Understanding Blockchain

Course objectives

• Explain what a distributed ledger is and how a network agrees on its contents
• Compare the main consensus mechanisms and the trade-offs each makes
• Distinguish public, private and permissioned networks and their governance implications
• Identify the characteristics of a problem that genuinely suits a blockchain
• Recognise where a conventional database is the cheaper and better answer
• Interrogate a vendor proposal and test the claims made for it

Who should attend

• Managers and executives assessing blockchain proposals
• Business analysts and project managers
• Risk, audit and compliance professionals
• Public sector officials evaluating digital initiatives
• Anyone needing a grounded view of the technology without the marketing

Course outline

1. 01What a blockchain is: blocks, hashes, chains and immutability
2. 02Reaching agreement without a central authority
3. 03Consensus mechanisms and what each costs in energy, speed and finality
4. 04Public, private and permissioned networks, and who governs them
5. 05Smart contracts: what they are, and what they cannot enforce
6. 06Cryptocurrency, tokens and the distinction from the underlying ledger
7. 07Where blockchain genuinely fits, and where a database wins
8. 08Interrogating a proposal: the questions that expose a weak case

Scheduled sessions