I read the O'Reilly book. I (superficially) grasp the crypto and the distributed database concepts. What doesn't make sense is how the rest of the system turns

I read the O'Reilly book. I (superficially) grasp the crypto and the distributed database concepts. What doesn't make sense is how the rest of the system turns into real transactions. PREDICTION: in another decade, this shall have arrived or been proven a fad.