TECH TALK
EBLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY COULD BY JOHN PAWLICKI | OPM RESEARCH
THE TERM ‘BLOCKCHAIN’ FIRST APPEARED WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY NAMED BITCOIN. BITCOIN MAY OR MAY NOT SURVIVE OVER TIME, BUT THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY NAMED BLOCKCHAIN MOST CERTAINLY WILL. IT REPRESENTS THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF THE VIRTUAL WORLD, LITERALLY BURYING THE OLD PAPER-BASED WORLD AND ALL OF ITS ASSOCIATED EXPENSIVE AND INEFFICIENT PROCESSES WITH IT. IN FACT, OUTSIDE OF JUST OFFERING UP A NEW TYPE OF CURRENCY, BLOCKCHAIN USE ALREADY AFFECTS MANY INDUSTRIES. THE BLOCKCHAIN MECHANISM CREATES A MEANS BY WHICH TO RECORD OR DOCUMENT WHO OWNS SOMETHING, AND ALLOW FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW OR TRUST EACH OTHER TO DO SO TO FACILITATE ANY TRANSACTION.
Before we get into what
blockchain exactly is and how it can be used in aviation, a little background is in order.
A VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW OF
BLOCKCHAIN (AND BITCOIN) We will use examples based upon Bitcoin since it is the most public example of this technology. In a nutshell, Bitcoin is an open-
source online fi nancial network that is used to send cash or transactional data from one party to another.
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While it is mainly known for use by criminals or for black market transactions that cannot be traced (easily), it is also being increasingly accepted by many retailers and companies. Blockchain is used to provide evidence of a transaction, and essentially, a ‘block’ is generated to record a transaction with pertinent information (refer to the illustration ‘How Blockchain Works’ on page 20, courtesy of Paul Forrest). This transaction is then broadcast to everyone in the network.
Transmitting this to others practically eliminates the potential for fraud since all such transactions need to be verifi ed by other service providers (refer to fi gure 2 on page 22, courtesy of Open Blockchain – Knowledge Media Institute). If any block (transaction event) cannot be verifi ed by others, it is rejected. A block records a transaction. Once the transaction is complete, it is added to a blockchain which acts as a permanent database in a ledger. This leads to an endless number of
LIMINATE MOST AVIATION FORMS
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