What is Blockchain Technology? A Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners
In my experience, 99% of people who talk about the blockchain innovation have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. They also have no idea (or pretend to have no idea) why Bitcoin was invented in the first place: it was invented to avoid the need to ask a permission to send value. That's why a blockchain and proof of work were needed - so people who don't know each other could exchange value on the network safely and without intermediaries. It was not invented to make AML/KYC easier or to make banks richer.<p>One thing this article and many so called experts don't "get" about the blockchain is that it's pretty useless without the currency, namely Bitcoin. There has to be an incentive for lots of decentralized parties to verify (by spending energy) transactions on the blockchain and agree on the history - that incentive is mining currency that has value. If you "invent" your own blockchain, not many people (if any) are going to mine it, making it de-facto less secure than Bitcoin.<p>If you have a number of financial institutions (who already trust each other) that need to process transactions, send documents etc. you don't need a blockchain - you need a database and a messaging system. Blockchain is going to be a less effective and more expensive way to do the same job in this case.<p>Here's a small diagram to help you understand whether you need a blockchain: <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn2zMbTWYAAQA6i.png" rel="nofollow">https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn2zMbTWYAAQA6i.png</a>