Blockchain and bitcoin go together like peanut butter and jelly, but blockchain and healthcare are more like peanut butter and pickles. The technology has immense potential, but it should be approached with caution, said industry experts at The Blockchain Summit hosted by Health Tech Austin on Wednesday.

Blockchain is essentially what it sounds like — a network of records, or “blocks,” of transactions that are recorded both chronologically and publicly. It’s the technology that enables cryptocurrency transactions.

It’s also part of the new digitalization of the healthcare industry that started back in 2009 with the shift toward electronic health records.

“Traditionally, healthcare has been an industry that has adapted to technology in certain areas very quickly,” said Anjum Khurshid, director of data integration at Dell Medical School, at the summit.

To read more, please see the entire Daily Texan article here:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/04/19/blockchain-places-power-back-in-patients-hands

The conference was as it was billed. Debate was lively and the McCombs School of Business delivered in fresh fashion–hosting in the newly built Rowling Hall and inviting speakers to challenge expired conventions. Skepticism was healthy and conversation frank, still optimism won out.

For me, I was most pleased by one no-nonsense idea: Industry leaders need to think more critically in a climate beginning to value “Proof of News” over “Proof of Work.”

The concept was most explored by Jimmy Song (Venture Partner, Blockchain Capital), but was, in some fashion, picked up on by Ryan Gaylor (Director of Corporate Payments, Ripple), Radia Perlman (Fellow, Dell EMC), Tuur Demeester (Editor and Chief, Adamant Research), and in an even more nuanced and refreshing way, Dave Hirsch (Enforcement Attorney, SEC).

To read more, please see Evan Kirkham’s entire LinkedIn post:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/proof-news-cutting-through-cryptobuzz-mccombs-school-evan-kirkham/

Blockchain is a technology that was created as a database for the virtual currency Bitcoin.

Now, it is having its own moment in the spotlight.

Companies, entrepreneurs and governments are looking into how blockchain could be used to solve some of the biggest problems facing business and society.

To understand why, we spoke with McCombs School of Business professor Cesare Fracassi, an organizer of the first McCombs Blockchain Conference.

What exactly is blockchain in simple terms?

CF: Since the beginning of humanity, people have used what’s known as centralized ledgers. A ledger is a place where events such as land sale deeds, marriages, births, or transactions are recorded. In the past, there was a single central authority like a government or bank deciding what goes on the ledger. Blockchain is a distributed ledger — now, new technology allows for multiple participants in a network to collectively decide what goes on a ledger.

To read more of this interview, please see the entire article:
https://news.utexas.edu/2018/04/10/blockchain-beyond-bitcoin