[bkanber]

From the wikipedia entry for "blockchain" [0]

> Blockchains are "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically."

Blockchains are exactly what they're looking for, they solve the problem perfectly. By design, the blocks in a blockchain are a redundant, scalable, unhackable, cryptographically secure ledger transaction (in theory!).

From wikipedia again:

> All blockchains are distributed ledgers but not all distributed ledgers are blockchains.

Ethereum is a blockchain implementation that has programmable contracts. If you're designing a system like this, and need it to be out in the public and self-governing, it makes sense.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

[sanswork]

Could you give me a practical example of how you would use one to solve this problem that couldn't be just as easily solved without one?

[davidgerard]

There are none. The only practical example where a blockchain does things a centralised database doesn't is a Bitcoin-style cryptocurrency.

(Even then, proof-of-work mining naturally recentralises, as we see with Bitcoin. Ethereum claims to be planning to move to proof-of-stake, but there's no working implementation or date for this.)