Have you ever felt frustrated over banking fees, unfair lending rates, or the power governments and big companies have over financial systems? Well, there might be an alternative for all that – it’s called blockchain. Never heard of it before? Let me break down how it works and why so many young people are hoping blockchain could help them be more in control of their money and data.

It starts with Bitcoin. I’m guessing you’ve heard of Bitcoin – the controversial digital currency that lets people send payments over the internet without banks or credit cards involved. What most people don’t realize is that Bitcoin is built on an underlying technology called blockchain, which uses some pretty complex ideas around cryptography and decentralized record keeping to ensure transactions are fast, secure and verifiable.

But back up a minute – what is a decentralized system? This is the key to understanding why blockchain is as game-changing as the Internet itself. Traditionally, big institutions like banks make up the hubs that process and control all our payments and accounts. Those institutions decide on the rules and can track all your financial data.

With blockchain and Bitcoin, you have thousands of individuals called “miners” with specialized computing hardware who maintain and update the records for all payments and transactions. There is no central point of control. Nobody can fudge the numbers. No one can track your specific transactions without having access to your secure digital keys. This is called decentralization and it takes the power and control away from central points that can fail, be hacked, or become corrupt.

Okay, but back to what blockchain IS: essentially it is a growing list of files called blocks which contain information on transactions over a network. New blocks are added by several miners competitively, and cryptography ensures these blocks become virtually unalterable and therefore trusted by all users.

Now, hearing all that may make blockchain sound dry and academic. But really this boils down to being able to store or send any digital asset (like money, property deeds, music, identities, and more) without requiring middlemen or regulators. Instead, you rely on a network of all the users to ensure things go smoothly. Specifically for money, this means no more unfair bank fees, no more hauling around physical cash or card readers, no more waiting days for transfers, and no more barriers for who gets loans based on social demographics. Sounds pretty good right?

Here’s a quick example: say someone sends $200 to a friend overseas using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. Instead of going through an international wire service or PayPal, the money transfer is verified by blockchain miners around the globe. This transfer would normally take days and be subject to fees based on the country of the recipient. But here it happens nearly instantly with the fee of just a few pennies!

Cool…but you might still be wondering HOW blockchain mining actually works? To understand it, just picture tens of thousands of specialized computers all over the world competing to store bundles of transaction records (called blocks) by amassing the records into a complex file.

Whichever computers amass, code, and verify each complete block file the fastest are rewarded in two ways: The miner earns a small payment of cryptocurrency for successfully storing a block – like earning Bitcoin for storing Bitcoin transactions. And also because that miner has a full verified and complete block, it has the opportunity to add the NEXT block in line and again earn cryptocurrency payment.

But here’s the other critical and clever part: each complete block amassed by the winning miner has a unique encrypted code for verifying its accuracy. And that code includes details from the PREVIOUS verified block stored by a different miner. Using cryptography, any attempt to alter any one historical block will alter the unique codes of all future blocks. So the network has 30,000 computers constantly validating everything!

So in short, blockchain is built for checks and balances. Decentralized miners ensure blocks and transactions are accurate and valid. They snap into an incorruptible chain that stays permanently recorded. Gone are the days of one big bank, dictator, or server farm being able to suddenly block an account, falsify records, or wreck a currency. Instead it’s a self-monitored network where every step protects and verifies the step before it.

Revolutionary right?

I know, I’ve thrown a lot of complicated terms at you! Decentralization, cryptography, verification, mining, blocks, cryptocurrency… It’s a lot! But really these are all just mechanisms put in place so us regular people can for the first time ever have a financial network that nobody (no dictator, no corporation) fully controls or dictates the rules for. It aims to serve ALL users, not just the privileged or connected few.

Think of how the Internet itself opened up information and education globally. Before only big well-funded institutions like Encyclopedia Britannica could maintain and distribute knowledge to the “worthy” few. But once the decentralized Internet popped up, suddenly information on every topic imaginable was open to everyone!

Well, blockchain enthusiasts think this breakthrough can do the same thing for finance and money. No longer will users and transactions be subject to the whims and profiteering motives of big companies who own the networks. With blockchain, the networks and ledgers belong to everyone yet are out of reach from any one bad actor.

So looking ahead, could blockchain help end poverty? Improve access to credit and lending in developing nations? Reduce banking fees and processing times for everyday users when sending money? Help struggling young adults with thin credit gain access to loans? End currency manipulation and inflation by corrupt governments? Prevent election fraud and donating obfuscation? Validate property contracts without need for lawyers? Authenticate valuable goods like art and medicine from counterfeiters?

That’s exactly why millennials and Gen Z see blockchain concepts as revolutionary tools for giving individuals more control, financial freedom and transparency over the institutions that impact their lives – from big banks to dictatorships.

Technology companies and coders now hope to adapt blockchain beyond just cryptocurrency for uses across healthcare, supply chains, energy, media, transportation, and so much more. Hundreds of inventive start ups are pushing to decentralize the storage and verification of important data records in fields like medical research, smart electrical grids, insurance coverage, and charitable giving. The possibilities seem endless for reshaping how global networks operate.

So next time you grumble over banking fees, or worry over identity theft risks, or stress that politicians will botch the next financial crisis…just remember there are a growing number of geeks, mavericks and young dreamers out there hoping blockchain tools can someday flip the tables in favor of the people! We may just pull it off.