ABSTRACT
Blockchain technology sounds like an ethereal unicorn to anyone outside of the financial technology world. Despite people's best efforts to explain blockchain, it remains a mystery to many. End-to-end transaction monitoring makes blockchain immediately auditable. Whatever is stored in the block – whether it be money, health records, school fees, land ownership titles, locational geo-stamps, etc. – can be tracked, and everyone on the blockchain can see exactly whose hands the transaction passes through. Not everything needs a blockchain solution. In order for this technology to be most effective, one must find applications that require the transparency, certainty, immutability, and security it offers. Climate financing, governance and security, energy access, and distributed renewable energy are four standout use cases in the climate and energy space as it relates to blockchain. Peer-to-peer energy trading is a specific use case that allows us to deep-dive into the real value added of blockchain technology.
