'How blockchain could solve some of the world’s problems' – BBC World Service

Today on "People Fixing the World", a BBC World Service series, Jessi spoke to Tom Colls about blockchain tech, how it's different and how it can help solve some of the world's most difficult problems.

"One day you might have a future where every product comes with trustworthy information on every step behind its creation attached to it (by a smart label or something similar). You can see that every single stage is assured, all of the credentials behind it are verified, and you can have complete trust about all of the information behind that product." – Jessi Baker, Provenance founder & CEO

She goes on to explains the difference between a normal kind of database and blockchains as:

1. The data can't be changed. "In normal database, (if) I'm the system administrator,  I could just go in there and change all the data if I fancied it. What's cool about blockchain: nobody can change that information, so everyone along the supply chain knows that they're looking at the same information."
2. It's not owned by us. "It's not a database that I've set up and control. We're using a system that's open to anybody to use. Particularly for this kind of information which really is about societal good – it's a good idea for that to be held in the system – not owned by one individual company."
3. The full auditability. "You can see all of the transactions that have happened. There's a kind of full transparency there inherently in a blockchain that just means you can collaborate in a much easier way across different companies that don't necessarily trust each other."

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Listen to the episode on the BBC World Service's "People Fixing the World" to hear more about the tech being used for good.