By Paul Haughey, Brian Olion and Thomas Franklin ( February 23, 2018, 12:00 PM EST) -- A blockchain is a distributed ledger verified and copied across thousands of computers. One analogy is Google Docs, which provides multiple parties access to the same document. Blocks in a blockchain are periodically created (e.g., every few minutes), with each block recording transactions or new data encrypted and signed using public/private keys. The public key is like an address, and the private key is like a password. The blocks typically include a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. Bitcoin is the most well-known use of a blockchain, but it can also be used for smart contracts (self-executing upon meeting conditions), chain of custody verification (e.g., supply chain), and many other uses....