Blockchain in Education: A Comprehensive Approach – Utility, Use Cases, and Implementation in a University

The Emergence Of Blockchain

Blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks which are linked using cryptography (Mahankali, 2019). Blockchains are used for different applications. Bitcoin allowed peer to peer transfer of a unit of value, cryptographically secured through a shared digital ledger accessible to all participants. The units of value are created by a process called mining and are verified by the participants through a fool proof process called ‘Proof of Work’ based consensus mechanism that ensures the accuracy, immutability and authenticity of the information in the ledger, without the need of a centralised controlling party like a government or a central bank. This is being welcomed by numerous users worldwide who are increasingly losing trust in the central bankers, post the subprime crisis in USA ten years back, that was exposed with the fall of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. With a process of mining that controlled the generation and circulation of the units also called bitcoins, potentially limiting the inflation plaguing the fiat currencies due to the reckless approaches of the monetary authorities, it seemed to offer an excellent alternative to the fiat currency (Credit Suisse, 2018).