Who invented Blockchain?
Contrary to popular belief, shadowy inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, did not invent blockchain. So who did?
In 1991, Dr W. Scott Stornetta and his co-author Dr Stuart Harber published a whitepaper introducing ‘blockchain’, a decentralised, cryptic database where digital transactions are secured.
The cryptographers’ research focused on creating a digital hierarchy system which time-stamped and chronologically secured transactions in a chain of blocks. Together, they co-authored several publications in the cryptography field to pioneer a system that was transparent and verifiable.
The first major blockchain innovation came in 2008, when the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper. Bitcoin is a digital currency which can be bought and transferred without an intermediary such as a financial institution. Many aspects of the cryptocurrency are based on Stornetta and Harber’s original paper, with several references to their time-stamp protocols in the bitcoin whitepaper.
Bitcoin’s success means that blockchain is a continually growing platform as it creates real-time transfer of funds and reduces settlement time.
Bank-based blockchain projects are set to transform the financial services industry, with approximately 15% of banks using the technology in 2017. Blockchain has also innovated to use smart contract technology through the platform Ethereum, which allows financial instruments like loans and bonds to be digitally represented.
Outside finance, blockchain has many thousands of potential applications across industries as diverse as agriculture, government, sport, real estate and health. The ability to accurately record ownership and transfers without the use of an intermediary or risk of human error offers enormous promise to companies who grasp this technology early.
To hear Dr Stronetta explain where Blockchain can take you,
and to learn more about this fascinating technology, join us at The Blockchain Economy World Tour.
Sydney
30 April & 1 May 2018.
Register here and exclusive to all Australian FinTech subscribers, please use the promo code australianfintech for 10% discount off all tickets and corporate sponsorship packages.
