Blockchain is a system consisting of records of transactions that are made either in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. They are maintained through several networks which are interlinked in a peer-to-peer network.
Who Invented Blockchain?
The first blockchain-like procedure was proposed by cryptographer David Chaum in 1982. Later in 1991, Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta tell about their work on Consortiums. And it was none other than Satoshi Nakamoto who invented and implemented the first blockchain network after deploying the world’s first digital currency, Bitcoin. When Satoshi Nakamoto released the whitepaper Bitcoin in 2008 that described a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash known as Bitcoin, blockchain technology made its public debut.
Blockchain, the technology that runs Bitcoin, has developed over the last decade into one of today’s most extensive innovative technologies with the potential to impact every industry from financial to manufacturing to educational institutions.
Bitcoin has a deep connection with the history of blockchain. It’s a relationship that makes bitcoin a branch of the same tree. Bitcoin was offered up to the open-source community in 2009 after the release of Nakamoto’s whitepaper. Blockchain also has upgraded the security and the privacy level of the data as it cannot be so easily removed. It’s transparent, timestamped, and decentralized.
What is Bitcoin Technology?
Blockchain acts as a ledger for the bitcoin transaction records. It’s a decentralized system that saves all the transactions securely in the blockchain network.
Bitcoin miners run advanced pc rigs to unravel sophisticated puzzles in a trial to verify teams of transactions referred to as blocks. On successfully producing results, these blocks become a part of the blockchain record. Moreover, a portion of the bitcoins is distributed among the miners.
Participants are highly advised to purchase tokens from either cryptocurrency exchanges or peer to peer.
All the data in the Bitcoin ledger is highly secured through a trustless system. Moreover, Bitcoin exchanges are updating their firewalls daily to protect themselves from any unknown fraud.
Bitcoin created digital transaction potential while not a “trusted treater.” The technology allowed this to happen at scale, globally, with cryptography doing what establishments like industrial banks, money regulators, and central banks want to do: verify the legitimacy of transactions and safeguard the integrity of the underlying quality.
Bitcoin is a decentralized, public ledger. The ledger is not under the ownership of any kind of third party. The basic requirement is that you must have bitcoin in order to take the first step. In regards to the safety of your coins, the ledger is transparent.
The Bitcoin ledger tracks a single asset: bitcoin. However, the ledger states the limit regarding the production of bitcoin i.e., 21M. Moreover, creating more bitcoins is also not possible as it will drop the overall value of the currency hence, failing this project.
What is Blockchain Technology?
All the online transactions are recorded digitally in the blockchain. Blockchain is the fundamental technology for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The integrity of the data is ensured by blockchain as it encrypts, validates, and permanently saves data. The ledger is not so different from any bank’s ledger, but the blockchain is easily accessible to everyone.
The digital ledger is like a Google spreadsheet, shared among a number of computers connected through a network, in which each actual purchase has a transaction receipt. The data can be accessed and read by anyone, but it cannot be stolen.
Blockchain is referred to as a distributed database that can keep itself up to date and maintain the increasing list of transactions, called blocks. These blocks are linked using cryptography.
Every block is composed of a cryptographic hash of the block before, a timestamp, and, lastly, the transaction data. Blockchain was designed to handle loads of data among many computers on a network, so the record cannot be altered so easily as everyone has their own transaction history with them.
Blockchain is a combination of three leading technologies:
- Cryptographic keys
- A peer-to-peer network containing a shared ledger
- A means of computing to store the transactions and records of the network
Blockchains are composed of cryptographically linked blocks that are inside the decentralized structure databases. The stored data is tamper-proof as well as transparent in blockchain databases, resulting in the technology being particularly appropriate for the traceable transfer of values. They can be stored as either smart contacts or in the form of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain-based solutions in applications have made it very easy to secure transactions as authenticating entities are no longer required to secure the transaction. Instead, the data is exchanged carefully between two of the blockchain servers without any third-party involvement. However, the process is slow because of the high traffic.
Types of Blockchains
There are four types of blockchains:
1. Public Blockchains
Public blockchains can be accessed by anyone connected to the server. They are either there to validate transactions or to request one. Validating transactions can be used to earn rewards.
Public blockchains access to proof of work as well as proof of stake mechanisms. Bitcoin blockchains are one of the common examples of public blockchains.
2. Private Blockchains
As the name states, Private blockchains are not accessible by everyone. They have access restrictions, so only a few people might be able to access them. Anyone wanting to be a part of a specific private blockchain has to first ask for permission from the administrator. It means there is only one entity controlling the blockchain, which makes it centralized. Hyperledger is an example of Private blockchain.
3. Hybrid Blockchains or Consortiums
Consortiums contain the features from both centralized and decentralized systems. It means that Hybrid blockchains are a combination of both Public and Private blockchains. For example, Energy Web Foundation, etc.
4. Sidechains
Sidechains allow users to move digital assets from one blockchain to another because sidechains run side by side to the main chain. Moreover, they improve efficiency and scalability. A liquid network is a common example of a sidechain.
How does blockchain work?
Blocks, nodes, and miners are the three basic concepts that give birth to the blockchain.
Blocks: Each chain is composed of many blocks, and every single block is made up of three basic elements:
- The data in the block.
- A 32-bit whole number is called a nonce. It is a randomly generated number that appears with the birth of a new block. It also then generates a block header hash.
- Hash is a 256-bit number attached to the nonce. The condition for the number is for it to be extremely small(must start with a huge amount of zeroes).
A cryptographic hash generates itself through the nonce on the creation of the first blockchain. The nonce and the data in the block are forever tied unless mined by someone.
Nodes:
Any newly mined block must be algorithmically approved from the network. Moreover, each node has its own copy of the blockchain.
Miners:
Each new block is created by miners. The process is known as mining. Mining a block isn’t easy because, in a blockchain, each separate block has its own unique nonce and hash. It is more complicated on large chains. As time passes, the mining of a cryptocurrency becomes more difficult, Bitcoin being the prime example of this.
Blockchain Advantages
- It can be used to create and track digital representations of any type of asset, item, or idea (including natively digital goods)
- It will impact a variety of industries, including social media, financial services, healthcare, retail, gaming, and energy, and can be used for supply chain tracking and identity management.
- It is important to recognize the broad array of assets and other items that can be digitized on blockchains, including tangible assets such as gold, coffee cups, shoes, and collectibles.
- Creating a digital representation of an asset does not change the asset’s character or nature, nor should it change the asset’s treatment under the law.
- It is important for regulators to understand that the technology can be used for both financial and non-financial assets.
- Online shopping is a prominent example — retailers use databases to give us digital versions of goods to look at on the web while we decide our preferences.
- Blockchain provides a better database technology for this and other purposes as it does not change the user experience or the legal nature of the asset or item stored in the database.
- Core benefits include transparency, censorship resistance (immutability), security, and orderly data structures, which result in a high degree of audibility and reliability.
Future of Blockchain
Blockchain technology is advancing at a breakneck pace, enabling new applications ranging from shared storage to social networks. We are breaking new territory in terms of security. Developers should prioritize safeguarding their blockchain applications and services as they create blockchain applications. Risk assessments, threat models, and code analysis, such as static code analysis, interactive application security testing, and software composition analysis, should all be included on a developer’s blockchain application roadmap. Security must be built in from the beginning to ensure a successful and secure blockchain application.
Originally published at https://crowdswap.org on January 12, 2022.
