1BlockchaintechnologyhasthepotentialtoassistorganizationsusingalternativepaymentmodelsindevelopingITplatformsthatwouldhelplinkqualityandvalue.DifferingfromtraditionalITdatabasesandmodels,blockchainsseektocreatea“singlesourceoftruth”whichcanbesecurelyaccessedbyitsmembers.ThelikelyusecasesforblockchainwillbefocusedonACOsbecauseofthelackofACOspecificsoftwareandlackoflegacyapplications.Blockchainwillnotbeapanaceaforinteroperabilityissues,butwillprovidearobustplatformtohelpadvancedalternativepaymentmodelsifusedintherightapplication.Blockchaintechnology(hereafterreferredtoasblockchain)hashadincreasingnewscoverageasthetechnologybehindBitcoin,adigitalpaymentnetworkthathashadarevolutionizingeffectonmanyindustries,particularlyfinance.ThehypebehindthetechnologyhasincreasedproportionallytothenewsstoriesinspiredbyBitcoinanditsassociatedalt-coincommunity.FromtheshutdownofSilkRoadtotheheistofEtherfromtheDecentralizedAutonomousOrganization,eachnewsstoryspreadsawarenessofBitcoinandthefar-reachingeffectsthetechnologybehindBitcoincanhaveonmultipleindustries.Healthcarehasbeentargetedbymanyblockchainstartupsandenthusiasts,butmanyofthepossibilitiespresentedtothepublicseemtobeasolutioninsearchofaproblem.Thiswhitepaperwillseekprimarilytoaddresshowblockchaintechnologycaneffectivelyenableorassistalternativepaymentmodels(APMs)asourcurrentinformationtechnologyinfrastructuretendtobeinsufficientintermsofspeedorscopeforAPMtosucceed.Thispaperassumesabasicunderstandingofencryption.BlockchainistheunderlyingtechnologybehindBitcoin,afamouscryptocurrencythathassurgedinpopularityandhasbeentoutedasacurrencythatretainsrelativeanonymitywhilebeingaccessibleanywherewithInternetconnectivity.Atitscore,blockchainisadistributeddatabasesecuredbycryptographythatensuresonlypeoplewiththerightkeyhaveaccesstotheamountofcurrencyoverwhichtheyhaveauthorizedcontrol.Analternativewaytothinkaboutblockchainis2thatitisaprotocolforsolvingtheByzantineGenerals’Problem,afamouscomputerscienceproblemthataimstoachieveconsensusw...
