Blockchain is the technology for securing data, and it supports the functioning of both cryptocurrencies and newer instruments like non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Say you buy something with your credit card; your bank records that transaction on its ledger and you depend on the bank’s security systems to keep your transaction data safe. With blockchain, there is no single ledger held in a central place. Instead, a network of computers work together to create and constantly update a shared record, and to keep it more secure than if held in one spot.
Those computers secure that information by solving complex, automatically-generated math puzzles; each one’s work is verified by others in the network. Once verified, each block of data is added to that “blockchain.”
Because of its promised ability to verify transactions without a middleman and the potential to protect sensitive information from hacking, other industries have become interested in blockchain technology. For example, advertising leaders have discussed using blockchain to prevent advertising fraud and make digital ad buying more reliable. Financial institutions, also highly concerned about securing data, see potential in it as well.