Can Blockchain be used independently of Bitcoin?

A lot of research work in banking and other industries focuses on the question: Can blockchain be used independently of Bitcoin ?

     Music publisher Billboard recently wrote about several startups that hope to use digital ledgers such as blockchain to track music downloads and pay royalties to musicians without relying on a central recorder.

     The Vermont government also launched a study in June this year to learn how to use blockchain to preserve judicial records. Several other government agencies are also conducting similar explorations, but most are located outside the United States.

     However, financial companies are investing the most. For example, Nasdaq OMX Group has hired programmers in Manhattan to design software that will be released this year.

     Nasdaq will allow investors to trade shares of private companies, such as tech startups, on a new blockchain, replacing the traditional system of issuing and trading private company shares using paper certificates, a process that can take weeks to complete even for basic trades.

     Nasdaq is also experimenting with using blockchain-like ledgers in several other markets to speed up and reduce transaction costs, an effort led by Fredrik Voss, who recently moved from the company’s commodities division to become its head of blockchain technology.

   "We believe blockchain technology has broad promise to improve the efficiency of capital markets while providing greater security and transparency, all of which are in the public interest," Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld said in an investor conference call in July.