Blockchain Technology & The Law: Myriad Business Opportunities

What is Blockchain? 

Blockchain can be described as a digital database or ledger which is shared between a network of computers. The premise of blockchain, as well as its distinctive feature, is that it works on distributed trustless consensus. Each transaction entered into the ledger (known as a block) is connected to the block before it and the block after it, creating a chain of transactions which is traceable back to the original transaction. In turn, each computer (known as a node) connected to the network has a copy of all the information stored in this database. The data is continuously updated, verified and reconciled by each of these nodes using mathematical algorithms (sometimes termed 'proof of work'). In this way, blockchains essentially operate as self-auditing ecosystems. Information stored on a blockchain is hosted by millions of nodes connected to the network, and all data is available to the public and is easily verifiable, thus creating trust among