The blockchain, explained

Short

Short List: Can't get your head around the technology of the future? Let reporters explain. It's like a distributed ledger for convoluted analogies

1st June 2016

A beaded necklace

A spreadsheet, like Excel – but also sort of not

A colony of ants, each encoded with how to work for the good of the whole

"A place where you store any data semi-publicly in a linear container space"

A judge who records who swaps digital apples on a park bench with whom, but also "kinda like the software used in your mum's Android phone"

Scrolls encased in glass, chained together and kept in the village's public archives

The collective memory of the islanders of Yap

A poker player counting cards

A bag of Lego

Our weekly newsletter features updates on all the latest articles from The Long + Short, and a roundup of the best stories of innovation from around the web, too.

See our archive of previous newsletters. View our privacy policy.

We want our stories to go far and wide; to be seen be as many people as possible, in as many outlets as possible.

Therefore, unless it says otherwise, copyright in the stories on The Long + Short belongs to Nesta and they are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

This allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. This can be done for any purpose, including commercial use. You must, however, attribute the work to the original author and to The Long + Short, and include a link. You can also remix, transform and build upon the material as long as you indicate where changes have been made.

See more about the Creative Commons licence.

Images

Most of the images used on The Long + Short are copyright of the photographer or illustrator who made them so they are not available under Creative Commons, unless it says otherwise. You cannot use these images without the permission of the creator.

Contact

For more information about using our content, email us: [email protected]

HTML

HTML for the full article is below.

<img src="../assets/images/article-images/_articleImageFullWidth/blockchain.jpg" alt=""/> <ul><li><a href="https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/12575/why-should-you-care-about-blockchain">A beaded necklace</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.techinsider.io/what-is-blockchain-2016-3">A spreadsheet, like Excel – but also sort of not</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://europe.newsweek.com/blockchain-technology-will-remake-global-financial-system-462537">A colony of ants, each encoded with how to work for the good of the whole</a></li></ul>

<ul><li>"<a href="https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/understanding-the-blockchain">A place where you store any data semi-publicly in a linear container space</a>"</li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-explained-five-year-old/">A judge who records who swaps digital apples on a park bench with whom, but also "kinda like the software used in your mum's Android phone"</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://cointelegraph.com/news/the-human-blockchain-bitcoin-explained-without-technology">Scrolls encased in glass, chained together and kept in the village's public archives</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n08/john-lanchester/when-bitcoin-grows-up">The collective memory of the islanders of Yap</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://video.ft.com/4029769033001/How-bitcoin-and-its-blockchain-work/Companies">A poker player counting cards</a></li></ul>

This article was originally published on <a href="../index.html">TheLong+Short</a>. Read the <a href="blockchain-explained.html">original article</a>.

Sign Up

Republish

Images

Contact

HTML