Wait, What Is Blockchain?

E-E says: When a technology professional says that something will “completely reinvent some of the institutions in society” and “every single type of business can be turned on its head with this technology,” it is probably a good idea to understand what that something is. Take a few minutes to learn about blockchain and its future impact on the enterprise.

Source: Robert Hackett, fortune.com

Though it sounds like a series of defensive maneuvers ripped out of an NFL playbook, the blockchain is actually a way to structure data, and the foundation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This coding breakthrough—which consists of concatenated blocks of transactions—allows competitors to share a digital ledger across a network of computers without need for a central authority. No single party has the power to tamper with the records: the math keeps everyone honest. Forty of the world’s top financial firms are experimenting with the tech.

Example of blockchain in a sentence:

“Bitcoin the currency, I think, is going to go nowhere … the blockchain is a technology which we’ve been studying and yes it’s real.” —Jamie Dimon on CNBC

For more on the blockchain, watch this Fortune video:

Tags: banking, big data, blockchain, mobile

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