By Leslie Spencer and Marta Belcher ( October 10, 2017, 2:03 PM EDT) -- Blockchain — the distributed ledger technology underlying bitcoin — has the potential to have a revolutionary impact far beyond cryptocurrencies. Fundamentally, a blockchain is an immutable record of transactions — each one cryptographically verifiable and linked to the other transactions — that allows for accurate and secure transfers of digital assets without requiring a middleman or trusted broker such as a bank. IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty has stated that "blockchain will do for trusted transactions what the internet has done for information,"[1] and a recently published World Economic Forum white paper argued that blockchain is creating an "internet of value."[2] Whether the mainstreaming of blockchain is as imminent as some suggest, a huge amount of investment is flowing into the development of blockchain applications in sectors ranging from financial services to health care to supply chain management....