Why Blockchain Is More Important to Lawyers Than They Probably Understand

Introduction
Laws in the United States have evolved to be technologically neutral, so that laws won’t dictate what technology to use, but rather mandate the attainment of a legal “end state.” In other words, laws will make clear that chain of custody, authenticity, completeness, immutability, veracity, privacy, and security are vital to compliance, but they won’t dictate how to attain it. That way, companies and individuals are free to buy or build whatever technology makes business sense and aren’t trapped into using a technology as it becomes obsolete. For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule’s major goal “is to protect the privacy of individuals’ health information while allowing covered entities to adopt innovative technologies to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.”
While laws won’t tell organizations what to buy, there are technologies that are worth exploring by lawyers because it helps attain authenticity, integrity, completeness, transparency, etc. One such technology is blockchain. Before I tell you why it holds so much promise for lawyers and others as well, it’s worth revisiting what it is and what it isn’t.
What is Blockchain?
For starters, blockchain is a technically complex system based on math, algorithms, and encryption. “The blockchain uses public key cryptography to create an append-only, immutable, timestamped chain of content.” (IEEE. A Case Study for Blockchain in Healthcare: “MedRec” prototype for electronic health records and medical research data. August 2016.) In contrast, the explanation that follows is simple and will likely make you want to learn more and at a deeper level. If you have heard about blockchain, it may be in the context of Bitcoin, but they are not synonymous. While blockchain is the technology behind many cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, blockchain technology holds promise for many other applications including real estate deals, portable secure health records, and financial transactions.
According to Gartner, technology analyst firm, “Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger in which value exchange transactions (in bitcoin or other token) are sequentially grouped into blocks. Each block is chained to the previous block and immutably recorded across a peer-to-peer netw