Think about a time when you were working on a group project in Google Docs. Did you find it hard to agree on and communicate changes to the document so that everyone was happy? Every edit matters, so that each group member is proud of the final deliverable, yet we all know the experience of working with a rogue or lazy member who could potentially sabotage the whole thing. Though accountability is built into the platform through the editing history, some unauthorized edits might slip by. How could you ensure that each addition is verified by the group, and sneaky changes don’t make it into the final product? 

Imagine a version of Google Docs that requires asking permission for individual additions, akin to a super-secure suggestion mode, and if a group member tries to submit an unofficial version of the project, the submission can be cross-referenced with the other group members’ copies and automatically rejected. This way, everyone trusts that the final draft is what they expected, and is hopefully content with the resulting grade.

These features resemble the technology behind blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger that securely records and links transactions in a transparent, shared computer network.¹ Though the analogy of a shared document system, which we might call Google Docs+, is simplified compared to blockchains, they are similar in how they track records in a publicly visible history to boost transparency and prevent fraudulent activity. While blockchains are well-known for their essential use in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, they are applicable to a variety of industries due to their security and ability to make data immutable. With each “block” having the characteristic of being unchangeable, data reliability is maintained right from the point of data entry.¹ Blockchain helps mitigate worries by circumventing third parties like humans or banks, who are prone to biases and errors.²

Blocks are connected through cryptography, which lets blockchains retain data that is collectively controlled by all users in a peer-to-peer fashion.¹ These networks are typically used for transaction-based ledgers, but are capable of featuring all types of information in the chain.² When blocks of data are linked together, a secure and open ledger is maintained. This may sound confusing at first due to the abstract, digital nature of blockchains, but the name gives us some insight: information is openly shared with integrity through blocks, so that everyone can see what transactions or other actions are chained together across public networks, preventing unauthorized changes from occurring. 

How does a blockchain work?

Still feeling lost? It’s not uncommon. An intuitive way to think about blockchains is when you are using Google Docs: you share your project with your group members, with easy access to the same version of a document with real-time updates. When someone makes a change, everyone can see additions, with a visible editing history—yet crucially, our fictitious Google Docs+ helps us appreciate the ability of blockchains to resist changes and save only authorized additions onto the digital ledger. This keeps data changes honest via time-stamps, just like the transparency of actions in blockchains, and Google Docs+ has the added feature of requiring you to ask permission first to validate these changes amongst group members, further enhancing security.

With each transaction or any other piece of information, a record is made into a new “block” separate from other historical transactions. Blocks are then permanently “chained” together so changes are visible, and each block has key information about an asset or data values and the ensuing process.³ Instead of relying on a central authority like a bank, blockchain networks validate and store transactions through distributed consensus mechanisms.² The step-by-step process is as follows:

At a finer level, we can understand the functionality of blockchains by looking at programs, or “scripts,” that run tasks you otherwise would in a database, like inputting or retrieving information, and organizing it in a given digital location. For example, Bitcoin gathers transaction data and puts it into a 4MB-sized file as a block. When storage is full, the data goes through a cryptographic hash function and generates a unique number called the block header hash.¹ Because the hash is generated from the data contained within the block, any alterations will cause the hash to change, and the links in the chain to break, contributing to the immutability of a blockchain.

Key features of blockchain

Blockchain technology is inherently a distributed ledger, where everyone taking part in the network has access to a record of unique shared transactions.² With other core features like decentralization, immutability, transparency, and public key cryptography, blockchain builds trust between participants without the need for intermediaries.³ Let’s spell out these features with concrete uses: ^{1, 2} 

Arriving at a consensus: proof of work versus proof of stake 

Due to their collaborative nature, blockchains and their nodes must arrive at a mutually agreed upon consensus in one of two ways: using private blockchains that have secure corporations that review any amendments or additions to a given blockchain, or via public blockchains that use larger markets. When it comes to these public blockchains, there are two common ways to find a consensus:³

1. Proof-of-work: The first node, or user, that validates an initial transaction or data point in the digital ledger gets a reward called a “token.” Also called a “miner,” the user has to find a solution to a cryptographic question to get the tokens. This can be lucrative, but energy-consuming.
2. Proof-of-stake: Instead of a race to mine first, users put cryptocurrencies in a shared account to enter for their chance to win tokens as a reward while saving energy too. These miners earn “scores” relative to their unique coins in their digital wallets—and how long their wallet holds them, increasing their chances of validating a transaction for rewards.

Something we’ll investigate further is concerns about energy usage linked to blockchains and their risks to the environment. Using proof-of-stake, as Ethereum began to do in September 2022 during “the Merge” as a transition away from proof-of-work, is an effective way that cryptocurrency companies can be more sustainable.³, ⁴ To put this into perspective: one transaction of an Ethereum blockchain before this switch used nearly 110 kg of CO2—equivalent to a week’s worth of American household energy use.4 Non-crypto organizations can follow suit to create blockchains that don’t overconsume energy.

Blockchain network types

By now, we are aware of at least two types of networks: public versus private ones. It is worth taking a closer look at these two network types, and alternative foundations to making blockchains through permissioned or consortium-built options:²

Bitcoin versus banks: The blockchain difference

Blockchain has greater versatility beyond its applications in financial products and digital assets, though it is most famous for Bitcoin.⁵ With the ubiquity of such cryptocurrencies, it is important to distinguish blockchain from Bitcoin itself. Bitcoin is rooted in blockchain technology, as the first real-world use of blockchain that transparently keeps track of transactions amongst peers, rivaling conventional financial institutions like banks. When it comes to the bank, there are some other key differences:¹

Outside of crypto: real-world blockchains 

It isn’t all about crypto. Beyond digital currencies like Bitcoin, blockchain is used in industries like finance, healthcare, and supply chain management to increase traceability, efficiency, and data integrity.⁵ And yes, AI finds its place within the blockchain, too, making data more transparent and secure in settings like healthcare to assess patient data for tailored treatment plans.² These implementations underscore the potential of blockchains, which may make it even easier to understand their broad applications. Next time you travel, you might think about how companies could work with airlines to track your flight attendant’s travels using blockchains to reduce intermediary contacts for less noisy communication.

Distributed Ledger: A real-time, shared database where each participant has access to the same version of recorded transactions, promoting transparency and reducing coordination friction.

Cryptography: The use of mathematical algorithms to secure data through encryption, by converting it into a code that can only be deciphered by authorized parties, ensuring only they can access transaction details. Cryptography is essential for maintaining trust and anonymity in blockchain systems.

Consensus Mechanisms: Protocols that allow distributed networks to agree on the validity of transactions, such as Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS), helping prevent fraud without centralized oversight.

Hash Function: A cryptographic tool that converts input data into a fixed-length string of characters, ensuring data security and linking blocks in a tamper-evident way.

Block Header: A summary of key metadata from a block, like the previous block’s hash or a timestamp, that helps validate and link blocks together in a secure and chronological chain.

Blockchain Explorer: A public search tool that lets users view blockchain transactions, wallet balances, and block history in real time. These explorers are used to verify transfers or trace activity, as seen with platforms like Etherscan for Ethereum. 

Smart Contract: Self-executing digital agreements that trigger actions when conditions are met, streamlining transactions and reducing reliance on third-party enforcement. One example may be automatically providing a payment once goods are delivered to a company.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO): Blockchain-based entities governed by smart contracts, where decision-making is decentralized and typically managed by token holders voting on proposals. DAO allows collective governance without traditional hierarchy.

Hard Fork: When a blockchain's code is permanently altered, creating a split where one path follows the new rules and the other continues the old version. This is often due to disagreements or to fix critical issues, as seen with Ethereum after the DAO hack.

Before blockchains, cryptography was used in other settings going back thousands of years.⁶ Sourced from Greek words for “hidden writing,” cryptography is the practice of masking information to ensure its secure transfer between messenger and recipient, relied on by mathematicians, computer scientists, and cybercriminals alike. Secret messages, whether inscribed on paper or etched into stone, were exchanged via codes or ciphers long before their implementation in cybersecurity. As cryptographic algorithms advanced, more creative applications were dreamed up, with the idea for blockchains tracing back to the early 1990s with the work of Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta. 

In 1991, the pair of research scientists came up with the name “blockchain technology” to describe systems for time-stamping digital documents to prevent tampering, where such documents were stored in a “chain of blocks.”⁷  Haber and Stornetta’s pioneering work on time-stamped digital documents helped lay the foundations for blockchains. An important epiphany happened when they realized that Merkle trees— a structured data tool for fast, secure data verification from the late 1970s—could enhance their early blockchain system.⁸ With the incorporation of Merkle trees, the design could allow multiple documents to be securely collected into a single block for scale and integrity. 

In the early 2000s, several important leaps were made before cryptocurrency made a buzz. Many thinkers in the tech space were brainstorming digital currency and its security. In 2000, Stefan Konst put out a theory on secure chains and their integration oriented to cryptography with the idea of a starting block, while Hal Finney introduced a digital cash system for non-fungible cash, as unique and non-interchangeable units, in exchange for tokens in 2004.⁷, ⁸ Finney’s system brought forth the notion of keeping uniquely owned tokens on a trusted, open server—a significant influence on the adoption of proof-of-work for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies before the energy-saving shift to proof-of-stake.

In 2008, an individual, or perhaps a group of individuals, with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, released a white paper that explained cryptocurrency and blockchains as the groundwork for Bitcoin.⁷, ⁸ Initially called a “Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System,” the world’s first official blockchain came about based on Ralph Merkle’s model of a secure system for data sharing. The following year, in 2009, Nakamoto put out the closely linked white paper on Bitcoin, proclaiming its necessity. 

What may be most telling of Bitcoin’s security, even in the earliest days of its tenure, is the story of one IT worker in the U.K. who mined Bitcoin from 2009 to 2013. James Howells spent $17,000 mining Bitcoin, and after stepping away from the project, he sold the parts of his laptop on eBay, keeping only the hard drive, just in case. But in 2013, while cleaning his house, he accidentally threw it out. That lost drive contained Bitcoin now worth nearly $800 million, sitting unclaimed on the blockchain, unable to be recovered without Howells’ private key.⁹ Other now regrettable-sounding anecdotes followed, like programmers buying two Papa John’s pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin in 2010—a $40 USD transaction that would’ve been worth over $1 billion USD today.⁸ Those are some pricey pies.

In the 2010s, blockchain went beyond Bitcoin with the emergence of Ethereum in 2014, with its co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggesting the notion of decentralized networks. Ethereum was able to demonstrate that blockchain wasn’t only for digital currencies, introducing uses like automatically executed smart contracts. Over the next couple of years, Ethereum’s Frontier saw live smart contracts come to life with bigger players like Linux and Nasdaq building their own versions of blockchain on the enterprise level of business in 2015.⁷, ⁸ This was followed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) exploitation that led to Ethereum's first hard fork in 2016: a permanent split in the blockchain where one version rewrote the ledger to reverse the fraud, while the other continued on the original path. The attack resulted in over 3.6 million Ether being stolen in what is one of the largest digital crypto heists to date.

The 2010s brought cryptocurrency advertising bans by social media companies, sustainability concerns from mining, and some countries recognizing crypto as a legal currency—like Bitcoin in Japan.⁷ Yet, we can also look at blockchains through a philosophical lens, instead of the predominant financial tone it often holds. Blockchain represents a rethinking of trust: not as something granted to institutions, but as something built into systems via transparency and distributed consensus.¹¹ How blockchains define what information is, whether it is out in the open or not, and whom it is sourced by, may shape the next step in how it approaches complex, interconnected problems. 

Satoshi Nakamoto

The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin and the original blockchain design, whose 2008 white paper laid the foundation for decentralized digital currency and trustless consensus.

Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta

Early cryptographers who pioneered the concept of time-stamping digital documents to prevent tampering, laying the groundwork for blockchain’s immutability.

Hal Finney

A pioneering cryptographer and early Bitcoin contributor who helped test and develop the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency system.

Vitalik Buterin

A Canadian computer programmer and the co-founder of Ethereum, who expanded blockchain’s capabilities beyond currency by introducing smart contracts and programmable decentralized applications.

Though the technical features of blockchain are often in the limelight, it has several real-world impacts on how we build trust and handle data responsibly, including our duty to mitigate impacts to the environment.

Enhanced behavioral insights and transparency

Due to their immutable, time-stamped record-keeping of user actions, blockchains give researchers like psychologists the opportunity to observe behavioral patterns in a direct fashion.¹² This may be more reliable than conventional self-reported data, with the bonus of huge sample sizes when examining behaviors. To take this a step further, blockchains may be a means to observe behavior that was not previously able to be researched. 

This is one way we can truly appreciate how transparency has value beyond just tracking transactions between individuals; it can help us model systems thinking level behavior. For instance, some research teams compared 28 digital marketplaces and their 245 million transactions between 2020 and 2021, worth $25 billion USD, to assess collective behaviors.¹³ With the fascinating search into these marketplaces, financial behavioral patterns could be investigated—with a public blockchain network giving us a peek into cryptocurrency both on the illicit, dark side of the internet and the everyday, regulated side.

Trust and efficiency for enterprises

Blockchain has a clear benefit of fraud reduction, whether it be a friendly exchange of crypto or a complex cross-border payment. These transactions are not just more trustworthy and with greater data integrity, they are faster than conventional forms of payment.⁵ We can appreciate this in the cryptocurrency setting, but these impacts are also evident in industries like supply chain management and its decision-making processes.

It is easy to take for granted how your favorite fruit arrives at your local grocery store. Blockchain may be behind the satisfying bite of a dragonfruit shipped from across the globe, where it has tangible effects on supply chain resilience. Worried about some bad bananas? Blockchains are also helpful in food safety and freshness, and rerouting to the source when contamination occurs. Supply chains can be assisted by blockchain usage in other sectors like healthcare for data breaches, pharmaceuticals for paper trails, and government for innovation.¹⁴

Moving to eco-friendly and sustainable blockchains

As we’re now well aware, there are significant differences in how much energy is used with blockchains depending on the chosen consensus mechanism. Proof of work, most notably in the case of Ethereum, leads to substantially less carbon emissions relative to proof of stake. With over 70 countries responsible for nearly 80% of global carbon emissions, and their respective goal of reaching net zero, sustainable blockchains may be a key to this achievement—as failing to strive for sustainability runs the risk of blockchains being the culprit for carbon overload.¹⁵

Sustainability has broad economic, social, and political effects when it comes to blockchain. One scoping review found that these types of effects can be positively enhanced through blockchains through solutions like open tracking of emissions and circular supply chains.¹⁶ As blockchain continues to scale, its long-term environmental impact will depend not just on cleaner consensus mechanisms, but on how the technology is applied to enable more sustainable and accountable systems.

Along with its promises, limitations with blockchain stem from the tension between how the technology operates and how people behave in reality. Issues range from overconfidence in security to mysteries about governance, where the challenges are actually more human than technical. 

The scaling paradox and user expectations

As blockchain networks grow, so do promises of their capabilities, yet their speed and efficiency more than often decline. This creates a mismatch between user expectations for instantaneous data exchanges versus the system’s capacity.¹⁷, ¹⁸ Such a discrepancy between the behavioral design and its actual outcomes can ironically decrease trust for a platform that preaches being useful for its speedy, decentralized nature. 

We often neglect how the user’s inputs, biases, and expectations come into play, even with digital tools that assure seamless automation. These human elements bring questions of governance in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) for blockchains, where each participant can interact and self-determine without centralized control.18 While there are regulations and must-haves in a DAO, these only come after everyone has had their say. We must consider how, when blockchains are DAOs, they are in practice a democracy that is defined by how many votes each user gets, ownership relative to tokens, and the weight of users’ opinions. 

A seesaw of perceived security vs. real-world risks

Blockchain security is a balancing act due to reliance on endpoints like digital wallets or centralized exchanges, which may be understood as behavioral blind spots for risk management. This security is not only in the data exchanges themselves, but also the volatility of blockchain settings like cryptocurrency and its obsessive users—overconfident, hopeful, get-rich-quick humans.¹⁹

One thing blockchains and such overconfident individuals have in common is immaturity: blockchains have only been around for so long, and meaningful assurance still needs to be earned.²⁰ While some industries have seen great success with their security and usefulness, others have yet to be tested. Until blockchain systems are more rigorously tested across diverse, high-stakes contexts, the gap between their perceived invincibility and actual vulnerability will remain a risky illusion.

Take your pick: transparency or privacy?

Many express vigilance with public blockchains being so radically transparent, leading to a conflict between human needs like privacy and control.¹⁷ With stories of security breaches and hacks on blockchain networks, skepticism arises surrounding such a new technology. In an age where it seems privacy is already dead, we may want to hold onto what inklings of privacy we have left, especially when it comes to our personal data. 

Blockchain builders are not ignorant of this criticism themselves. Buterin suggests that smart contracts can come to the rescue to ensure privacy is upheld, with tools for some properties of a given transaction being revealed without the transaction itself being out in the open.²¹ But is it enough? And are we at a crossroads where we trust our blockchains more than our banks? For some, perhaps so, but for a large chunk of the population, it takes time to earn this level of trust—especially when it's about your money.

Linking the blocks for patient-centric e-healthcare records

How many times have you visited a hospital or healthcare facility, only to face delays due to inaccessible or hard-to-find medical records? Or worse, how often have you not even made it that far because your records weren’t eligible or available? These headaches may be relieved with blockchains for electronic healthcare records (EHCs). A systematic review in 2022 investigated 22 healthcare blockchain projects with permissioned architectures like Hyperledger Fabric or private Ethereum networks that had a positive impact on patient access to EHCs.²² The research found that patients could look at and share their EHCs with more ease across providers. In these cases, particularly when your healthcare professionals can’t seem to communicate, reducing friction through medical data-sharing while keeping confidence is crucial. 

This brings us back to the psychological element of shifts in user trust and how much control we perceive. Patients reported feeling more empowered when they could see which medical professionals or institutions accessed their records and when, wouldn’t you? Key factors of health behaviors include such agency, which may correlate with higher engagement between patients and their doctors. On the flipside, providers have greater transparency for their auditing and more cooperation across organizations that may otherwise be fragmented in care environments.

More than just a technical upgrade, these blockchain-enabled systems reframed the relationship between patients, data, and institutions. By embedding transparency and consent into the structure itself, blockchain helped reduce information asymmetry. This is symbolic in supporting not only secure infrastructure, but a more trust-centered and participatory healthcare experience.

Looking ahead, blockchain’s potential in healthcare extends far beyond secure data storage, as it offers a foundation for more coordinated, patient-centered systems. From enabling real-time collaboration across providers to supporting clinical research, diagnostics, and transparent supply chains, its applications are rapidly expanding.²³ As adoption grows, blockchain could play a critical role in reshaping care delivery by bridging gaps between institutions, enhancing trust, and empowering patients with more control over their health data. The stress that comes with seeking healthcare isn’t eliminated entirely, but we could all benefit from our doctors having our records when we need them. 

Walmart’s blockchain for food and freight transparency 

In 2016, Walmart faced a pressing challenge: in the event of foodborne illness outbreaks, it took days, or sometimes weeks, to trace the source.²⁴ That delay came at a steep cost, both in public trust and wasted produce. In response, Walmart partnered with IBM to explore blockchain as a traceability tool, the subject of pilot programs on pork in China and sliced mangoes in the U.S. What took seven days to trace in the old system could now be tracked in just 2.2 seconds using Hyperledger Fabric. This marked a watershed moment in food safety and in trust-building across Walmart’s global supply chain.

Due to the decentralized nature of blockchain, every stakeholder from farmers to suppliers to Walmart itself can upload data in real time to enhance transparency and accountability across the food ecosystem. Pork suppliers in China could now verify certificates of authenticity, while leafy green producers in the U.S. were required to participate in the new system. Importantly, Walmart chose Hyperledger Fabric for its enterprise-grade security, open-source neutrality, and permissioned access—qualities that ensured scalability without sacrificing control or interoperability with other blockchain systems.

Walmart’s investment in blockchain reshaped its relationships just as much as it transformed logistics. Where once suppliers and carriers might have questioned the fairness of delays or billing disputes, now a shared, immutable ledger makes information visible and verifiable to all. This led to wider behavioral changes: more accurate labeling, better collaboration, and fewer invoice disputes. It also sparked industry-wide adoption, with Walmart helping launch IBM Food Trust alongside companies like Nestlé and Unilever to bring blockchain to the entire food supply chain.

Transparency, it turns out, isn't only about efficiency—it influences how people behave. When individuals know their actions are traceable, they are more likely to act with integrity and resolve issues constructively. In this way, Walmart’s blockchain system goes beyond technical innovation, exemplifying a behavioral intervention that leverages the psychology of trust and accountability through the evolution of one of the world’s most complex networks. 

Digital Literacy

To understand contemporary concepts like blockchains, it takes a certain knowledge of digital worlds and tools. In this piece, TDL columnist Isaac Koenig-Workman explains digital literacy today, what this means in a clickbait age, and case studies in healthcare contexts across generations—and across the globe. 

Can We Afford to be Time Poor? The Hidden Tax on Time Poverty

A large focus of blockchains is their ability to work with financial tools, paired with their efficiency for transactions. But what about when our budget for time is running low? In this article, TDL columnist and research analyst Celestine Rosales explains time poverty, how it's more than being busy, and what drives time poverty in our society today.

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