Will Blockchain Change the World?
Summer 2018
This promising
new tech is
poised to rock the
tech sector —
and create lucrative
opportunities.
Huge buzz has been building for
blockchain, a set of technologies
that is revolutionizing a multitude
of applications, most visibly with
cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Largely
due to Bitcoin's rapid rise and wild
fluctuations, blockchain has attracted
media attention and spurred a wave
of excitement and anticipation.
Any product or enterprise that
references blockchain is considered
to be cutting-edge, even if the
association is frivolous. Consider that
Long Island Iced Tea Company
simply changed its name to Long
Blockchain and its stock price tripled
overnight.
Blockchain might not be widely
understood just yet, but it's poised
to change the world in many ways,
maybe even make it a better
place, creating opportunities far
beyond Bitcoin, said Mark Rudolph,
a math Ph.D. who helped design
curriculum for the new DCE Blockchain
Technologies certificate
program.
“Bitcoin is the first application that's
publicly visible, but it's not the whole
story of blockchain, not at all,” he
said. “The value of blockchain is
greatly more than just cryptocurrency.
I'm idealistic that it can
make a significant, positive impact
in a number of ways. Blockchain
technology can play a role in
enforcing fair elections, as well as
make business and government
practices more honest and
transparent. Blockchain is perfect
evidence of every transaction.
It's practically written in stone.”
Perhaps blockchain's most
promising attribute is that “it
encourages truth instead of
corruption,” Rudolph said.
Truth and transparency
Every vote, or any type of digital
transaction, is stored so deeply in
multiple locations, it makes it virtually
impossible to change or compromise.
Doing so would prove impossibly
costly in money and time, making
it unrealistic to even attempt it.
“Ensuring fair elections is especially
important because electronic
voting is completely unreliable,”
said Rudolph. “If someone votes
for candidate A, there's no way
to know if the machine registers
it for candidate B. Paper ballots
are better, but even they can
be destroyed. Blockchain would
provide a verifiable voting record
and eliminate the possibility of
interference or an inaccurate
count.”
It's a game-changing system that
can benefit society in many ways,
and elections are just the iceberg's
tip. Blockchain can play a positive
role in any online product or service
that requires a coded transaction,
from smart contracts and financial
agreements to cryptocurrency
trading and online purchasing.
And it's already expanding into
mainstream business at an
impressive rate.
Consider that blockchain created
2 million U.S. jobs in 2017, with nearly
17% growth projected through 2027.
Not incidentally, median annual
salary is over $95,000.
Governments, banks, tech start-ups,
and venture capital firms are
among those creating a wave of
new products and services with
blockchain technologies. The
possibilities are nearly endless for
those seeking to capitalize.
A world of opportunities
The new UCI Division of Continuing
Education Blockchain Technologies
certificate program — designed
by UCI faculty, industry experts and
consultants — starts with a basic,
comprehensive overview, then
takes a deep dive into several of
blockchain's most relevant
applications.
The 12-unit program provides a
strong background in blockchain,
especially for those in marketing,
sales, business analysis, computer
engineering or computer science.
Any professional looking to broaden
their skills in this high-demand field
can benefit from learning
blockchain.
“The program starts with an
introduction to blockchain, what it is
and how it works,” Rudolph said.
“Then the students learn about
separate aspects like
cryptocurrencies, smart contracts,
coding, and career opportunities.
We want to make it easier to
understand the basics, then put
students in a position to use it.”
Those interested can get an early
jump on the program with an
intensive one-day Blockchain Boot
Camp at UC Irvine on July 21. A host
of experts, including entrepreneurs
and tech consultants, will be on
hand to speak on a range of topics.
Participants will learn what the
future holds for businesses, investors,
and start-ups.
The boot camp is intended for
anyone who wants to learn about
this emerging technology, and no
prior blockchain or coding
experience is necessary.
Blockchain 101
Which brings us to a basic question:
What exactly is blockchain and how
does it work? An in-depth answer
would require a 101 introduction
course, or at least an all-day boot
camp, but let's look briefly at
cryptoeconomics, which forms a
basis of blockchain.
Simply put, cryptoeconomics is a
science that provides a set of digital
protocols that govern transactions in
a decentralized digital economy.
Every bit of information, or
transaction, is added to digital
blocks that link to one another in an
immutable chain. It keeps the
process as honest and transparent
as possible, without needing to be
governed by a central authority.
“Briefly, a blockchain is a peer-to-peer
distributed ‘ledger’ of data
with no central source of validity,”
said Rudolph, a computer software
expert with a long history in the tech
sector. “When agreement, truth
and verification are simple protocol
and algorithms, we don't need
authoritarian central or global
bureaucratic-corporate government
to determine those for us.”
To better understand blockchain and
Bitcoin, it helps to look at the concept
of money in a historical and
conceptual context, Rudolph said.
“Money in general is not a fixed
absolute,” he added. “First there
was barter, and then some sort of
abstraction to represent physical
goods such as knots on a string, or
some such symbol. Then certain
‘useless and immutable’ physical
goods such as gold began to be
bartered and represented by
abstract symbols.”
Next came pieces of paper to
represent gold and physical goods,
then plastic cards with digital
information. All these means of
representing and trading value
have one thing in common — a
final common source of authority
needed to be trusted to ensure
and establish value.
“Historically that trust has been in
central governmental and banking
authorities,” Rudolph said. “The next
move is from systems needing
central authority to free peer-topeer
blockchain-distributed systems,
maintained without needing a
central governing source of power.”
The potential is enormous.
Blockchain applications are
poised to further deconstruct
central authorities in many fields:
art and media, invention and
innovation, voting and democracy,
he added. “The limits are only our
imagination and historic period.”
Learn more
ce.uci.edu/blockchain