Blockchain 101

Blockchain is a log of activity that is time-stamped, tamper-proof and shared across a network of computers. Originally dreamed up in 2009 by an unknown person or group—it’s not known for sure which—called Satoshi Nakamoto as a means to move the digital currency bitcoin, its uses have since been broadened to exchange other types of digital assets, such as data, in private, permissioned networks suitable for businesses. Each transaction that goes into the log of activity is enclosed in a block and linked together in chronological order to form a chain, giving it the name blockchain.