Blockchain is the innovative database technology that’s at the heart of nearly all cryptocurrencies. By distributing identical copies of a database across an entire network, blockchain makes it very difficult to hack or cheat the system. While cryptocurrency is the most popular use for blockchain at present, the technology offers the potential to serve a very wide range of applications.
What Is A Blockchain?
At its core, blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that stores data of any kind. A blockchain can record information about cryptocurrency transactions and ownership of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
While any conventional database can store this sort of information, blockchain is unique in that it’s decentralised. Rather than being maintained in one location by a centralised administrator – think of an Excel spreadsheet or a bank database – many identical copies of a blockchain database are held on multiple computers spread out across a network.
These individual computers are referred to as nodes.
How Blockchain Works
With blockchain, the digital ledger is described as a “chain” made up of individual “blocks” of data. As fresh data is periodically added to the network, a new “block” is created and attached to the “chain.”
This involves all nodes updating their version of the blockchain ledger to remain identical.
How these new blocks are created is key to why blockchain is considered highly secure. A majority of nodes must verify and confirm the legitimacy of the new data before a new block can be added to the ledger. For a cryptocurrency, they might involve ensuring that new transactions in a block were not fraudulent, or that coins had not been spent more than once.
This is different from a standalone database or spreadsheet, where one person can make changes without oversight.
“Once there is consensus, the block is added to the chain and the underlying transactions are recorded in the distributed ledger,” says C. Neil Gray, partner in the fintech practice areas at US-based Duane Morris LLP. “Blocks are securely linked together, forming a secure digital chain from the beginning of the ledger to the present.”
Transactions are typically secured using cryptography, meaning the nodes need to solve complex mathematical equations to process a transaction.
“As a reward for their efforts in validating changes to the shared data, nodes are typically rewarded with new amounts of the blockchain’s native currency, such as new Bitcoin on the bitcoin blockchain,” says Sarah Shtylman, fintech and blockchain counsel with Perkins Coie.
There are both public and private blockchains. In a public blockchain, anyone can participate, which means they can read, write or audit the data on the blockchain. Notably, it is very difficult to alter transactions logged in a public blockchain as no single authority controls the nodes.
A private blockchain, meanwhile, is controlled by an organisation or group. Only it can decide who is invited to the system, plus it has the authority to go back and alter the blockchain. This private blockchain process is more similar to an in-house data storage system except spread over multiple nodes to increase security.
How Is Blockchain Used?
Blockchain technology is used for many different purposes from providing financial services to administering voting systems.
Cryptocurrency
The most common use of blockchain today is as the backbone of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin or Ethereum. When Australians buy, exchange or spend cryptocurrency, the transactions are recorded on a blockchain. The more people use cryptocurrency, the more widespread blockchain could become.
“Because cryptocurrencies are volatile, they are not yet used much to purchase goods and services. But that is changing as PayPal, Square and other money service businesses make digital asset services broadly available to vendors and retail customers,” notes Patrick Daugherty, senior partner of international law firm Foley & Lardner and lead of the firm’s blockchain task force.
Banking
Beyond cryptocurrency, blockchain is being used to process transactions in fiat currency, such as pounds, Australian dollars and euros. This could be faster than sending money through a bank or other financial institution as the transactions can be verified more quickly and processed outside normal business hours.
Asset Transfers
Blockchain can also be used to record and transfer the ownership of different assets. This is currently popular with digital assets such as NFTs, a representation of ownership of digital art and videos.
However, blockchain could also be used to process the ownership of real-life assets, such as the deeds to property and vehicles. The two sides of a party would first use the blockchain to verify that one owns the property and the other has the money to buy. Then they could complete and record the sale on the blockchain.
Using this process, they could transfer the property’s deeds without manually submitting paperwork to update land registration records – it would be instantaneously updated in the blockchain.
Smart Contracts
Another blockchain innovation is self-executing contracts commonly called “smart contracts.” These digital contracts are enacted automatically once conditions are met. For instance, a payment for an item might be released instantly once the buyer and seller have met all specified parameters for a deal.
“We see great potential in the area of smart contracts, using blockchain technology and coded instructions to automate legal contracts,” says Gray. “A properly coded smart legal contract on a distributed ledger can minimise, or preferably eliminate, the need for outside third parties to verify performance.”
Supply Chain Monitoring
Supply chains involve massive amounts of information, especially as goods go from one part of the world to the other. With traditional data storage methods, it can be hard to trace the source of problems, such as which vendor poor-quality goods came from.
Storing this information on blockchain would make it easier to go back and monitor the supply chain, such as with IBM’s Food Trust, which uses blockchain technology to track food from its harvest to its consumption.
Voting
Experts are also looking into ways to apply blockchain to prevent fraud in voting. In theory, blockchain voting would allow people to submit votes that couldn’t be tampered with as well as would remove the need to have people manually collect and verify paper ballots.
Advantages of Blockchain
Higher Accuracy of Transactions
Because a blockchain transaction must be verified by multiple nodes, this can reduce error. If one node has a mistake in the database, the others would see that it’s different and catch the error.
In contrast, in a traditional database, if an individual makes a mistake, it may be more likely to go through. In addition, every asset is individually identified and tracked on the blockchain ledger, so there is no chance of double spending it (like a person overdrawing their bank account, thereby spending money twice).
No Need for Intermediaries
Using blockchain, two parties in a transaction can confirm and complete something without working through a third party. This saves time as well as the cost of paying for an intermediary, a bank for example.
“It has the ability to bring greater efficiency to all digital commerce, to increase financial empowerment to the unbanked or underbanked populations of the world and to power a new generation of internet applications as a result,” says Shtylman.
Extra Security
Theoretically, a decentralised network, like blockchain, makes it nearly impossible for someone to make fraudulent transactions.
To enter in forged transactions, they would need to hack every node and change every ledger. While this isn’t necessarily impossible, many cryptocurrency blockchain systems use ‘proof-of-stake’ or ‘proof-of-work’ transaction verification methods that make it difficult, as well as not in participants’ best interests, to add fraudulent transactions.
More Efficient Transfers
Since blockchains operate 24/7, people can make more efficient financial and asset transfers, especially internationally. They don’t need to wait days for a bank or a government agency to manually confirm everything.
Disadvantages of Blockchain
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, last year Tesla boss Elon Musk said his company would stop accepting Bitcoin partly because he was concerned about the damage to the environment.
Risk of Asset Loss
Some digital assets are secured using a cryptographic key, like cryptocurrency in a blockchain wallet. You need to carefully guard this key.
“If the owner of a digital asset loses the private cryptographic key that gives them access to their asset, currently there is no way to recover it – the asset is gone permanently,” says Gray. Because the system is decentralised, you can’t call a central authority, like your bank, to ask to regain access.
Potential for Illegal Activity
Blockchain’s decentralisation adds more privacy and confidentiality, which unfortunately makes it appealing to criminals. It’s harder to track illicit transactions on blockchain than through bank transactions that are tied to a name.
In fact, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued warnings about Australians being caught up in crypto scams.
How to Invest in Blockchain
You can’t actually invest in blockchain itself, since it’s merely a system for storing and processing transactions. However, you can invest in assets and companies using this technology.
“The easiest way is to purchase cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Ethereum and other tokens that run on a blockchain,” says Gray.
Another option is to invest in blockchain companies using this technology. For example, the US-based Santander Bank is experimenting with blockchain-based financial products. If you were interested in gaining exposure to blockchain technology in your portfolio, you might buy its stock.
For a more diversified approach, you could buy into an exchange-traded fund that invests in blockchain assets and companies. There are thousands of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that offer Aussie investors exposure to overseas stocks.
Bottom Line
Despite its promise, blockchain remains something of a niche technology. Gray sees the potential for blockchain being used in more situations but it depends on future government policies. “It remains to be seen when and if regulators will take action. One thing is evident—the goal will be to protect markets and investors,” he says.
Shtylman likens blockchain to the early stages of the internet. “It took about 15 years of having the internet before we saw the first version of Google and over 20 for Facebook. It’s hard to predict where blockchain technology will be in another 10 or 15 years, but much like the internet, it will significantly transform the ways we transact and interact with each other in the future.”
Hurdles remain, especially with the transaction limits and energy costs, but for Australians who do their due diligence and see the potential of the technology, blockchain-based investments may be worth considering.
This article is not an endorsement of any particular cryptocurrency, broker or exchange nor does it constitute a recommendation of cryptocurrency or blockchain more broadly.