Blockchain Fundamentals, by Almudena de la Mata

Over the last few years, Blockchain has become one of the revolutionary technologies not only of our economy but also of our society. This technology was born with the creation of the Bitcoin network in 2008 (S. Nakamoto “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-peer Electronic Cash System”). With it, it became possible for the first time to exchange value directly between unknown parties (peer-to-peer), without intermediaries and in a strictly digital way.
Until then, the Internet had made digital data exchange possible. However, this TCP/IP protocol was insufficient for the transfer of value, which had always required a complex network of trusted third parties to take place. For example, until the creation of the Bitcoin network, payments had only been possible thanks to a system in which different players were involved in order to make the exchange secure. The Bitcoin protocol created a unit of account (the bitcoin) or digital currency that could be exchanged virtually automatically by the parties involved in the system without the need for banks, clearing and settlement systems and other third parties to provide security for these transactions.

The original version of this article in Spanish. Click here to see the publication in Spanish.