Breaking down the blockchain (without one mention of Bitcoin)

The blockchain is a formerly niche idea thats on the path to becoming a standard technology (think responsive design or containers). The sweet spot for the blockchain is transactional data. Using an ownership-tracking example, Erin Morrissey walks you through the technical ideas behind the blockchain to show how each contributes and explains why any of it even matters.

The blockchain is a formerly niche idea that’s on the path to becoming a standard technology (think responsive design or containers). An open source technology that represents a brand new type of application infrastructure, the blockchain is largely thought by many—business analysts, designers, developers, etc.—to be the next big business disruptor because of its democratizing potential. Industries from global shipping to healthcare to the internet of things are experimenting with blockchain technology, hoping its promises—trust, transparency, security—can drastically improve how they transact and document business. However, when learning about the blockchain, it’s hard to see past the buzzwords and the cryptocurrency craze. Erin Morrissey covers the why and how of the blockchain from a developer’s perspective, using the basic example of a ledger that tracks ownership transactions—without resorting to jargon. Erin walks you through the technical components of a blockchain (fun stuff like digital fingerprints, hash puzzles, and Merkle trees) and explains how each piece contributes to the many promises of this quickly growing technology. You’ll leave with a mental model of the underlying technology and an understanding of the pros and cons, use cases, and fundamental ideas (from product lifecycle tracking to secure information sharing to, yes, cryptocurrency), so you can see how the blockchain may radically impact our lives, and soon.