Whether it’s tracking supply chains, or confirming transactions distributed ledger technology (DLT) is changing the way information is gathered and shared. The advancement of data science, computing software, hardware, and networks has allowed for more people to gain access to information while increasing the security and reliability of the data. These new capabilities have removed third parties like lawyers and notaries regulators, banks or government agencies from having to validate and ensure that the accuracy of the data is guaranteed.
A distributed ledger is a database that is shared among several individuals from different locations in a network and synchronized across the entire network to ensure accuracy. This makes the database more secure and transparent which helps reduce fraud and errors. DLTs also reduce or eliminate the need for human labour to track and record data, which could save companies money.
There are many types of DLTs that are available, but the most well-known is blockchain, which functions as the foundation of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Other DLTs include holochain, an alternative that is scalable to blockchain, which uses virtual voting as a mechanism for consensus; and tempo or Radix, which divides the database into segments so they can update in parallel, instead of sequentially. DLTs are extremely versatile and have a myriad of applications they can be used to enable secure, peer-to–peer payments. They are also being used to verify transactions control supply chains, track the origins of products, and in many other ways, increase the efficiency and transparency of business processes.