Blockchain

The blockchain is a distributed, unchanging digital data recording system that does not require the intervention of a trusted third party. In the future, it is possible that the blockchain will play a major role in the legal world. Among other things, the development of smart contracts (contracts that execute themselves) is important.

Currently, blockchain is best known as the technology behind Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a cryptographic currency that is not supported by banks or the government. Bitcoin is a nice first application of the blockchain, but potentially the possibilities of the blockchain are greater. After all, in this registration system not only financial transactions (as is the case with Bitcoin) can be recorded, but in principle, all types of data or assets can be registered and transferred in the blockchain.

The blockchain is, as it were, a shared digital ledger, in which every transaction is registered from the very beginning of the blockchain. Every user of the blockchain has a personal copy of the digital ledger. Every time a transaction takes place in the blockchain, it is included in the blockchain. The chain in the blockchain is, therefore, getting longer and longer.

The transactions in the blockchain are public, but this does not mean that the content of the transactions is also public. After all, the data in the blockchain is stored in packets called “blocks”. The content of these blocks is cryptographically hashed (translated into an irreducible code) and included in a linear chain. Due to the fact that the code in each block matches the code from the previous block in the chain, the data in the chain cannot be changed and is unchangeable. In principle, these properties make blockchain safe and reliable.