1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 What does blockchain do for a business network? Blockchain is a technology for a new generation of transactional applications that  fundamentally changes the way businesses create and capture value. This section provides an overview of blockchain technology and how developers can build  solutions and use IBM Blockchain Platform to launch, test, and move applications into  production. We describe the benefits of running blockchain applications on a powerful platform,  LinuxONE. Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger that facilitates the recording of transactions and  tracking of assets in a  business network . Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded  on a blockchain network, thereby reducing risks and costs for everyone involved. A business network describes any group of organizations or individuals that connect with a  desire to transfer or share assets. Those assets can be tangible, such as food or  manufactured goods, or digital, such as music or data. Items are tracked in a common,  shared ledger that is distributed across the business network. As a result, assets can be  transferred between members. Each member has a record of the transaction and access to  the latest version of the ledger. Blockchains establish trust across a business network through the combination of a  distributed ledger, smart contracts, and consensus. The ledger contains the current state of  assets and the history of all transactions. Transactions can only be added to the ledger, not  removed. Past transactions are protected with cryptography so that they cannot be  successfully tampered with. This way, changes to the ledger are final and immutable, allowing  the ledger to be the source of truth within the network. Table 1-1describes the set of benefits that blockchain brings to the use cases for business  networks. In essence, blockchain adds several types of trust to asset transfers. Table 1-1 Benefits of blockchain Benefit Meaning Immutability The historical record of transactions cannot be altered. Provenance The origin of any assets that are contained in the ledger is known. Consensus Changes to the ledger require approval by participants according to an  agreed upon endorsement policy. This goal is achieved through  consensus, in which participants of the network endorse that the  transaction is valid and come to agreement on the updated state of the  ledger.  Finality Each participant is assured that their copy of the ledger matches all  other copies, and that transactions that are contained in the blockchain  are committed faithfully. A smart contract is an application that contains business logic. Smart contracts define all  access to the ledger and are invoked by participants to query or update values of assets. 2  Implementation Guide for IBM Blockchain Platform for Multicloud