By Kwami Ahiabenu,II Blockchain is a good example of distributed technology in action. Invented in 2008 to run the peer-to-peer digital cash, Bitcoin, this technology has evolved to power other applications for things such as copyright protection, tracking of ownership, voting, digital assets management, among others. Blockchains are essentially a digital ledger which chronicles transactions and makes them publicly available. How does it work In the parlance of cryptocurrency, a block records a new set of transactions. Once this transaction is completed as a block, it is added to the chain, resulting in a chain of blocks; blockchains. Since elements of blockchain are encrypted (the data they contain is coded and unreadable, thereby preventing unauthorised access), processing these transactions involve the solving of complicated mathematical problems which become more difficult as the blockchain builds up. “Mining” is the process of solving these equations and the miner...