What is a Blockchain?

Blockchain is well known in the world of cryptocurrency systems. It can provide security and protection to the records of transactions and can speed up data transactions. It has potential beyond digital currencies. It has a significant effect on each sector that relies on the chain. It has helped in increasing the transparency and traceability of supply chains. It allows the chain partners to connect and share their knowledge about it. It ensures the trust of a customer across a business network. It has prevailed immensely due to the trust which it has been giving to its customers.

Definition of a blockchain

Blockchain is a shared, digital ledger of transactions and is maintained by a different network of computers, making it difficult to hack, be copied, or cheat. It is a database that stores coded blocks of data and then connects them by cryptography. Transactions are verified by computer networks independently. It offers a secure way to deal with individuals freely without the interruption of a third party like a bank, government.

Importance of Blockchain

Business runs on the transfer of information. It is the best platform to share information faster on an immutable ledger that can only be accessed with the permission of computer members. The owners have been given irrefutable recognizable numbers to make the theft harder and provide the best security. With the use of Blockchain, crypto minimalizes the need for individualized currencies. Now, it can be shared with anyone, anywhere globally, without third parties, like banks or the government.

How does a blockchain secure itself?

Firstly, a blockchain secures itself by hashing. The Hash of a block can be changed by tampering with its Blockchain, making the block invalid. If a single block is changed, then all the following blocks will become invalid. These days’ hashes are not an excellent way to prevent tampering. Because in the present, computers can calculate a lot of hashes in a second, and a hacker can change and calculate all the hashes to cover the tampering. There are some other ways to secure a blockchain, like peer-to-peer distribution and proof of work.

Peer-to-peer distribution

Blockchains do not use a central unit to manage the chain. Instead, they use networks like peer-to-peer distribution. Like bitcoin, which is a public blockchain, and everyone is allowed to join it freely. A new member is called a node or validator. Whenever a member joins a blockchain, a block is sent to all the validators. Then the nodes verify that it has not tampered and a new block is added to the Blockchain. If nodes notice a block that has been tampered they reject the block.

Why is blockchain revolutionary?

A blockchain removes data tampering because data has been tracked or stored by a hacker. Blockchain builds trust by securing the data. So before adding a new block to the chain, some steps have to be done:

• To create a block, a cryptographic puzzle should be solved.
• The puzzle will be shared with all the networks on the computer.
• Then all the computers verify it by proof of work. If it is 51 percent attests proof of work, then a new block is added to the Blockchain.

Whether we accept it or not but digital currency is our future. In 2016, bitcoin was priced around 450$ per token .in 2018, it raised to about $16,000 per token and then has increased to more than $60,000.It causes people to get rich. Blockchain has also been showing potential beyond bitcoin.

Implementing Blockchain in a variety of ways

There are thousands of ways to implement Blockchain in a variety of ways. For example, blockchains can be used in democratic elections to cast a vote safely. A voting system could work such that every citizen of the country should be provided with a token; then, they should be given a wallet address to send a token to the candidate’s address whom they want to vote for. The extraordinary nature of the Blockchain of “Traceability and Transparency” would remove the need for human vote counting and protect it from tampering with hackers.

Use of blockchains

It stores data about financial transactions. As of today, more than 10,000 cryptocurrency systems are running on blockchains. And it becomes visible that it is a good way of storing data and transactions. IBM has created their food blockchain in order to trace that their food products reach their location safely. It has done because, in the past, it has taken weeks to find the source of outbreaks like E. coli salmonella, etc., or the cause of sickness from what people are eating. Using Blockchain gives brands the availability of tracing the food products from their origin to their delivery location. Through this, companies can recognize the problem and clear it as soon as possible. It is one of the examples of Blockchain in action; there are other ways as well for its implementation.

Conclusion

At twenty-seven, it has started making its name in the market with many applications being implemented on it, which is no small than bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Blockchain provides security, which is the most needed thing in this digital era where everything you do is present on the internet.

**Suppose we say that the third decade of Blockchain will bring more opportunities for all the leading companies. Every prominent company will come to Blockchain as security and stability are something we all are looking for, and that is exactly what Blockchain is providing us. **