The $22 million purchase of the research company in 2002 continues to baffle regulators on both sides of the border, who are questioning the validity of the transaction.
Once a shipment is confirmed and recorded on the blockchain, it is immutable, meaning no party can dispute the validity of the transaction or fraudulently manipulate the records.
So you could set a fraud alert for anytime your card is used for purchases above $2,000, and if the alert is set off, the user can instantly respond confirming or denying the validity of the transaction.
A jury in Lincolnshire ruled in 1784 that a man who had sold his wife had no right to reclaim her from her purchaser, thus endorsing the validity of the transaction.
The key here is to group the orders by email address so that a pattern can be established where orders with larger than usual quantities or very large numbers of orders within a short period of time can be detected and due diligence checks performed to ascertain the validity of these transactions.
The standard way to ensure the validity of online transactions, according to Jerry Brito, a technology expert at George Mason University, is "to have an intermediary to keep the ledger," that is, a service like PayPal or a credit card company that takes a percentage of the transaction.
Of course, just because it's on the blockchain doesn't mean there won't be attempts to circumvent the system, but the TrustChain has a mechanism for participants to check the validity of each transaction, each step of the way.
Each participant in the network must come to consensus on the validity of a transaction, analogous to how a bank clears a credit card transaction.
In one case, investigators say, the agency had information five years ago that should have raised doubts about the validity of transactions involving wind farms owned by Enron that were later cited in criminal charges against Enron executives.
"We question both the propriety and validity of a transaction which attempts to transfer to the Taubman family control and a permanent veto over material decisions that rightfully belong to the public shareholders of Taubman," Mr. Simon wrote.
