What high-growth trend could put Netflix out of business, run over Uber and set eSports on a supercharged path? Blockchain, apparently.

The hottest trend since, well, bitcoin, is a bit of a mystery. On the face of it, blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger where cryptocurrency transactions are chronologically logged for the public good. But aside from ensuring against crypto fraud, blockchain is speculation, pure and simple.

Some believe that it could revolutionize media, do away with Hollywood’s centralized studio system, put money directly in ride-sharer’s pockets and lower the barrier of entry into eSports. And that’s just scratching the surface of blockchain’s appeal. It’s no wonder why a Long Island ice tea company can change its name to “Long Blockchain” and gain triple-digits overnight.

Whether you see blockchain as this revolutionary technology that will change the world, or you see it as a cool concept without a serious real-world application, plenty of companies are putting their best minds to work on figuring out how to best crack blockchain’s potential.

The five blue-chip stocks that follow not only have blockchain programs on tap, they’re also backed by the top analysts on Wall Street. Which means that if this whole blockchain thing doesn’t work out, then these companies won’t leave you high and dry … unless, of course, you bought into that whole Long Blockchain thing.

Blue-Chip Blockchain Stocks: Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL)

Apple Inc. is known for entering fields late and conquering them. While it’s still relatively early in the blockchain world, Tim Cook & Co. quietly filed a new patent application for certifying timestamps using blockchain.

This patent, filed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, gives us a look into Apple’s potential use of the vaunted technology. And it’s not exactly what you might expect.

Apple’s blockchain patent involves the use of the “hash” that exists within a block to verify time stamps. These hashes will be included as nodes within subsequent blocks to determine their validity.

If a time stamp has been tampered with, its hash will no longer be consistent with the hash value before it. The inconsistent block, and all blocks after it, then will be invalidated to prevent tampering:

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