Old Men, New Money®: Bitcoin, Blockchain & Tokenization Episode 5: Blockchain 101: What Wall Street Needs to Know
Nov 3, 2025
Dive into the fundamentals of blockchain technology with a focus on its transformative potential in finance. Learn the differences between public and private blockchains, and how smart contracts automate operations. Discover the advantages of instant settlement and fractional ownership in digital securities. Borthwick also discusses the various economic models, risks, and real-world adoption metrics. Finally, he encourages finance professionals to engage directly with blockchain to fully understand its implications.
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What A Blockchain Actually Is
- A blockchain is a distributed ledger replicated across thousands of computers that stay synchronized by cryptographic rules.
- Changing one record requires changing every subsequent block, making tampering economically infeasible.
When Blockchain Clicked For Him
- Douglas describes his 2017 revelation when he compared T+2 FX settlement to Bitcoin's near-instant finality.
- Seeing a trade settle in 10 minutes changed his view that blockchain was just a new currency.
Why It's Called A Blockchain
- Blocks group transactions and include cryptographic fingerprints that are embedded into the next block.
- That chained fingerprinting makes prior blocks tamper-evident and secures the ledger's history.