Bitcoin In Space
Bitcoin and space. When both are decentralized, they are natural allies.

Please excuse what sounds like a newbie question; I've heard that the Bitcoin system can get terribly bogged down sometimes.A large number of banks and firms have started using blockchains as their platform for digital assets. But is the Blockchain really capable of handling real-time tracking of things like, say, a supply chain? How do "nodes" (servers?) update one another with new information, and can they do this quickly enough to be useful? Wouldn't it be possible to fool the system by adding fake records to commit fraud or illegal money laundering or something?

Servers are pretty much capable of updating one another with new information in real-time with the only real limitations being bandwidth and conditions for updating set by the administrator. (For instance, administrators for a corporation with multiple locations that need to be connected by a wide area network will often set updates to happen at times when there is usually less demand on bandwidth, like at night.) As this applies to Blockchain nodes, they'll usually update one another with new information in real-time barring any external factors that might cause a node to become isolated from the rest of the network. The Blockchain is already being used for supply chain apps for this reason and the fact that it's tough to tamper with existing records on the Blockchain. (Forbes recognizes Blockchain's value for handling supply chain needs.)