[tzm]

> finding consensus on a history of transactions.

Precisely. It becomes a federated accreditation system that's verified from consensus and identity, rather than a centralized body. It's also immutable and irrefutable evidence of achievement.

edit: Could venture to say that this model is what the future of education could look like, where transcripts are determined by your participation on the blockchain.

[plttn]

But how do I know that you've actually gotten the grades to earn the B+ in Calc 2 or whatever?

I feel like the blockchain only works when there is a binary yes/no of factuality, and grades can't be defined on a binary factuality.

[tzm]

Great point. This is relate to credential specification adopted by the issuer and the associated evidence of achievement, which could be a reference to another cypher hash. A subsequent parsing routine (from the issuer) could determine evidence meta for evaluation.