Blockchain Spreads Its Wings

While the excitement seen at the beginning of 2014 over bitcoin has fizzled out, investors are becoming more and more interested in the technology behind the cryptocurrency Blockchain. Blockchain is an infinite ledger that keeps track of all transactions for bitcoin, and enthusiasts say it won’t be long before the technology has become widely used throughout several sectors.

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Blockchain For Central Banks

On Monday, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis David Andolfatto said he believes that Blockchain technology could help improve the Federal Reserve by making it more accountable to the public. In his view, a ledger that kept track of all movements within the bank would take away a lot of the uncertainty associated with centralized banking.

Social Media Jumps On Board

ChangeTip has added Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) to its list of usable platforms alongside Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) and Reddit, and now allows users to tip each other in bitcoin. Embedding bitcoin into the world’s most popular social media site, ChangeTip said, is an important step in spreading the technology to the masses.

Big Name Partners

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and Samsung are also working on integrating Blockchain into their own partnership to create a fully functional decentralized "Internet of Things." The two are looking use Blockchain to create a ledger that would record billions of devices from the moment they are manufactured.

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Blockchain Propels Cryptocurrencies Forward

While bitcoin itself appears to be struggling, many companies say the Blockchain technology will continue advancing regardless. Eventually, most expect some sort of cryptocurrency to become the norm for online transactions, and whether or not bitcoin succeeds, Blockchain will become the standard for carrying out online transactions without a third party.

Some enthusiasts say that with time, Blockchain will allow people to do more than just transfer money. The technology could make it possible to create usable contracts without lawyers and make share market trades without the need for a broker.