Blockchain, explained

Last week was a big one for those in the blockchain world, with the announcement that several major Wall Street banks would be joining Brooklyn blockchain startup ConsenSys in developing blockchain uses for finance.

But what the blockchain is exactly is still difficult for many people, and for good reason: it’s complicated.

We’ve offered a primary explainer on what Ethereum, the blockchain en vogue du jour, is, but the Harvard Business Review just published a good lil history of how the blockchain came to be, starting with Bitcoin’s birth less than 10 years ago, which contextualizes the technology well.

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Coverage of blockchain exploded last week, with stories in both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal about the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, and later in the week, a Times piece on how the technology could be used for a host of transactions.

Be advised that the author is not a reporter, but rather someone invested in the blockchain. That would be our only complaint, but the piece’s benefits outweigh that negative.