The hype of blockchains is still ongoing, and so it is important to understand where and how they can actually solve problems. The most important question to ask before using a blockchain is the following:

Is there a single trusted legal entity to solve my problem?

If the answer to this question is YES, then you don't need a blockchain. An example is a bank account, where you do trust your bank to hold your money. Or health certificates, where you trust the state to hand them out correctly. On the other hand, if you don't want or cannot trust a single entity with your problem, then a blockchain can be a good solution. Examples of this include money transfers if you don't trust any bank, or authentication to services without trusting only one (like Google or Facebook).
Most blockchains, including OmniLedger, are based on the following principles:

Decentralization Blockchains got a lot of publicity under the name of Bitcoin. For some it is a source of great wealth, for others it is a synonym for a lot of wasted energy. Few remember the origin of Bitcoin, which is about decentralization. Decentralization means that there is no central entity, but that the responsibility is spread out over several entities. In the example of Switzerland, one could say that the organization in cantons leads to a decentralized government.

Transactions A transaction is what is stored in a blockchain. In the case of Bitcoin, transactions describe the movement of money between different parties. Instead of having a central bank deciding which money transfers are valid, Bitcoin spreads this decision over many computers that have to agree on which transfers are valid. A new kind of transaction that is gaining traction in 2021 is Non Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, which represents the digital ownership of a physical object.

Consensus There are other blockchains than Bitcoin, but they all solve the problem of consensus for decentralized systems. Reaching a consensus between different entities is not easy, as some of the entities can try to cheat. So the conception of blockchains always takes into account that some of the participants will try to cheat. If too many are cheating, the consensus will fail, or invalid transactions might get accepted, leading to a failure of the decentralization.

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