Ultimately, the key attribute of the technology is its ability to ensure and enshrine an often undervalued commodity: trust. The only way the protocol itself can be hacked and a false transaction entered is if a group of actors control more than 50 percent of the nodes verifying the blockchain in order to collude with one another.

To be quite clear, first-mover offerings such as bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple that are popular today might easily die a quick death tomorrow. For now, the technology remains in its infancy and new applications are still being developed. There are a number of technological challenges to be surmounted as well as regulatory hurdles to overcome before potential sectors of the economy adopt this technology — or not, as the case may be.