What about Blockchain?

The New Zealand Government is currently reviewing the potential for a sovereign digital currency, as are many other countries around the world.

Among those in the spotlight is Blockchain, a mature technology that, while fresh to New Zealand, is growing fast.

Globally job listings for crypto and blockchain have been skyrocketing, growing 118 percent year-on-year in recent months.

Major New Zealand firms are collaborating around a shared blockchain logistics platform, the Trust Alliance, to create a trusted digital network for primary producers to easily share data, says BlockchainNZ community manager Alison Mackie.

Kiwi blockchain firms have raised more than $200 million in funding so far this year and one of the best has been Easy Crypto, she says.

The company raised $17 million, possibly a New Zealand record for a start-up first round. Easy Crypto has recorded more than $1 billion in sales, with platform user numbers multiplying almost five times in the last 12 months.

“The significance of Easy Crypto is that it is a pioneering crypto exchange that has placed New Zealand on the map as a leader in the cryptocurrency space. It is an easy platform for users to manage their own New Zealand dollar that meets the regulatory requirements of New Zealand law and banking taxation. Easy Crypto has built a reputation of being the most trusted exchange platforms in New Zealand, where people can buy and sell cryptocurrencies and keep track of the market. They do not hold private key or store funds, ensuring that people have full control of their own money. Anyone can get into cryptocurrency and utilise it as an investment opportunity as well as a digital currency. It holds the same freedom and autonomy of cash and can be seen as a personal back-up to people’s private money,” says Mackie.

How it works:

• Blockchain is a specific type of database.
• It differs from a typical database in the way it stores information; blockchains store data in blocks that are then chained together.
• As new data comes in, it is entered into a fresh block. Once the block is filled with data it is chained onto the previous block, which makes the data chained together in chronological order.
• Different types of information can be stored on a blockchain but the most common use so far has been as a ledger for transactions.
• In Bitcoin’s case, blockchain is used in a decentralised way so that no single person or group has control — rather, all users collectively retain control.
• Decentralised blockchains are immutable, which means that the data entered is irreversible. For Bitcoin, this means that transactions are permanently recorded and viewable to anyone.