I am often asked what all the fuss is about Blockchain and then asked to explain it. Well the fuss is about a fundamental paradigm shift in how electronic transactions can be done. BitCoin is just one of millions of uses. So, for a quick example, let’s Blockchain enable Santa Claus. The chain starts with a letter from Jimmy requesting a Paw Patroller toy. This is in essence a contract, the payment (Jimmy’s joy) is only made when the contract is fulfilled (the aforementioned paw patroller vehicle is in pristine condition, under Jimmy’s family tree, specifically on the morning of December 25th before 6 am local time) The chain involves:
- Delivery of the contract (postal service)
- Santa’s review
- Naughty or Nice Review (could result in other conditions being added to contract)
- Manufacturing
- Inventory
- Shipping
- Final Delivery
- Verification of Delivery.
One of the key points is that each link in the chain, has peer-to-peer visibility to the state at any point. Example: Shipping would know if the item was in manufacture or in inventory and be able to schedule the reindeer and sleigh accordingly. Although Jimmy is paying in smiles on the contract fulfilment, unlike a traditional retail purchase where you order and pay online and then the product ships (but they already have your money), blockchain enables verification. Specifically, in this example the contract requires item condition, place and on-time delivery of the item and payment is only made when that is complete. That’s basically how block chain works and how to block chain enable Santa. Merry Christmas!
Infinite Shades of Grey 