions and iterations, but most operate on the same premise: they are open-sourced, run 24×7 and continuously update in real-time.
What makes blockchain technology unique and groundbreaking is that it’s not controlled by any single entity; instead the ledgers are distributed among all parties involved (also referred to as a "distributed ledger"). This means that no central party has ownership of the ledger, therefore no one can individually amend the entries already on a blockchain.
This makes the blockchain an immutable store of information. Removing intermediaries
One of the primary values of blockchains in business is the role they assume by disintermediating middlemen.Because blockchains are decentralized and immutable, counterparties can independently transact and verify the data on a ledger without the need to hire costly third parties to perform […]
