BACKGROUND

A blockchain is a public record of transactions stored in a digital ledger that is disseminated across devices participating in the blockchain. Blockchains are frequently used to back cryptocurrencies. The blockchain stores the transactions according to an encryption scheme that obscures the digital addresses of the senders and recipients of cryptocurrency and the keys for releasing cryptocurrency to the recipient. Blockchains therefore deviate from a traditional ledger in that the ledger information is not cognizable by a human or even computers that are not privy to the transaction.

Therefore, though an entity might regularly conduct transactions using a cryptocurrency, such transactions do nothing to help the entity obtain lines of credit, since the encryption scheme of blockchains prevents potential lenders from analyzing the transactions conducted by the entity. For example, a merchant might offer customers the ability to transact in a cryptocurrency to attract additional business and as a benefit to those customers that desire to transact in the cryptocurrency. However, if the merchant wants to obtain a loan for their business, the merchant might be disadvantaged, even severely so, because those transactions the merchant conducted in cryptocurrencies are not able to be used to demonstrate their credit-worthiness because of the present status and level of encryption associated with transactions on the blockchain.

