Is Blockchain All Fuss About Nothing?
Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the past couple of years, you will have heard about BITCOIN. And probably, that Bitcoin is built on BLOCKCHAIN. Which is true. However, contrary to what many people assume: Bitcoin is not identical to Blockchain. Bitcoin is digital money, a virtual currency that was the first successful Blockchain product, whereas Blockchain is the technology that enables cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. In this article, we will be traversing in length the ins and outs of this novel technology.
What is Blockchain?
In simple terms, Blockchain is a digital record of data (information and transactions). The data is grouped together and organized in blocks. The blocks are then linked to one another and secured using cryptography. So… it’s a chain of blocks that builds the Blockchain.
The interesting bit about this is that the digital database is replicated on multiple computers scattered around the world. They act as decentralized ledgers. Hence the name Distributed Ledger Technology.
How Blockchain works
As each ledger on each computer contains a record of all transactions, arranged in sequential “blocks” and as the ledger is public, or “distributed”, it cannot be tampered with by a single user. An altered version would quickly be rejected by other users.
Also, as it is decentralized, it is not controlled by any single entity. Rather, decisions are reached via a consensus algorithm. Again, no single user can change the data all by themselves.
Some will also say it is un-hackable. But that takes it a step too far. It could be hacked — but that would be a hugely expensive and time-consuming task.
What it is, though, is immutable because once new data is entered, it cannot be changed, deleted or altered. If a transaction occurs, a new block is added. The old blocks remain as they are.
Before new information is added to the Blockchain, the different computers (nodes) running the Blockchain software, have to first verify that the information given is correct. Once verified, the new information is added to a block. More data, more blocks.
As to the verification process: there are different ways of verifying the data. We will look at these processes in another blog post.
What it can be used for
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies happen to be the most popular use case of Blockchain. But of recent, there has been a surge in projects that centre around use cases in nonfinancial sectors, from shipping and logistics to farming.
Healthcare: A recent study from IBM found that 56% of surveyed healthcare executives had solid plans to implement a commercial Blockchain solution by 2020. To give a concrete example: a 15-year old girl — Ananya Chadha — at the last CryptoChicks Hackathon used Blockchain to track genetics and DNA mutations.
Education: At a recent Blockchain for Kids class, some of the kids suggested that Blockchain can be used to track payment of school fees. Some universities are exploring the use of Blockchain applications to record degree certificates which can be tokenized and verified by anyone anywhere.
Government: Whether for things like voting or identity management, tokenised can be used to track and verify votes cast and people’s ID.
Industrial and supply chain: Think verification of genuine products, then you have a use case of tokenised in the industrial sector. Granted, this will involve collaboration with IoT, RFIDs tags and other technologies. But that, in turn, is not a problem for a series of smart contracts working together.
Recreation and Sports: This is where we come in and we will therefore explore this part in more detail. Sports Ledger (SPSL) will redefine the way we understand and interact with every part of every sport. Sports Ledger is a cutting-edge tokenised platform that will achieve its goal through all-inclusive sports- related services and products, relevant to a vast number of fans, athletes, trainers, clubs and the corporate world. Regardless of their location on Earth, participants will be able to access the SPSL ecosystem with just a smart device.
What makes Sports Ledger unique?
Imagine social sports communities, where fans can engage with fans and clubs directly and in an uncomplicated manner. Imagine a platform that will be driven by new technologies, including tokenised, AI, smart contracts and biometrics … and through this unlock new possibilities for sporting interactions. A platform that will deliver value to its users through innovative analytics and through a reward system incentivising those who actively contribute to the ecosystem.
At the same time, deeply embedded in the five core layers of the Sports Ledger platform is the aspiration to bring about positive social change, both within the sporting world and the global community at large.
Risks and opportunities for today’s business
Undoubtedly, Blockchain Ttechnology is going to have a significant impact on the world as we know it. Some liken Blockchain to an internet of value — whereas the internet we are all familiar with is the internet of information.
Businesses with a desire to stay ahead are all taking steps to explore ways to integrate blockchain into their activities as blockchain holds almost unlimited opportunities for today’s businesses, from storing transparent, decentralized records and through this empower people to transfer value and ownership in a totally new and cost-efficient way, to utilizing the platform for crowdfunding through an ICO. Finally, Blockchain will also create new opportunities for doing good, for bringing about social change and progress that will impact billions of people.
This doesn’t mean that we will not encounter speed bumps on this journey. Always likened to the era of the early days of internet, Blockchain as a new technology has a long way to go. But as things get refined and mainstream adoption accelerates, its potential will exceed our expectations by far. We at Sports Ledger are deeply convinced of this and are working hard to making a brighter, fairer and more equitable future a reality.
Follow Sports Ledger on:
Website: https://www.sportsledger.io
Telegram: https://t.me/sportsledger
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sportsledger_io
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sportsledger
Medium: https://medium.com/sports-ledger
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/sportsledger
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sportsledger
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sportsledger
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/sportsledger
