What is blockchain?

McKinsey June 6, 2024

Blockchain is a secure database shared across a network of participants, where up-to-date information is available to all participants at the same time.

Blockchain is one of the major tech stories of the past decade. But beneath the surface chatter there’s not always a deep, clear understanding of what blockchain is, how it works, or what it’s for. Despite its reputation for impenetrability, the basic idea behind blockchain is pretty simple. And it has major potential to change industries from the bottom up.

Put simply, blockchain is a technology that enables the secure sharing of information. Data, obviously, is stored in a database. Transactions are recorded in an account book called a ledger. A blockchain is a type of distributed...

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