Bitcoin and the Blockchain
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/JDH04y1tiDcBvTtEsm8nGL/Bitcoin-and-the-Blockchain.html
When bitcoin broke into public consciousness in 2013, it couldn’t have been sexier: a digital currency being used to buy everything from drugs to cupcakes. Now there’s a new wave of excitement about an aspect of bitcoin that is a bit less sexy: public online ledgers. The blockchain—the technology used for verifying and recording transactions that’s at the heart of bitcoin—is seen as having the potential to reshape the global financial system and possibly other industries.
The situation
After years of volatility, the price of bitcoins reached a new high in early 2017, a surge tied in part to growing global political uncertainty and to increased interest in China, where bitcoins are seen as protection against currency controls. But efforts to make bring investing in the digital currency into the mainstream were set back when the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected an application to open a bitcoin-based exchange traded fund. Meanwhile, more than 50 banks including Barclays and JPMorgan Chase have joined the R3 consortium, created to find ways to use the blockchain as a decentralized ledger to track money transfers and other transactions. R3 plans to make its software code publicly available, which could speed its broader adoption. Nasdaq Inc. is already using the blockchain—with help from start-up Chain.com—for trading securities in private companies.
Topic: [2017-03-16] Mint: Bitcoin and the Blockchain (Read 1005 times)
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