In earlier Modules, we covered how blockchain technology enables a decentralized data system. We add data into blocks and the network ensures integrity thanks to nodes and mining.

Bitcoin was the first successful implementation of this technology. Six years after its inception, Vitalik Buterin, a programmer and the founder of Ethereum, came up with an idea in his white paper of 2014: "What if the blockchain concept can be used for more than just money?"

His idea was to create a decentralized computer system that allows users to create more flexible systems simply by writing up the logic in a few lines of code.

A blockchain can become a decentralized computer system if we make just two key tweaks:

1. We allow the deployment of software programs (codes) into blocks
2. We run the codes during the mining process