The Blockchain is an important new technology, but it is shrouded in mystery: what does it do? Why is it such a big deal? How is it related to bitcoin? In this short presentation (with attached video), I attempt to answer those questions.

1. BitCoin Basics: Doing Ordinary
Things in Amazing Ways
Paul Brody, Americas Technology Strategy Leader
@pbrody
Linkedin.com/in/pbrody
December 2015

2. BitCoin, the first real implementation of BlockChain
technology is in many ways not at all revolutionary.
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What bitcoin does is nothing special. How bitcoin works is revolutionary.

3. BitCoin is the re-invention of the most basic workload in the
world of modern computing: transaction processing.
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The Block Chain
CICS in 1966

4. The Blockchain is the generic name for the database and
transaction processing capabilities that power BitCoin
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One individual transaction record.
The Hash is an encryption algorithm that provides a
unique result for each block. Tampering with any record
in the block will cause the hash to change and show
attempted fraud.
A group of transactions that are all approved at once and
added to the database are called a Block.
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5. The Blockchain is the generic name for the database and
transaction processing capabilities that power BitCoin
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String multiple blocks together and you get a
BlockChain.

6. Though the results look similar to other systems, the way
that BitCoin works is profoundly different
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Distributed processing
Every node in the network checks the
work of other notes.
Confirming transactions involves
solving a small math problem with
random numbers. Multiple parties
work on this simultaneously.
Transactions are confirmed by a kind
of digital majority vote.
The result is that collusion to approve
fraudulent transactions is difficult.
Original
Transaction
Copies for
Verification &
Processing

7. Though the results look similar to other systems, the way
that BitCoin works is profoundly different
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Synchronized Records
Every participant in the network
keeps a copy of all the transactions.
Transactions are secured by
encryption to prevent tampering.
Change your transaction history, and
your hash numbers will be out of sync
with all others, exposing tampering.
Distributed processing
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8. Though the results look similar to other systems, the way
that BitCoin works is profoundly different
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Distributed processing
Synchronized Records
Smart Information
Transactions can be sent with rules
attached - small programs that
govern when and how money is
delivered.

9. BitCoin may the single most secure piece of commercial
information technology ever created
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Secure
Efficient
Open
Commercial
Resilient and reliable.
Using the resources already there.
Open source, transparent.
Designed for commerce.

10. You can use BitCoin and it’s core technology in number of
different ways.
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As A Bank & Currency
As originally intended.#
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11. You can also use the public BitCoin BlockChain as a kind of
digital records & operations platform
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BitCoin As A Platform
You can insert information and
records into transactions and do so in
very tiny amounts - $0.00001 cents,
for example.
You can take advantage of the public
nature of the blockchain and the large
number of people securing it with
their computing power.
As A Bank & Currency
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Car
Ownership
Shipping
Records
Notary
Records
Power
Usage

12. You can also take the technology and build your own
entirely new platform and fresh blockchain
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As A Bank & Currency
BitCoin As A Platform
Blockchain Platforms
You can replace the currency
component with any transactional
data you want and build your own
programming & transaction platform.
It can be public, private or a hybrid.
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13. The future is already here,
it’s just not evenly distributed.
William Gibson

14. The computing power required to run Blockchain-based
applications is now spreading far and wide
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Powerful System on Chip costs are dropping so quickly, they are
converging with traditional embedded chip costs:
Non-Recurring Engineering Cost for
Customized Embedded Chips
Shift to SOC with software
customization here
Illustrative: As SOCs drop in price, customization will shift to software, not hardware
Time + + + +
Embedded Unit Cost
Average Embedded Cost
Average SOC Cost
At higher end of the market, this shift has
already started:
These high powered SOC chips can run the full
technology stack - they are servers in their own
right, no need for a data center any more.
Apple Lightning HDMI Adapter
• Full ARM SoC with
over 256MB of RAM
• Boots OS X Core
when plugged in
• Conducts software
conversion of MPEG
to HDMI in real time

15. The computing power in every-day things is already more
than everything in every data center.
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Global Installed Base of Computing Devices
Millions of Units in 2015
1
10
100
1,000
10,000
AWS Servers PCs SmartPhones
2,222
890
5.6
Global Installed Base of Computing Storage
Estimated Petabytes in 2014-5
1
100
10,000
1,000,000
Dropbox Facebook Microsoft AWS PC Storage
890,000
900
300300
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Installed base and company data center sizes are estimates based on limited public information. PC & Smartphone shipments from
statistia.com. Storage data estimated assuming 1TB per PC.

16. The result will be nothing less than a complete shift in how
technology solutions and designed and architected
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Modern Era
Expensive
Computing
Post-Modern Era
Free Computing
High Trust
Environment
Centralized
Internet
Low Trust
Environment
Distributed
Internet

17. @pbrody
linkedin.com/in/pbrody
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