What’s That? … It’s a Blockchain!

I presented at an industry-focused blockchain event a few years ago, and shared the stage with the lead for blockchain at a major company. As I was flicking through my slides before the start of the presentation, he said to me, “What’s that? It looks interesting”, I looked at my slide, and said, “It’s a Merkle Tree”. “And, what’s that?” I paused for a few seconds as I considered what Ralph Merkle would have said in reply, but…