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