What the heck is Blockchain?

06.01.21

Blockchain, What is blockchain, it software development company, website and software development company

Many of us might have heard about Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, banking, and investing in computer systems, etc. The methodology or technology used behind all these is the Blockchain method. In 1991 after a lot of study researchers named Stuart Haber and W. Stornetta invented the Blockchain method, which was used in 2008 in Bitcoin.

Blockchain is a specific type of database or a distributed and decentralized ledger that stores the history of a particular data. Blockchain can also be called a digital record of data. (Data could be in any form details of accounts, details of the transaction, any record, etc). Transactions done using this methodology are super secure.

Blockchain can be segregated into block and chain where data are stored in form of blocks and then they are chained together. We can even say that Blockchain is a chain of blocks. Each new data is stored in a new Block and then is chained to the previous block.

For more clarification, we can easily take an example of our Google docs. Where we can create any document and share it with a group of different people. In this case, the particular document gets distributed not copied or transferred, a decentralized chain is been created by doing this through which everyone gets access to modify the document at the same time, no person is pipelined waiting for the other person to complete the first, can proceed on the same time. All the modifications done are being recorded in real-time and are completely transparent to all.

Simplifying Blockchain

About the above discussed, Blockchain is a chain of blocks where each new data is stored in a new Block and then is chained to the previous block. The block created in the system contains three parts, Data, Hash of the block, and Hash of the previous block. Data could be of any type of record (mostly used for transaction purposes). Hash is the unique identifier of the block; any particular data will contain the same hash throughout until and unless some change is made to data. Even a minute change made to data will change the hash of the data. Hash of the previous block is used so that all blocks are connected to store the cumulative information of the particular data. By attaching the previous block’s hash, the chain of the blocks is created. There are so many blocks added in the network so it is not easy to add a new block, the chain can only be updated by the consensus between the participants of the network and if the block is entered once in the chain then it can never be removed. Updating blocks is done by consensus rule or consensus algorithm.

P.H – Hash of Previous Data

Data – New Data of the Block

Hash – Unique identifier

Is Blockchain technology secured?

Blockchain technology is very secure and trustworthy. In a blockchain, every block has its unique hash and the reference of the previous block. Its peer-to-peer network also makes it more secure and safe.

The key reason behind high security is that every block is connected to its previous block. If the data of any block gets changed, then the hash of the block also will be changed. Therefore, a previous hash of the block next to the modified block and the hash of the modified block is different, which leads to the delinking of the chain. To link it all again, one needs to change the data of each block which will take an enormous amount of time and computing power and makes it very difficult to hack.

Business Use cases

Blockchain can be used where data is immutable/constant and will never be changed like, in Real Estate, Online Voting, Digital Identity like Birth certificate, driving license or Medical Records, etc. Blockchain technology can transform a business. For a detailed understanding of Blockchain of technology and various use cases, you may visit the following links:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp