Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding). Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, reducing risk and cutting costs for all involved.

Also, defined as a decentralized, distributed ledger that records the provenance of a digital asset.

• Cryptocurrency

• Banking

• Asset Transfers

• Smart Contracts

• Supply Chain Monitoring

• Voting

• Higher Accuracy of Transactions

• No Need for Intermediaries

• Extra Security

• More Efficient Transfers

• Limit on Transactions per Second - Given that blockchain depends on a larger network to approve transactions, there’s a limit to how quickly it can move. For example, Bitcoin can only process 4.6 transactions per second versus 1,700 per second with Visa. In addition, increasing numbers of transactions can create network speed issues. Until this improves, scalability is a challenge.

• High Energy Costs - Having all the nodes working to verify transactions takes significantly more electricity than a single database or spreadsheet. Not only does this make blockchain-based transactions more expensive, but it also creates a large carbon burden for the environment. Because of this, some industry leaders are beginning to move away from certain blockchain technologies, like Bitcoin: For instance, Elon Musk recently said Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin partly because he was concerned about the damage to the environment.