Blockchain beyond Bitcoin
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the world to Bitcoin, a volatile digital currency that’s untethered to any specific institution or country (1). (Satoshi Nakamoto was quickly revealed to be a pseudonym; the true identity of the inventor or inventors remains unknown.) In the years that followed, the value of Bitcoin has soared, plummeted, and soared again while giving rise to a raft of new cryptocurrencies of varying stability and legitimacy. Bitcoin and the others have their boosters and their detractors
But Bitcoin wasn’t just revolutionary as a virtual currency innovation. It also introduced a novel way for investors and others to obtain, monitor, and trade that currency. Users record and secure financial transactions along with a timestamp using blockchain, a ledger system designed by Nakamoto that’s unlike any traditional accounting system used before. A blockchain isn’t stored on a central computer or controlled by a single boss; instead, it’s distributed, which means every user on a blockchain network has a copy of the entire ledger. Information is also protected by a consensus algorithm—a computer program that enables the network to validate transactions.
Blockchain will forever be linked to cryptocurrencies, but many researchers have begun to explore untapped applications for blockchain’s secure ledger approach. Its built-in mechanisms of trust and attribution make it appealing as a way to organize networks where people want to share information—a potentially big asset for tracking information in all sorts of science-related systems. Applications include forging new ways of managing distributed electrical grids, tracking regulated food and drugs, monitoring devices in the ever-growing “Internet of Things” (IoT), and perhaps even quickly and accurately documenting how new scientific findings emerge.
Read more about new applications with blockchain at PNAS, here.
Image: PNAS/Shutterstock