Building Canadian Consensus

Despite its increasing popularity, blockchain technology remains difficult to define for the non-specialist, both in terms of the unique technical components at the core of the technology, and the widespread imprecise usage of the term. [...] Everything entered into the blockchain is permanently recorded: a writer can create a new entry that reflects the change of a previous record, but they are never able to delete an entry.2 The integrity of entries in the blockchain is maintained through a cryptographic hash function, and blockchain uses a particular cryptographic technique where each entry or “block” is encoded such that it points [...] In the context of blockchain, a smart contract executes a contract through pre-ordained code and re- moves the need to trust a government or financial institution.26 Smart contracts have a variety of vulnerabilities, including the need to assess quality of a product before the contract is executed and the potential for bugs in code that cannot be removed once established.27 However, smart contract [...] A clear visual trend indicates a tapering in growth since the end of 2017 (the start of what is commonly known as “cryptowinter,” following the drop in Bitcoin’s price and the beginning of the Quadriga exchange lawsuit in Canada). [...] Note: In large firms, “size” refers to the blockchain business unit Blockchain Across Canada: Regional Ecosystems Many industry consultants date the beginning of blockchain as we know it today to the creation not of Bitcoin, but of Ethereum, called by one interviewee “the second generation of blockchain,” and founded in Canada.