Blockchain is a decentralized ledger system that stores data in encrypted, time-stamped blocks. Though best known as the technology on which Bitcoin is founded, its capabilities extend far beyond cryptocurrencies to potential applications in cloud computing, auditing, health care, and trade.
Lin William Cong, professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, first began to follow blockchain as a doctoral student at Stanford, based close to Silicon Valley. His research on financial innovation includes the study of smart contracts — tamperproof digital transactions conducted on blockchain platforms that could make certain processes infinitely quicker and more efficient.