Blockchain is probably the biggest technological invention since the PC in the 1970s and the Internet in the 1990s. Designed to facilitate the transfer of money, potentially it can transfer anything, from art to real estate to shares.
Blockchain is not Bitcoin. Instead, back in 2008 Bitcoin was the first application using Blockchain but it could be used for any real currency or another bitcoin-like currency, or indeed anything of value.
Right now sending money through banks is like sending a letter: you send it and you hope it will reach its destination - which takes days, sometimes weeks, on top of which the banks collect a hefty fee. And God forbid when errors occur and money simply vanishes into thin air.
Blockchain will be the next universal banking protocol, much like the Internet protocol that ushered in the World Wide Web. It threatens conventional banks' handling of money and central banks' control of it, and they're both scrambling to get on board of this new technology. Click here for Westpac's easy-to-understand explanation of Blockchain.
We live in exciting times - long may the adventure continue!
