Basic to Booming: Blockchain History
By: Deb Olson
Tags: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Logistics, Cryptocurrency, Crypto

Cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange which uses cryptography and decentralized control to create new units and secure transactions, as well as a means of regaining control over finances and personal information.

Rather than rules and regulations instituted by one governing agency, cryptocurrency exists as a system of private, encrypted information, which is known and agreed upon between two or more parties.

Though you can have blockchain without cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency cannot exist without blockchain.

Since its introduction, blockchain has proven disruptive to various industries, beginning in finance and now moving its way into logistics.

For example:

· Chaumian blinding: anonymous e-cash of the ’80s and ’90s provided an e-currency with a great deal of privacy, but the cryptographic protocols couldn’t gain traction due to centralized reliance.

· b-money: In 1998, Wei Dai introduced the concept of creating money by solving puzzles, essentially, as part of a decentralized system, though implementation information was nominal.

· Reusable proofs of work: ideas from b-money and Adam Back’s Hashcash puzzles combined by Hal Finney to create a cryptocurrency, 2005; relied on trusted computing.

· 2009: Satoshi Nakamoto implemented the first decentralized currency, Bitcoin. Along with its debut, blockchain technology. This system kept an algorithm regarded as “proof of work,” tracking who owns coins; a public cryptography for managing ownership. Not only did this provide a consensus algorithm so “nodes” in the network could agree on updates, but also provided free entry into the process, circumventing political influence.

· Alternative cryptocurrencies appear, 2011: Aiming to improve upon Bitcoin, with greater speed and/or anonymity, Namecoin and Litecoin entered the crypto scene.

· 2016 introduces ICOs: the Ethereum platform facilitated blockchain-based contracts, utilizing the Ether cryptocurrency. Along with this, Initial Coin Offerings began offering investors the opportunity “shares,” in a sense, through cryptocurrencies, expanding the trading floor far beyond VCs. Wells Fargo and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia participated in the first global trade on blockchain, shipping $35,000 worth of cotton from Texas to China.

· 2017, Blockchain revolution: places where Bitcoin could be spent expanded, increased its coin value to nearly $20,000, sparking interest across the fintech industry and international banking systems including Citibank, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank.

· In Q1, 2018, the Pakka Token was introduced, and its private pre-sale began. The scalable NextPakk logistics model will inevitably disrupt the last mile, as well as the logistics industry in its entirety. With its real-time tracking and increased transparency, the Pakka blockchain makes shipping safer and less expensive.

Preventing fraud through tracking shipping data, blockchain is anticipated to save $50 billion annually within international trade. At its maturity, it will likely serve as a $500 billion annual savings to the logistics industry worldwide.

*For more information on NextPakk’s scheduled package delivery service, NextPakk’s blockchain, or the Pakka token, please see our whitepaper and/or join our Telegram group.