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BLOCKCHAIN EXPLAINED
Why Delaware can be home to next-gen tech
BY JACOB OWENS
As cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin become more mainstream, awareness is growing of the technology underpinning their ability to operate: blockchain.
At its core, blockchain is just a sophisticated database that isn’t stored in one centralized place. It notably employs a checksum signature that makes compromising the data impossible while also increasing the transparency of transactions.
Data is stored as a “block,” which features a unique signature and the signature of the block preceding it. As data is “chained” together, the ability for a hacker to change info
in a block becomes impossible because it would have to
be changed in every block in the chain.
Further adding to its security is blockchain’s decentralized foundation, meaning everyone has access to all records rather than a central server. With a traditional centralized database, such as Oracle or SQL, a bad actor could more directly access information and an administrator would have a much more difficult time ascertaining who may have changed what in a record.
“With blockchain, there is no way of changing the data.
MICHAEL MARQUARDT
That could be useful for things like tax records or death registries,” explained Michael Marquardt, a Wilmington-based international business consultant who has studied the blockchain sector for years.
Excitement about the potential for blockchain grew amid the “sharing economy” fervor of the 2010s, which saw companies like
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Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Airbnb become household names. Delaware was an early adopter in the movement, as then-Gov. Jack Markell signed a memorandum of understanding with Uber and Lyft allowing the services to legally operate in the state while legislators ironed out how to regulate them.
“There’s a lot more to the sharing economy than just
Uber and Airbnb. There’s all kinds of data and being the incorporation state and [I told the governor] we could really make a statement by saying that we’re embracing all this technology,” Marquardt recalled.
Delaware’s status as a place for blockchain innovation was