
The Potential of Blockchain
Reasons I’m learning the tech behind cryptocurrency and its potential uses.
Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have been mentioned everywhere this year. They’re such hot topics that even my grandparents have talked them over in their weekly discussion group. While cryptocurrency is a popular news topic, often due to its lack of stability with massive highs and lows, blockchain is usually only mentioned by association without much explanation. Blockchain itself is fascinating technology with many uses outside of cryptocurrency. My current understanding of it is quite limited but over the next few months I’ll be learning a lot more about it through a course at Lighthouse Labs. This is an overview of my current thoughts on blockchain its potential, and why I’m learning it.
What is blockchain?
At its core blockchain is an online protocol to establish trust. It’s essentially a ledger that is distributed and constantly validated. In the case of cryptocurrency this ledger records transactions but blockchains can contain other data. This feature makes them useful for any application that needs to establish trust. These apps that are built on top of blockchains are called distributed apps or dapps for short. While there are very exciting use cases for cryptocurrency especially in countries without a stable currency it’s dapps that I’m most curious about.
Potential uses and impact
An area of blockchain that excites me for day to day use is the ability to decouple your online identity from centralized services. Currently when you sign up for most websites and apps they know exactly who you are and how you use the app. This gives them the ability to sell that data and advertise directly to you. A project I recently found called Blockstack uses blockchain to verify identity but allows you to build apps on top of existing cloud providers such as Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure or provide your own storage option. I’m a big fan of this idea as the cloud providers have the infrastructure to store the data but are no longer able to associate the data to you. It also gives you the flexibility to choose where you want to store the apps data and move it at any time.
I work as a software developer in the real estate industry where there has recently been a lot of talk about blockchain. On the more ambitious side of things there are projects looking to move home ownership records entirely onto a blockchain. Theoretically this would open up a lot of data about property records while keeping everything anonymous and secure. It would also greatly simplify the transferring of property and make buying and selling a home a much easier.
Importance of understanding new technology
As a software developer I think it will be important to have an understanding of how a blockchain works. Even if you aren’t building your own blockchain I think it’s increasingly likely that you’ll come across either building on top of or integrating with blockchains. Having the basic understanding of this technology will allow you to better evaluate and work on these projects.
This is the beginning of my journey exploring blockchain technology so if you know of any good resources please leave a comment!
