Blockchain Basics

Blockchain technology demands attention. And it's not just due to the way it revolutionized monetary transactions. The concept of transactional trust through code has disrupted a variety of industries, offering ways to streamline everything from financial services to identity management. In this introductory-level course, learn what blockchain is and what it might mean to you.

Instructor Jonathan Reichental dives into the topic from a conceptual perspective, ensuring that a nontechnical audience can glean value from each lesson. Jonathan describes some of the current challenges with the internet, including existing risks and security problems. He goes over how traditional online databases function, so that you have a basis for how the blockchain redesigns this function. Plus, learn how the blockchain has become a potential solution for many of the existing limitations of online databases, which challenges must be solved in order to achieve broader adoption, and more.

Learning objectives
List the core benefits of a traditional database.
Assess whether Bitcoin requires any intermediaries in a transaction or not.
Explain why blockchain technology is useful beyond cryptocurrency.
Identify some ways to reduce the risk of blockchain innovation.