Blockchains Explained: As new technologies present opportunities, they also unleash competitive threats to incumbents and eventually reshape the future. So is the promise of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. But what do we know about them? Could they be used in international trade to make the movement of goods across country borders more efficient? Some commentators seem to be very clued up on what this technology is and how it will revolutionise the world, whereas others are struggling to understand the basics.