What is blockchain? Can it be used in education? In 2001, I designed and implemented a Napster-like system with no central storage or control that distributes learning content across a network for non-competing public-sector bodies. Everyone who created content could share it. It didn’t work because, despite being non-competitors, the public sector organisations just didn’t like innovation and stuck to their institutional silos. They were fixed in their old ways – with massive duplication of content and no sharing, which is as true today as it was then. The same fate, I fear, could happen to Blockchain technology – but let’s explore its potential. What is it? Technically, Blockchain is a distributed database, spread across many computers with no central control that could transform governance, the economy, businesses and the functioning of organisations. And by the way, it’s already here, not only in Bitcoin, but in many other services and commodities – badges, credits, and q