DeveloperWeek NYC 2018

With the recent explosion of cryptocurrencies and the rapid rise of associated blockchain technologies, some seem to assume that blockchain will replace many other types of databases. Many even believe that blockchains are a database. We won’t debate that. However, we will discuss what blockchain is, why this technology is taking off, its basic architecture and functionality and how it really works. We'll also cover smart contracts a bit before pointing out where gaps still exist. It's in those gap areas that we go back to the idea of using complementary technologies - including NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and Elasticsearch - for multiple purposes as they make sense both on and off the blockchain, and show sample framework architectures such as for smart contracts.