OccupierEdge_Ed.4_US 5_17

BY NOW, MOST OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM BLOCKCHAIN. YOU PROBABLY HEARD ABOUT IT IN REFERENCE TO THE DIGITAL CURRENCY BITCOIN, WHICH WAS ITS FIRST APPLICATION. BUT, DID YOU KNOW THAT BITCOIN IS ONLY ONE OF ABOUT 700 HUNDRED APPLICATIONS THAT USE THE BLOCKCHAIN OPERATING SYSTEM TODAY? In fact, some of the world’s largest banks, central banks, governments, universities and technology companies are working with blockchain as a future technology – and a whole host of possibilities are on the horizon for commercial real estate. What is blockchain? How does it work? A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger or decentralized database that supports and provides a constantly expanding inventory of records, termed blocks, which are fortified against alteration and adjustment. Each block possesses a timestamp and a link to a previously created block. As it operates, a blockchain effectively serves as a public ledger for all transactions. Every user is able to link up to the network, post new transactions and authenticate transactions. Blockchain THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A NEW WAY OF CONDUCTING BUSINESS

A transaction is requested

The transaction is disseminated to a P2P network comprising of computers known as nodes

The nodes authenticate the transaction and the user’s status

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Once authenticated, the transaction is conjoined with other transactions to form a new block of data for the ledger

The transaction is concluded

The new block is then appended to

the existing Blockchain. The data and information contained are fixed

26 The Occupier Edge