There is something brewing on the internet that is quietly moving into industries that weren’t anticipating major disruptions.
Blockchain was born as the internet underpinning of crypto currencies like Bitcoin but has spread into logistics management, medical record sharing, banking, real estate and more.
In an oversimplification, unlike most internet traffic, Blockchain can’t be hijacked and hacked. Adam Richard, a partner at Sutton Stone and Director of Blockchain Development for the Game Loot Network, can take the explanation into the weeds. “Blockchain is a technology that allows counter-parties to transact and/or transfer assets whether digital or representative of physical assets in a way that eliminates the need for trusting a third-party intermediary,” he explains. You’re probably already encountering it in your everyday life and don’t know it.
Walmart is among the companies already applying the technology to organize and move inventory. “Walmart is heavily experimenting with Blockchain for their supply chain and logistics. So if I go to Walmart and buy a product did I just interact with Blockchain? Technically, yes,” says Richard. And do you need to know what it is and how it works? Technically, no, he says. “You don’t have to know the SMTP protocol in order to use email. So in the future we’ll get to a point where you don’t need to understand the protocol layer of Blockchain technology to interact with the technology.”
Blockchain has been with us since 2009. It will be with us much longer.