“Blockchain is so much more than cryptocurrency or bitcoin,” said Nancy Min at the January 2021 CleanTech Alliance breakfast, sponsored by Perkins Coie.
Nancy Min from Ecolong spoke to 58 attendees at the January breakfast about the applications for blockchain in the energy sector and explained how it can be used for secure transactions.
First, Nancy gave an overview of what blockchain is and how it works. She talked about how the first step of blockchain is when a user enters a transaction that is digitally signed and how the transaction is then broadcast to nodes in the network and validated according to an endorsement policy. The nodes then validate the transaction and broadcast them into blocks, which are chained together.
Since blockchain is a distributed ledger, it’s virtually impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.
She talked about how blockchain can be used in almost every industry sector out there from the traditional use of decentralized financial transactions to securely storing personal information for voting and more.
Nancy then pivoted to talking about blockchain in the energy sector and how the power system as we know it today is undergoing a transition from centralized generation to distributed generation with two-way flow to accommodate decentralized solar, electric cars, microgrids, and more.
While utilities were a little hesitant about the new technology at first, they’re warming up to the idea and now more and more utilities are seeing blockchain’s benefits as an increasing number of pilot projects are deployed.
After Nancy took questions from the audience, attendees had the opportunity to network with each other for the remainder of the event.
To watch a full recording of the event, click here.
To learn more about the CleanTech Alliance Breakfast Series sponsored by Perkins Coie, click here.