BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND CRYPTOCURRENCY
Blockchain technology has become an increasingly popular way to solve a variety of recordkeeping and transactional issues. Blockchains are digital online ledgers that allow users to record transactions in a shared ledger and are implemented using a distributed ledger. Distributed ledgers are auditable, real-time digital lists of transactions and data that is distributed to network participants. Blockchain got its name because it gathers new transactions or other data into blocks, validates them using a consensus mechanism, and then connects or “chains” the validated block to the blockchain, which updates the distributed ledger. A widespread use of blockchain technology is for cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency refers to digital interests that function as currency, but are not backed up by a regulatory agency, government, or centralized bank. To use Bitcoin, users need to have a set of “keys” that identify it for its Bitcoin transactions. These bitcoin keys are kept in digital “wallets,” which are maintained by a number of service providers. These wallets are not always secure, and hackers have stolen Bitcoin keys and Bitcoins themselves by infiltrating these digital wallets. It seems unlikely that cryptocurrency will see widespread use in the near future for a variety of reasons, but blockchain technology is being ever- increasingly used as a recordkeeping tool.
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