Blockchain technology has to be one of the biggest innovations of the 21st century given the ripple effect it is having on various sectors, from financial to manufacturing as well as education. Unknown to many is that Blockchain history dates back to the early 1990’s. Since its popularity started growing a few years back, a number of applications have cropped up all but underlining the kind of impact it is destined to have as the race for digital economies heat up.


We have come so far since the inception of Blockchain. By reflecting on when and how this incredible technology sparked into existence and mapping out how it has evolved over the years, we can look to the future and identify aspects of our way of life that stand to benefit the most.


Early years


In 1991, Stuart Haber & Scott Stornetta envisioned what people know now as blockchain. Their first work was a cryptographically secured chain of data blocks of documents and timestamps that no one could crack and tamper.


They upgraded their system to incorporate Merkle trees that increased efficiency which enables the collection of more data on a block. It was only in 2008 that Blockchain History became relevant, thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto.


Satoshi Nakamoto is thought of as the brains behind blockchain technology. Not much is known about him as people also believe he could be an individual or a group of people that made Bitcoin, the first application of the digital ledger technology.


After its conceptualisation in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the first whitepaper about blockchain technology the following year in 2009. In it, he gave details of how blockchain technology was capable to enhance digital trust, given that blockchain had a decentralisation aspect. This meant nobody would ever be in control of anything.


Evolution and future


Blockchain technology since then has slowly but surely settled into becoming something of a common and practical technology. Having been heavily scrutinized by the public and also the private sector for its capabilities, it has developed into a technology with many applications and potentials which are still being explored even until today.


The breakthrough technology’s future looks bright in part because of the way various institutions and enterprises are investing big as they seek to spur innovations and applications. It is becoming increasingly clear that one day there will be a public blockchain that anyone can use.


Advocates expect the technology to help in the automation of most tasks handled by professionals in all sectors. The technology is already finding great use in supply management as well as in the cloud computing business. The technology should also find its way into basic items such as search engine on the internet in future.


As the technology evolves, economists all over the world expects at least one business built on blockchain to come into being valued at more than $10 billion by 2022. Research firms expect business value because of the digital ledger technology to grow to over $176 billion by 2025 and exceed the $3.1 trillion by 2030.

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