What is blockchain?
When you delve into the underlying technology of Bitcoin, blockchain is the term you will encounter most often. But what exactly is blockchain? And how does this latest technology actually work?
Crypto is mentioned in the same breath as blockchain technology. But what is blockchain then? Blockchain can best be described as a type of accounting technology. A digital ledger of transactions. It is a system used to record data. Data that you must be 100 percent sure is correct. These can be transfers as with a regular bank. But also, for example, property deeds or other personal data. The special thing about blockchain is that this is possible without a central authority. This makes it impossible to falsify the recorded data by affecting one central point. Sensitive data no longer needs to be stored in a vulnerable central database. Blockchain is therefore a decentralized database of transactions that is visible to everyone.
The underlying technology of Bitcoin
A financial transaction via the blockchain does not involve the intervention of a central bank. This central authority normally checks whether you have enough balance. And whether your transaction has reached the other person. This is not the case with the transaction of Bitcoins. Control is carried out by computers and joint accounting is kept on the blockchain. It is actually a communication protocol for everything you want to communicate with each other on the internet. You must be 100% sure that it is correct. And you register that in the blockchain.
You work, as it were, with all peers on a document in the cloud. Once a transaction has been recorded, it is no longer possible to change it. In the blockchain you can only add information at the bottom. You can change things, but the past remains. You can ‘use’ the previous information at the same time as someone else and that is for everyone.
How does blockchain work?
The design of a blockchain is an example of Secure by design and decentralized consensus. Secure by design in software development means that security and privacy are taken into account from the start of development. We will explain decentralized consensus to you using an example.
It is good to remember two things.
- Blockchain is a way to store information.
- Information that has been stored cannot be deleted.
Example of a blockchain
We are in the smallest country in the world. 4 people live in the country. A fisherman, a lumberjack, a farmer and a carpenter. Even though it is a small country, they have made agreements about how they trade. That only happens when the four of them are together. Agreements are recorded by scratching them in four stones. What is scratched into the stone must be approved by the other three. The stones therefore contain exactly the same information. Each of them keeps one of these stones at home.
After a bad harvest, the farmer has no work for the carpenter. The woodcutter also has less work. They decide to make an agreement and scratch in their 3 stones that the fisherman must give them each a fish. They get together and ask the fisherman about their food. He shows his stone and shows that that exchange was never recorded. The deal falls through, but the fisherman decides to lend them the fish. In exchange for their grain, wood and a new fishing rod at a later date. Everyone agrees and the agreements are recorded in the various stones.
This is essentially how blockchain works. How agreements made are recorded and stored is what we call a blockchain protocol. In this example, people have to come together, record agreements by scratching them in stone and approve them. Another element is also immediately discussed. Information is not stored in one place, but distributed across multiple places. This is what people mean when they talk about the decentralized nature of blockchain or Bitcoin.
In addition, another component is crucial for the operation of blockchain. Information that has been recorded cannot be deleted. This allowed the fisherman to prove that the agreement had never been made. When people talk about a shared ledger this is what is meant. Everyone has their own copy. The information is not stored in just one place.
Hopefully the example has made things clear. Blockchain is therefore less difficult to explain than many people think. But in reality – fortunately – it is a bit more complicated than our example. Are you curious about how this works exactly? Then read the explanation of how blockchain works.
There is another important distinction we must make. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are not the same. The best way to explain this is to think of blockchain as the operating system of your phone: Android or iOS. While you can view Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as an app that runs on your operating system.
It should be clear. Blockchain is a special way to store and use information. Because of the way this is done, blockchain is extremely suitable for validating things. This validation can be done in very different ways.
- Is a work of art real?
- Are you who you say you are?
- What is someone’s payment history like?
- Is the mileage of a car reliable?
How does a payment with Bitcoins work?
The bitcoin blockchain first checks whether you are the owner of those Bitcoins. Your private key is then added to the transaction. You can compare this with a PIN code, but very complicated. The computers connected to the Bitcoin blockchain check whether the signature is correct. And whether this transaction was carried out according to the correct mathematical principles. Then there are many computers that will try to determine that evidence.
You can compare it with going to the notary to complete a transaction. A notary records the transaction. That’s the first computer. The Bitcoin miner. He then tells it to the rest of the network. He asks the other computers whether they have also observed the transaction. A network of computers that you cannot corrupt. Because if a computer is corrupt, it will be excluded from the network. Every action in the blockchain involves a kind of digital notary. This consists of many thousands of computers that are not owned by one party.
Normally in an important transaction, permission from an authoritative party is necessary. Registries, banks, notaries or governments are authorities to be consulted to check who the applicant claims to be. And whether he is authorized to enter into such an obligation. But after the credit crisis we saw that confidence in these authorities had been seriously damaged.
The history of blockchain
New technologies are introduced every year. The saying “necessity is the mother of inventions” is regularly used to demonstrate that creativity and innovation arise in times of emergency. The First and Second World Wars are great examples. Gas masks, sanitary towels, drones, air traffic control, blood transfusion, but also plastic surgery all originated in or around the wars. Why? Because it was necessary.
The same goes for other popular inventions. The inventions from the First and Second World Wars often have similarities with medical care, aviation and communications. Today we put vehicles on Mars to discover parts of the universe, you can use the internet from an airplane and every individual can own a drone.
Now, in the 21st century, we have not yet known any wars that have reshaped the world as much as the First or Second World Wars. But wars continue to impact innovation and adoption of new technologies. Blockchain is an example of this. Perhaps blockchain will turn out to be the greatest post-war invention. One thing is certain. The influence of blockchain on life in the 21st century will be enormous.
It is sometimes said that without history there is no future. That is why we first consider the concept of money. This is essential to understand the importance of blockchain.
What is money?
It seems like a simple question, but what is money actually? When we talk about money we usually talk about euros, dollars, pounds or yen. But money is a lot older than the currency we know today. And yes, money also arose from necessity.
We go back to 9000 years BC. People lived in small groups and the concept of cities had yet to be introduced. Money did not yet exist, so if people wanted something, an exchange was proposed. A hunter-gatherer who wants to trade animal skins for berries is looking for someone who has berries. If you want animal skins to make clothing, you can trade them. However, the problem arises when someone is not interested in a specific product. Did someone else just come by with animal skins? Then the value of the animal skin is a lot less high for the berry trader.
To counter this problem, alternative ways were devised to realize a “transfer of goods”. This took the form of confessions of guilt. When person A buys animal skins from person B, there does not necessarily have to be a product in return. This allows person B to receive his “money” from person A at a later time. Payment and delivery no longer had to happen at exactly the same time. But without person B’s trust in person A, no deal will be made. Are you unsure whether someone will meet their payment obligations? Then you may have lost your goods, but you didn’t get anything in return. You cannot see trust – and someone’s credibility – separately from money. A good reputation makes someone more likely to accept a guilty plea. It is therefore no coincidence that the popular series “Game of Thrones” regularly features the statement “A Lanister always pays his debts”.
Confidence in the value of money
We don’t think about it anymore, but the confession of guilt as it originated back then still works in much the same way today. Where the value was determined 5,000 years ago at 100 shells or 20 stones, we now talk about a value in euros or dollars.
Everyone understands that the value of 10 shells is not the same as the value of a cow. And that 20 pieces of paper do not have the same value as a bicycle. But, because we have agreed that the shells – 5000 years ago – or the notes of paper have more value than they actually are, value is attached to them. Without confidence in the value of a particular currency, the global economy would not work.
Why do we need money?
It may sound like a no-brainer, but money is necessary to keep our economies running worldwide. Of course we use money for transactions such as purchasing new products or services, but in addition to direct use, the introduction of money has also created important other possibilities. Using a fixed currency ensures that the prices of goods are compared with each other. But money also makes it possible to store assets.
The possibility of storing your belongings changes economic dynamics. Previously, wealth was contained in the flock of sheep you owned, but with the advent of money you could store its value and therefore take it with you.
But, taking money to another place also resulted in problems. Money has both an intrinsic and extrinsic value. The intrinsic value of a shell is low. That has to do with the position and the offer. Yet the value of shells was not seen that way during the introduction of money. A shell actually represented value and could be used to buy things. The value of a shell was therefore considerably higher than you would suspect based on its function or scarcity. We call this value the extrinsic value.
The introduction of fiat money
The money that is used today no longer has any intrinsic value. But this change did not happen overnight. Fiat money first appeared around 1300 BC in the form of seashells. A few centuries later, the first metal coins were used in China.
It is logical that a seashell or a metal coin does not have the same value everywhere. But in places where payments were made with the same currency or coin, there were agreements about its value. Although its use has evolved today, the underlying principles still apply. Is supply increasing enormously, or confidence in a particular currency decreasing? Then the value of money decreases. Governments use this concept to regulate economies. Centralized. In other words. Governments have the power to influence economies. It is precisely this concept of centralized regulation that is essential to understand the impact of crypto and blockchain.
Global monetary policy
How and why the economy is affected is what we call monetary policy. The reason that influence is exerted on the economy is to create price stability. Price stability creates confidence in the value of money. And this is essential to maintain consumption of goods and services. Or better yet, let it grow.
Central banks have objectives to maintain consumption. The target for the European Central Bank (ECB) is to keep annual inflation just below 2%. Inflation is the depreciation of money. And an inflation rate of 2% means that the 100 euros you have to spend this year will only have a value of 98 euros next year. This makes it interesting to make purchases now and not until next year. After all, you get less for the same euro.
The counterpart of inflation is deflation. In that case, money becomes more valuable. This makes it less attractive to make purchases. This has a negative impact on the economy. Next year you can get more for the same euro. If too many consumers and companies choose this, economic growth will decline or a period of contraction will occur. The reduction in economic growth is recession. If this persists, we speak of depression.
Of course, the limit of just under 2% was not chosen by chance. Higher inflation means that consumers lose confidence in the value of money and therefore look for other ways to protect their wealth. People then take refuge in gold, silver, Bitcoins or other investments such as art.
The gold standard
Don’t worry. If you don’t see the link with crypto and blockchain yet, that’s not surprising. We want to ensure that when you start with Bitcoin or crypto you understand what you are getting into. Or if you just want to better understand why blockchain is such a great invention. To do this, we just have to delve a little deeper into the history of money.
Almost everyone in the Western world has confidence in money. Your salary is no longer paid to you in cash, but transferred to your bank account. You have never physically held most of the money you earn or spend in your hands. And that’s actually quite strange. How do you know that the money you have in your bank account is actually there? Without immediately panicking: that is not the case. Almost all our payments are now digital, without anything physical in return, for example gold bars, silver or the seashells of yesteryear. This used to be different.
For decades there was something called the gold standard. The value of the money in circulation in an economy was stored by governments in the form of gold. Because gold is scarce and was seen as valuable worldwide, confidence in money was not solely based on trust. This ensured that money had a relatively stable value. After all, the gold price was dependent on the global economy and therefore fairly constant. So the banknote in your wallet actually had an intrinsic value. After all, everyone was allowed to exchange it for a fixed weight in gold.
Moving away from the gold standard
But the gold standard also caused problems in practice. Although there was always gold in stock, this depended on the amount of money in the economy. This was a problem especially during wartime.
If a large amount of goods were traded internationally, the gold supply also had to be put back in order. This happened a lot, especially after wars. Money was then borrowed to finance wars or to rebuild a country after the war.
At first glance this may not seem like a problem, but imagine the following situation. There is one million euros in circulation in the Netherlands. Because many products are imported, money flows out of the economy and goods take its place. If after a year 200,000 euros have flowed out of the economy due to imports, only 800,000 euros are still available. Those 800,000 euros are now all the money in the economy. So there is less money available to buy all the products needed. This causes prices in an economy to fall. After all, you can buy the same amount with less money. Doesn’t this happen? Then an economy shrinks. This situation therefore causes deflation.
The reverse can also happen. As soon as more money flows into an economy. When more money is available, the prices of products rise. After all, the supply does not grow at the same time. This is inflation. The guilders, euros or dollars that are available become less valuable.
We have already briefly considered the central banks. Their main goal is price stability. Price stability ensures confidence in money. And trust in money is essential for economic growth. To ensure this price stability, the gold standard had to be abolished.
Price stability and the abandonment of the gold standard
Abolishing the gold standard created new opportunities for central banks. The amount of gold no longer determined the amount of money in an economy. But central banks were able to create price stability through two tools.
By determining the level of interest rates and influencing the amount of money in the economy – by purchasing bonds – the central bank can control inflation.
Central banks buy bonds. Bonds are a kind of variation on a share, but instead of part of a company (or government) you own a debt instrument. The government, among other things, issues bonds. A bond of 1 billion euros gives the government money to invest in the economy. That 1 billion is loaned to the government by banks at a certain interest rate. Let’s say 3%. 30 million euros in interest is paid annually on that 1 billion. The difference between the interest that banks are paid and what the bank pays for the money they need for this is what the bank earns.
If central banks buy these bonds, a bank receives money for this. This money flows back into the economy. In the form of bonds or loans to companies or private individuals. This allows the central bank to influence the amount of money in the economy and thus influence inflation. After all, more money in the economy means rising inflation.
The second axis over which the central bank can exert influence is the interest rate. You regularly hear updates about this on the news, or you read that choices have been made about increasing or – mainly in recent years – reducing interest rates. This is not the interest that individuals receive for the money in their savings account, but the interest that banks pay when they borrow money from the central bank.
But, how does that affect inflation? It’s like this. A higher interest rate means that it is less interesting to borrow money. Borrowing becomes more expensive. If borrowing becomes more expensive for banks, this means that companies and private individuals also pay more interest on their loans. This makes it less attractive to borrow money. Investments will therefore be postponed more often. And if investments are postponed, the money flowing into the economy will grow less quickly. In other words. Higher interest rates mean lower inflation. Lower interest rates, on the other hand, cause higher inflation, because borrowing money becomes more interesting and making investments more attractive.
The economy, or rather the financial system, is centrally regulated. In the EU this is done by the European Central Bank (ECB). In America you have the Federal Reserve (Fed) and in the UK the Bank of England. Such economies currently have a well-functioning system. Inflation is fairly limited. The majority benefits from this regulation in Western economies. But that is not the case everywhere in the world. And it is not certain whether this will also be beneficial in the European or other economies in the future.
Consequences of high inflation
A little inflation is good for the economy. Money keeps rolling. Companies earn more money, invest more and wages – hopefully – rise accordingly. But inflation also has a downside in the Netherlands and that downside is especially clear when looking at other types of income that are not paid directly by employers. Pension, for example.
For example, many pension funds do not take inflation into account. If this does happen, we talk about indexation. This compensates for the influence of inflation on income. If this does not happen, at 2% inflation per year a pension of 1000 euros would have to be increased to 1219 euros per month. Indeed, an increase of 21.9%!
21.9% sounds like a lot of money. And it is. But in many countries worldwide inflation is higher than in the EU. And in some countries even many times higher. To make this clear, we looked at inflation in 194 countries. As it turns out, in 2020 inflation was 3% or higher in about half (49%) of these countries. And if we look at inflation above 5%, you see this at 30.4%. With 1,000 euros at your disposal to live on now, you will need 1,629 euros in those countries in 10 years. No less than 62.9% more than you have today.
The difficult thing about this is that the problem is only getting worse. Because money becomes less valuable so quickly, people start spending more money. Confidence in the local currency is declining and people are looking for investments that retain their value. And this problem lurks in more countries than just Venezuela, Argentina or Angola. As the amount of money in the economy grows faster and faster, this risk grows considerably.
The current economic system is therefore threatened. And the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy is enormous. All the money that governments have to borrow to keep companies afloat, finance healthcare and pay benefits for job seekers is borrowed. But Bitcoin is not subject to inflation. It cannot be made additionally and is therefore a stable alternative to a bank account. To understand how this works, it is important to first consider how blockchain works. This is the technology that Bitcoin is built on.
The future of blockchain
Blockchain technology is no longer just the technology behind Bitcoin and altcoins, but has the potential to become bigger than the internet. Intermediaries can be made redundant because the necessary data is stored online. Not by one central organization, but by the computers of all participants in the network. Together, these computers form a digital ledger that is continuously updated. The blockchain.
This new working method is much safer because the supervision is much greater. The data does not belong to one central agency. But are stored and stored by computers of all participants of a specific blockchain network. This makes such transactions and data less vulnerable to hacks or DDoS attacks, for example. But even when the power goes out, the blockchain is still available on other computers. This is due to the decentralized network it runs on.
How will blockchain and crypto influence our future?
The brilliant properties of blockchain are now clear. But the application of this? This goes further than just proving payments. Much further even. Blockchain is a way to record information and rules of the game. It doesn’t really matter what they are.
How do you prove that you own something? You usually use a proof of purchase for this. This proof of purchase comes in many forms. A receipt you receive in the supermarket, an invoice from your dentist, a registration for a car or the transfer of a house at the notary.
But what if you can’t prove who you are? No passport, ID or other form of identification? A small problem in the Netherlands or other developed countries, but worldwide more than 1 billion people officially have no identity. They have simply never been registered.
The world is small without identification or a bank account. Proving ownership outside your own familiar environment is impossible. An admission of guilt from someone who officially does not exist? Worthless. But what if you could turn this around? By using a digital address (wallet) you can prove that you pay monthly for a house, receive a salary and have assets. Borrowing money to set up a small business would suddenly become possible! Simply because of the ability to prove ownership and transactions.
In the Western world we mainly talk about the value of Bitcoin. Or maybe just one step further about cryptocurrency. We rarely think about the real value of blockchain. This is because it is difficult to imagine its application. But, that will definitely change in the coming years.
The rise of the internet in the 1990s gave everyone easy access to information. Blockchain takes the next step. In the future, we will know whether the information we receive is reliable, validated and legitimate. So you could actually see blockchain as an ultimate form of the digital notary. Without the costs and internationally accepted.
Blockchain as a means of payment
The application of crypto is now clear. No intervention from banks. Being able to easily prove all transactions and someone’s credibility is now guaranteed. Transactions and payments are no longer dependent on regulated bodies such as banks. But blockchain has more applications than that. Blockchain is currently already being used in many places. And that will only continue to grow in the near future.
Differences with fiat money
Everyone is now familiar with fiat money, the money that you receive in your bank account from your employer or that is paid by customers. But crypto and Bitcoins? That’s just a bit different. Right?
It may seem like there are huge differences between crypto and fiat money. But in practice this is not so bad. Yes there are differences, but also many similarities.
You can pay with both crypto and fiat money. You can store power and in both cases it can be used to express the value of something. In addition, both currencies are digital. As indicated earlier: you have never physically held the majority of the euros that you earn or spend every month. And the most important thing? That is, both crypto currencies and fiat money depend on trust in the system. Ultimately, that is essential to its value.
But there are also big differences. Perhaps these are already somewhat clear by now. For example, fiat money is centrally regulated by central banks. Bitcoin and other crypto are not. This takes place decentrally. Fiat money is issued by the central banks, but Bitcoin is issued by approving transactions on the blockchain. We call this mining Bitcoin. In the case of Bitcoin, there is no inflation. There is a fixed quantity in circulation. And that amount is absolute. No more than 21 million Bitcoins can come onto the market. This works the same way for many other cryptos. But there are exceptions to this, or cryptos with a much higher maximum.
Blockchain and regular transactions
How transactions work is another big difference. Banks are needed to transfer money to another bank account. In addition, such payments may take some time. Business transactions that take place over the weekend are often not processed until the first working day. In the case of crypto, this is not the case. A crypto transaction is recorded in the blockchain. As a result, transactions are processed very quickly. Also on weekends. Or on holidays.
By no longer being dependent on banks, crypto is also accessible to everyone. This works differently at banks. If you cannot identify yourself, it is impossible to get a bank account. This works differently with crypto. Anyone with a wallet can receive and send Bitcoin and other crypto. As a result, crypto ensures that anyone with an internet connection can use it. This also includes the 1.7 to 2.5 billion people worldwide who currently do not have access to a bank account. These people often do not have a bank account due to practical matters. A bank that is too far away, no identification or because the paperwork involved in opening a bank account is complex.
Blockchain and Crime
Admittedly, it is true that payments through crypto can facilitate illegal practices. But in this it is no different from cash money. What does differ is that financial transactions cannot be entered into with multiple people at the same time. Fiat money does not possess this property. A crypto transaction is completed when it has been processed in the blockchain. This means that everyone knows that this took place. What does this mean in practice? If you enter into an agreement with someone, you can actually see whether someone can pay you. And that is a great advantage for confidence in a currency.
This is one of the biggest advantages of crypto. But also one of the few disadvantages. All transactions are transparent. If you have transferred money to that address, you can also track all transactions from that address. There is therefore some anonymity, but it is not the case that suspicious transactions cannot be traced. The owner of a wallet is anonymous, but the address is not.
But we’re not there yet. We have previously discussed inflation. This allows a government to influence the value of money and therefore your assets. This is not the case with crypto. But there is also another big advantage. And that advantage only becomes really clear in countries where there is a more dictatorial regime. Transactions cannot be undone. So your money is safe. If the government wants to block a bank account, it can do so. Not in the case of a crypto wallet. Your money is really your money. You see that the adoption of crypto is much further in many countries with weaker traditional currencies or that are ravaged by wars. We already started the story with this. Necessity is the mother of inventions. It appears here again.
The future of blockchain
The financial benefits are now clear. But there are also other applications of blockchain than crypto. These applications will become increasingly clear in the coming years and the benefits of crypto and blockchain will become a daily part of our lives.
Blockchain as a means of identification
There are more than a billion people worldwide who are unidentifiable. As a result, they do not always have access to systems such as healthcare, banking or a passport.
Without the ability to identify yourself, many doors are closed. But, blockchain makes it possible to identify you. Your information may be stored and past transactions demonstrate your credibility. This opens doors for this group.
For example, consider the possibility of getting a loan so that someone can start a business. Or the opportunity to buy a piece of land and build a house.
By using blockchain as identification and proving ownership in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), someone who is unable to identify themselves traditionally can still build a normal life.
Blockchain to store information securely
The essence of blockchain lies in the way information is stored and deciphered. That’s how it is. Someone who has your email address and password can log in to your email. This gives someone access to a lot of data. This concept is used in many places in the form of a username and password. This works differently with blockchain.
The information stored in the blockchain is encrypted. To view and change the information, someone needs the decryption key. This can best be compared to traveling to a country where you do not know the language. You can enter the country. But, without speaking the language, everything that is said, read or heard to you there is worthless. The way the information is stored – and deciphered – is what is called blockchain protocol.
You can imagine that this means that sensitive information is less likely to leak out. Large companies with millions of customers are terrified that their customer data will be exposed. There is regular talk about a data breach. Blockchain can protect this information.
There are also applications for private individuals. Consider, for example, healthcare with the electronic patient file, a corona passport, or your financial data.
Blockchain in logistics
Another interesting application is in logistics. This is a typical chain sector. A product is made at location A. From that location it must be transported to location B. Sometimes this distance is only a few kilometers. But more often this goes beyond national borders and often around the world.
How do you know that the product you buy actually comes from location A? Because all transactions are recorded in the blockchain, the origin of a product can be explained, the path it followed to get to location B and which parties were involved. In this way, products that are produced in a socially responsible manner – for example Tony Chocolonely’s – can demonstrate that this really happens.
Other important applications in logistics are present at the companies operating in the sector. For example, goods that are temporarily stored can be recorded in the blockchain. This makes it easy to have a clear overview of stocks. This limits the risk of theft, fraud and incorrect inventory management.
Prove ownership and transactions with blockchain
By far the most important application is to demonstrate possession. Because transactions are recorded in the blockchain, past transactions can easily be viewed. This way, in the event of a dispute between two parties, it is immediately clear what the situation is. We described this earlier in the blockchain example at the beginning of this article.
In a sense, blockchain can be seen as a digital notary. Agreements are recorded. These agreements can be transparent to everyone or a limited group of people. Agreements that are currently recorded by a notary can soon be fully processed in the blockchain. Consider, for example, buying or selling a house, agreements in a cohabitation contract or divorce agreement and shared ownership of a company.
The reason this works so well is that something that is recorded in the blockchain cannot be deleted. All agreements are always transparent. This makes fraud almost impossible.
Execution of smart contracts
But the beauty of blockchain lies mainly in something called smart contracts. What are they? These are contracts that execute themselves. We will also explain this using an example.
Suppose you have a company. And wants to have a new website built. You have asked a designer to come up with a design for this. After you have made an appointment with the designer, you record this in a smart contract. This states what must be delivered and what (financial) transaction is involved. Together you have agreed that there are a number of phases for feedback and that payment will be made automatically after each phase. A smart contract can then stipulate that there are three phases of a project and three payments are associated with this. The final payment will be made after the completion of the third phase. If the design is not ultimately delivered in the final phase, the payments – which have been reserved – will be reversed.
You may recognize features that are now associated with a credit card or a contract. Smart contracts make it easier to comply with agreements made. For example, for online orders it can be recorded that money remains reserved until you have physically received a product. Is delivery delayed? Then also the payment.
Finally
Various examples of blockchain have been explained in this article. In the coming years, the application of blockchain and the adoption of crypto will only increase further. The application of blockchain is being considered in almost all sectors. Blockchain will have a major impact in sectors where trust, inventories and the security of information are crucial.
Hopefully you have gotten a better idea of the application of blockchain and how it will shape our future. Do you believe in the future of blockchain and crypto and do you want to invest in them? Then directly compare providers on price and reliability.