Blockchain
Blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography Each block contains a cryptographic of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data. It is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way”. For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires consensus of the network majority.
Bitcoin is highly popular, but it is harder to think of how blockchain actually applies to real life. Well, it can be used by energy suppliers to track the distribution of their resources in real time; by banks to process instant mobile payments; by supply chains to monitor food safety; by gig apps and sites to fairer reward the users; for fishing as to provide a transparent record of where fish was caught and to ensure that it was legally landed etc.