Blockchain, the technology underpinning controversial digital currency bitcoin is making inroads to the mainstream in New Zealand and elsewhere.

Yesterday IBM announced a new low-cost international payments system which will be available in New Zealand using Blockchain - a way of securely conducting and recording electronic transactions without a database.

Alex Sims of Auckland University's Department of Commercial Law says the IBM announcement is a huge validation of the technology, and it's just the beginning, she tells us.

Microsoft says the government needs to work with business to prepare for the sharing economy. The sharing economy is characterised by such businesses as Uber, AirBnB and New Zealand's lending platform Harmoney. It's expected to see further growth, particularly as Blockchain technology becomes more widely used.

Blockchain is the framework for crypto currencies like Bitcoin, and is expected to do for business what the Internet did for communications.