This course is for people who are interested in learning where blockchain is being used, how it is being used, and what products and services are benefiting from the use of blockchain to streamline and authenticate transactions. Beyond cryptocurrency, how blockchain is being used in real estate, supply chain, digital ID, transformation of data from silos to distributed systems is a fascinating look at technology in its early formation. This course covers how companies and people are using blockchain, so anyone who is interested in real world applications beyond cryptocurrency will want to take this course.

This course covers the many ways that blockchain is being used to solve industry problems across a wide range of uses. From education to supply chain, real estate to the food supply, block chain applications are being envisioned, built, and used to help speed time to delivery, safety, reducing fraud and waste in producer to consumer systems.

Blockchain goes far beyond what we are seeing in the crypto currency market. Many types of companies are looking at using the blockchain for efficiency, cost savings, data sharing, data brokerage, medical information sharing and a host of other uses that in the end will have an influence on how we share and consume data and product.

Blockchain helps in the verification and traceability of multistep transactions needing verification and traceability. It can provide secure transactions, reduce compliance costs, and speed up data transfer processing. Blockchain technology can help contract management and audit the origin of a product.

One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is how the data is structured. A blockchain collects information together in groups, known as blocks, that hold sets of information. Blocks have certain storage capacities and, when filled, are closed and linked to the previously filled block, forming a chain of data known as the blockchain. All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled.

A database usually structures its data into tables, whereas a blockchain, like its name implies, structures its data into chunks (blocks) that are strung together. This data structure inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. When a block is filled, it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. Each block in the chain is given an exact time stamp when it is added to the chain.

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited. In this way, a blockchain is the foundation for immutable ledgers, or records of transactions that cannot be altered, deleted, or destroyed. This is why blockchains are also known as a distributed ledger technology (DLT).

First proposed as a research project in 1991, the blockchain concept predated its first widespread application in use: Bitcoin, in 2009. In the years since, the use of blockchains has exploded via the creation of various cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and smart contracts.

Blockchain can, in theory, be used to immutably record any number of data points. As discussed above, this could be in the form of transactions, votes in an election, product inventories, state identifications, deeds to homes, and much more.

Currently, tens of thousands of projects are looking to implement blockchains in a variety of ways to help society other than just recording transactions—for example, as a way to vote securely in democratic elections. The nature of blockchain’s immutability means that fraudulent voting would become far more difficult to occur. For example, a voting system could work such that each citizen of a country would be issued a single cryptocurrency or token. Each candidate would then be given a specific wallet address, and the voters would send their token or crypto to the address of whichever candidate for whom they wish to vote. The transparent and traceable nature of blockchain would eliminate both the need for human vote counting and the ability of bad actors to tamper with physical ballots.