Discover Blockchain - “what it is” and how Everything could be different Opening Keynote for the Washington State Department of Commerce and Perkins Coie Blockchain event, (Seattle, August 2016) Connecting innovation leaders: At a time when companies face new challenges in data management and security, Blockchain is emerging as a way to let companies make and verify transactions on a network instantaneously without a central authority. Today, more than 40 top financial institutions and a growing number of government institutions and firms across industries are experimenting with distributed ledger technology as a secure and transparent way to digitally track the ownership of assets and manage records, a move that could speed up transactions and cut costs while lowering the risk of fraud.