What is Blockchain? A simple Blockchain definition of the phenomenon is “a database which is shared across a network of computers.”
Once a record has been added to the database, it is very difficult to change.
To ensure that all copies of the database are the same, the network makes constant checks.
That’s Blockchain explained in relatively simple and recognizable database terms.
Getting more technical, a Blockchain is based on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network topology and acts as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), allowing data to be stored globally on thousands of servers.
Blockchain visibility lets anyone on the network see everyone else’s entries in near real-time.
This, together with security protections implemented through cryptography and a network-wide consensus mechanism, makes it difficult for one user to gain control of, or game, the network.
Blockchain 101
Exploring the core principles of Blockchain 101, the Blockchain is a public electronic ledger built around a peer to peer system.
It can be openly shared among disparate users to create an unchangeable or “immutable” record of transactions.
Each time a set of data or transactions is added, that information becomes a “block.”
Each block is time-stamped and cryptographically linked to the previous one to form the links of an additive or append-only “chain.” Hence the term “Blockchain.”
More Blockchain Fundamentals
Delving deeper into Blockchain basics, Distributed Ledger Technology or DLT is a type of database which is shared, replicated, and synchronized between the members of a decentralized network.
The distributed ledger records transactions, such as the exchange of assets or data, among the participants in the network.
Assets may be physical items such as vehicles, real estate, or raw materials, or virtual, like Cryptocurrency, deeds, patents, or stock certificates.
Transactions typically involve the various participants in a Blockchain network exchanging information or assets.
A public Blockchain ledger requires no central administrator and can be managed autonomously.
It may be open, with access available to anyone, and “permissionless,” imposing no pre-defined conditions on the network participants.
A private or “permissioned” Blockchain is a form of ledger typically deployed in enterprise or commercial environments and is often referred to as an enterprise Blockchain.
The system is typically closed, with membership of the network restricted and by invitation only.
Companies usually create and centrally administer private blockchains as their own transactional networks for dealings between organizations or within the company itself.
Consortium blockchains are a form of network typically created and administered by a group of organizations with a common purpose.
Blockchain networks can also be used for “smart contracts,” or scripts and software for business automation that execute when certain contractual conditions are met.
Technology
A simple way to look at this is by using the analogy of a shared document or spreadsheet, duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers.
With Google Docs or Google Sheets, for example, parties to a collaboration project have access to the same document simultaneously, and a single version of that document is always visible to all of them.
The distributed ledger part of the Blockchain equation comes into play when the sharing involves a huge number of people.
Blockchain technology is characterized by:
- Decentralization: Data is not stored or claimed by one single entity. Rather, everyone in the network owns the information. Interactions between individuals on the network don’t require the intervention of a third party or intermediary.
- Transparency: An individual’s identity is hidden via complex cryptography and represented only by their public address. This ensures their personal privacy. However, all the transactions they perform on the network are identified by their public address, which generates transparency, and thereby, accountability.
- Immutability: Once something has been written into the Blockchain, the cryptographic protections and linkages between adjacent blocks of data on the chain mean that it cannot be tampered with.
The Blockchain is a system that contains linked blocks of data, each with a cryptographic hash pointer that refers back to its previous block, thereby creating the chain.
With the address of the previous block, the hash pointer also contains the hash of its data.
In fact, there is no single “Blockchain technology” as such. Instead, there are variations on the basic theme, each with its specific characteristics determined by its environment and use case.
For example, the Ethereum Blockchain platform was the first to introduce smart contracts -the automated legal mechanisms that execute agreements once all the required conditions have been met.
Hosted by The Linux Foundation, Hyperledger is an open-source global collaboration that includes leaders in finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chain, manufacturing, and technology.
Among its projects is the Hyperledger Fabric framework, which supports distributed ledger solutions on permissioned networks where the members are known to each other for a wide range of industries.
History & Origin of Blockchain
When was it invented? This brief analysis of the history of Blockchain will provide the answers to this and other questions.
Key Events Timeline
1991
While working at Bell Communications Research, computer scientist Stuart Haber and physicist W. Scott Stornetta employ cryptographic techniques to secure digital documents from data tampering. They produced a primitive immutable ledger -a system of blocks cryptographically chained together whose wide distribution via appropriate incentives eliminated the need for a trusted third party.
Who invented Blockchain? Though the name “Blockchain” wasn’t ascribed to this development at the time, that’s effectively what it was -and many analysts consider Haber and Stornetta to be the inventors and/or founding fathers of Blockchain technology.
1992
Haber and Stornetta upgrade their system to incorporate Merkle trees that enhance efficiency, enabling the collection of more documents on a single block.
1996
Computer engineer and legal scholar Nick Szabo is credited with pioneering the concept of smart contracts in a paper.
1998
Computer engineer W. Dai, a specialist in cryptocurrencies and cryptography, proposes the idea of decentralized money, or B-Money -a scheme where the users can remain anonymous using digital pseudonyms and perform transactions with each other.
Dai described a database protocol that would have a complete account of each pseudonym’s money, enabling everyone on the network to know the money’s ownership collectively.
2000
Stefan Konst publishes his theory of cryptographically secured chains, with ideas for implementation.
2008
Nick Szabo conceptualizes a decentralized currency he calls Bit Gold, a precursor to bitcoin.
The same year, the mysterious figure known as “Satoshi Nakamoto” releases a white paper establishing the conceptual model for a Blockchain.
2009
Nakamoto implements the first Blockchain as the public ledger for transactions made using bitcoin.
2014
Blockchain technology is separated from the currency, and its potential for application in other industries is explored, ushering in “Blockchain 2.0.”
2015
Under the guidance of developer Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum is officially launched as a new public Blockchain, with added functionality when compared to Bitcoin.
The system introduces computer programs into the blocks, representing financial instruments such as bonds. These later become known as smart contracts.
2018 – Present
Evolution proceeds toward “Blockchain 3.0.” New projects seek to address some of the performance deficiencies of Bitcoin and Ethereum and come up with new features.
Questions of Ownership and Control
Who controls the Blockchain? The essence of public Blockchain systems like those underpinning cryptocurrencies is decentralization.
Blockchain systems are “peer-to-peer,” meaning that each node or machine on the network is of an equal standing. So technically, no-one “controls” the Blockchain.
Who owns Blockchain? “Blockchain” is not a monolithic system or technology. Each implementation has its own characteristics (private, public, permissioned, etc.).
Depending on those characteristics, certain groups or entities may possess greater rights of “ownership.”
For example, in an enterprise Blockchain, the company that commissions its development will likely retain executive control over its management and dictate the terms of who is allowed to join and participate in the network.
Is Blockchain Safe?
“Transparency,” “immutability,” and “security” are words you’ll often hear in connection with Blockchain. But is Blockchain safe? And if so, what makes Blockchain secure? In this section, we’ll be trying to establish the true picture.
What Makes It Secure?
One of the key reasons why Blockchain is secure is encryption, a protection mechanism whereby each user is provided with a unique key called a cryptographic “hash.”
Hashing is a mathematical process that always returns a specific, fixed output, regardless of how many times the function is run.
Another key to Blockchain security is the process known as mining -a complex and resource-intensive method of trial and error, in which miners effectively try to guess a cryptographic value in exchange for incentives.
Mining is conducted in accordance with the Blockchain’s agreed consensus algorithm and is the way of adding new “blocks” of transactions to the chain and confirming that each part of the transaction is valid.
The third and perhaps most powerful component of Blockchain security is “immutability,” or the mechanism that renders information written to the Blockchain essentially tamper-proof.
As each block of data or transactions added to the chain is cryptographically linked to the block preceding it, anyone wishing to alter information on the network would need to change that specific block and every other block that comes before it.
This would require an immense amount of ingenuity, computing power, and energy to achieve.
The immutable quality is what makes the Blockchain an additive or append-only database.
Each time an exchange is recorded within the Blockchain ledger, an audit trail is present to trace where the assets came from.
In exchange-related businesses, this can improve security and prevent fraud. The trail can also assist in verifying the authenticity of the traded assets.
Why Blockchain Sometimes Isn’t Secure?
Since its release, Blockchain technology has suffered diverse forms of attack, principally targeting cryptocurrencies and finance applications. So how is Blockchain secure – but sometimes not?
51% attacks exploit a loophole in the consensus algorithm mining process. If a miner or group of miners were to hypothetically gain more than 50% of the Blockchain’s computing network, this would enable them to add new transactions to the system without spending any units of exchange -effectively “double spending” coins or digital tokens.
They could also create their own version of Blockchain reality: an alternate transaction ledger (known as a “fork”) reflecting their specific interests.
Using phishing tactics and social engineering -messages and emails crafted to appear as communications from trusted institutions or acquaintances -con artists can potentially trick Blockchain users into giving away vital information such as their private keys and Blockchain addresses.
Some phishing scams induce victims to click on links that download crypto-mining malware to their systems or devices.
Named after the title character of a book (“Sybil“) who was diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder, a Sybil attack involves the creation of multiple false identities on a peer-to-peer network.
On a Blockchain network, various nodes can be run simultaneously, swarming the network with false identities and causing the system to crash.
Since Blockchain technology typically relies on uploading and downloading large volumes of information in real-time, hackers may intercept data as it’s being transferred to internet service providers.
In such a routing attack, the Blockchain system is partitioned but appears to be functioning as usual -providing a cover for the perpetrators to steal tokens or information.
What Is Blockchain Used For?
Hype aside, is Blockchain useful?
Beyond its introduction through Cryptocurrency, Blockchain technology is used in diverse industries such as financial services, insurance, healthcare, supply chain management, entertainment, and media. Blockchain uses different technologies depending on its application.
Bitcoin and Blockchain
How does Bitcoin use Blockchain? All confirmed Bitcoin transactions are included in the Blockchain ledger.
It allows Bitcoin wallets to calculate their spendable balance so that new transactions can be verified and provides confirmation that the funds are actually owned by the party spending them.
A secret piece of data called a private key or seed associated with each Bitcoin wallet is used to sign transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they have come from the wallet owner.
The unique digital signature associated with this private key also prevents the transaction from being altered by anybody once it has been issued.
Bitcoin mining is a distributed consensus system used to confirm pending transactions by including them in the Blockchain.
It’s a complex and resource-intensive process that enforces a chronological order in the Blockchain, protects the neutrality of the network, and allows different computers to agree on the state of the system.
Blockchain Usage in Other Sectors
Who uses Blockchain in industry and other applications?
Thanks to the 2013 release of the Ethereum Project (a Blockchain system developed in the wake of Bitcoin), organizations now have access to smart contracts -software and scripts that automate the execution of contract agreements, once all of their conditions have been met.
One example is Slock, which is an Ethereum-enabled IoT (Internet of Things platform) that uses a smart contract application to allow customers to rent bicycles whose smart locks they can open after both parties agree on the terms of the contract.
Through the uses of Blockchain technology in supply chain management, organizations can proactively provide digitally permanent records and audit trails that show stakeholders the state of products and raw materials at each stage of their journey.
In the shipping industry, Maersk has been piloting a Blockchain-based cargo tracking system in which smart contract technology can track the temperature of containers using IoT technology and report on when they leave ports and reach their destinations.
In the banking sector, J.P. Morgan has created the Interbank Information Network (IIN), a Blockchain payments network, to significantly reduce the number of participants needed to respond to compliance and other data-related inquiries that can delay payments.
Fraudulent practices and due diligence are issues that affect organizations in all sectors. Blockchain startup Polycoin has developed an Anti Money Laundering (AML) / Know Your Customer (KYC) solution that involves analyzing transactions.
Any transactions identified as being suspicious are forwarded on to compliance officers.
Privacy concerns relating to health data can be significantly reduced by storing information such as age, gender, immunization history, or vital signs on a shared Blockchain, as it’s difficult to specifically identify any particular patient from any one of these records.
And the financial incentives built into a Blockchain healthcare scheme can encourage data sharing between key stakeholders.
The common database platform also addresses the interoperability issues typically associated with Electronic Health Information (EHI) held on disparate systems.
In the sharing economy, Blockchain technology opens the door to direct interaction between parties by enabling peer to peer payments.
For example, OpenBazaar uses the Blockchain to create a kind of peer-to-peer eBay. Once you download the app onto your computing device, you can transact with OpenBazaar vendors without paying transaction fees.
In the entertainment and media sector, media companies have been using Blockchain technology to eliminate fraud, reduce costs, and protect Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
For example, Mycelia uses the Blockchain to create a peer-to-peer music distribution system.
The platform uses smart contracts to enable musicians to sell songs directly to audiences, license samples to producers, and directly distribute royalties to songwriters and musicians.
Using Blockchain Effectively
Blockchain implementations may require considerable investment in skills and infrastructure.
To know how to use Blockchain effectively, first establish whether distributed ledger technology can truly address your objectives and operational needs and if it’s likely to yield an acceptable return on that investment.
In terms of implementation, organizations should adopt practical measures to reduce the likelihood of fraud or illicit activities on a distributed ledger. These include:
- Two-factor authentication (2FA): For Blockchain systems, this provides an added layer of wallet security. In addition to their wallet key, each user provides a one-time password, or OTP, generated in real-time to access their currency wallet.
- Integration with anti-phishing software: These are applications specially designed to identify malicious links, email threats, and fake websites, with the power to revoke access.
- Provision of cold wallets: Cold wallets are Blockchain wallets that aren’t connected to the internet and are therefore less vulnerable to hacking. They typically present to the user in the form of a device.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Blockchain has been finding uses in a diverse range of industries. But it’s not all good news. In this section, we’ll be looking at the advantages of Blockchain, as well as the drawbacks.
Benefits of Blockchain
What are the advantages of Blockchain?
Blockchain data is often stored on thousands of devices in a distributed network of nodes.
This level of redundancy and replication renders both the system and its data highly resistant to technical failures and malicious attacks.
With no single point of failure in terms of infrastructure and content, one of the pros of Blockchain is that a single node going offline does not affect the availability or security of the network as a whole.
Once data or a transaction has been registered on the Blockchain, it is extremely difficult to remove or change it.
Cryptographic protections that link each block of information with its predecessor contribute to rendering Blockchain data highly stable and tamper-resistant.
Another of the notable Blockchain advantages is its non-reliance on trust.
Since the distributed network of nodes on a Blockchain verify each transaction through a process known as mining, the system is decentralized, interactions may occur without a third party being involved, and there’s no need to establish trust between the two primary parties beforehand.
Transparency is another benefit. In an open Blockchain system, the transaction ledger for public addresses is open to viewing, adding a layer of accountability.
For information repositories, this transparency makes data readily available to authorized stakeholders, who are also assured of its integrity.
Drawbacks of Blockchain
What are the Blockchain disadvantages?
While the decentralized peer to peer network architecture and distributed ledger are Blockchain advantages, the implementation of its consensus mechanisms can introduce significant drawbacks.
One of the main disadvantages of Blockchain, mining under the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm, is highly competitive and produces just one winner every ten minutes.
So the work of every other miner is wasted -plus the computing power and energy resources that they’ve consumed. At one time, cryptocurrency mining was using as much energy as the Republic of Ireland.
Proof of Work also introduces the possibility of a 51% attack, where one entity manages to control more than 50% of the network hashing power, eventually allowing them to disrupt the network by intentionally excluding or modifying the ordering of transactions.
Blockchain ledgers can also grow very large over time. As of October 2020, the Bitcoin Blockchain requires around 200 GB of storage -a challenge to today’s consumer hard drives.
As a result, Blockchain networks risk losing nodes if the ledger becomes too large for individuals to download and store it on their own devices.
The expansion of Blockchain networks also introduces problems with scaling, often introducing unacceptable or impractical delays.
The immutability of Blockchain data can be a double-edged sword. Mistakes are inevitable -and with them, the need to rectify those errors.
Changing Blockchain data or code often requires a complex and demanding hard fork, where one chain is abandoned, and a new one is taken up.
Blockchain’s reliance on public-key (or asymmetric) cryptography introduces a single point of failure: the private key associated with each Blockchain address. If a user loses their private key, all access to their Blockchain account and its assets goes with it.
Blockchain Vs Cryptocurrency
People often take Blockchain and Cryptocurrency as the same thing. However, they are two separate but related phenomena.
Comparisons
Here’s the Blockchain vs cryptocurrency breakdown.
Blockchain is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. Using Blockchain technology, participants in a network can confirm transactions without the need for a central clearing authority.
First gaining prominence with the launch of Bitcoin in 2008-2009, Blockchain is the technology that enables the existence of Cryptocurrency -but it’s capable of a lot more than that.
A cryptocurrency is a medium of exchange. However, unlike flat currencies like the US dollar, Cryptocurrency is digital and uses encryption techniques to control the creation of monetary units and to verify the transfer of funds.
Cryptocurrency platforms like Bitcoin are by nature decentralized, requiring no central bank to authorize transactions and no intermediaries to act in their facilitation.
A cryptocurrency Blockchain or crypto Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology or DLT that enables fund transfers, transaction processing, and data storage. This is a direct link between Blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain and Cryptography
The “crypto” in Cryptocurrency is an abbreviation for cryptography. Due to the consensus algorithms and security protections of a network, Blockchain encryption is essential to every transaction that takes place on the platform.
Cryptocurrency Transactions
Here’s an example of a cryptocurrency transaction:
Let’s say that Mary owes Roger two Bitcoins. To transfer the funds, Mary broadcasts a message with the transaction she wants to make to all the miners in the Bitcoin network.
The message includes Roger’s address and the amount of Bitcoin she would like to send, along with a digital signature and her public key.
Once the miners have checked that Mary’s digital signature lines up with her private key to make sure that the transaction is valid, they can put it in a block along with many other transactions and attempt to mine the block.
They do this by putting the block through the SHA-256 algorithm to generate an output hash that starts with a certain number of zeros.
To achieve this, the miners add a variable known as a “nonce” into the block before running it through the algorithm. Since a small change to the input completely changes the output, the miners must try random nonces until they find a valid output hash.
Once the block is mined successfully, the winning miner broadcasts the result to all the other miners on the network.
They then check to make sure that the block is valid so that they can add it to their copy of the Blockchain, and the transaction is complete.
The two Bitcoins move from Mary’s account to Roger’s.
Blockchain-based Cryptocurrencies
Ten years ago, cryptocurrencies were conceptual and unknown to the public at large. However, with the emergence of Bitcoin in 2009 and its rapid commercial success in the years thereafter, we’ve witnessed the rise of Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies.
As of 2020, there are somewhere in the region of 2,000 regularly traded cryptocurrencies. Among the top names are Bitcoin, Ethereum (Ether), Ripple, Litecoin, and Monero.
People Also Asked
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a peer to peer network that plays host to a distributed ledger, a complete copy of which is held by each peer (node, or computer) on the network.
The ledger consists of blocks or discrete packets of information, with each block linked to the one before it, forming an additive chain.
Data may only be added to the Blockchain in a time-sequential order, and with no central authority to control or manipulate the network, any update made to the Blockchain must be validated in accordance with strict criteria defined by the Blockchain protocol and added to the Blockchain only after a consensus has been reached among all of its participants.
What Is Blockchain and How Does it Work?
Blockchain is based on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network topology and acts as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), which allows data to be stored globally on thousands of servers.
Each computer participating in the Blockchain network is called a node or peer.
A node on the Blockchain may start a transaction by first creating and then digitally signing it with a private key, which is created via cryptography.
Once a transaction is validated using a consensus mechanism agreed by the network, it is included in a block, which then forms part of the ledger. Typically, verification requires several peers.
Transactions in a Blockchain are reconfirmed each time a new block is created. Typically, six confirmations are required to consider the transaction final.
Can Blockchain Be Hacked?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reports that hackers have stolen nearly $2 billion worth of Cryptocurrency since 2017. So Blockchain can be hacked and in a number of ways.
In a “51% attack”, an entity (which may be a collective of hackers) gains control of more than 51% of the computing or hashing power within a Blockchain network.
The hackers can then create an entirely different (fraudulent) set of transactions and designate it as the true version of the Blockchain.
Particularly with larger, more intricate blockchains, there may be security glitches or errors during the creation of the platform that introduce vulnerabilities.
Errors in smart contract code may also cause incorrect actions to occur.
Who Is the Owner of Blockchain?
There is no single, monolithic “Blockchain.” Rather, there’s a class of technology and individual Blockchain implementations that are used by various bodies for various purposes.
No one really owns Blockchain technology as a whole, but different organizations can own specific and individual blockchains.
In public, permissionless systems like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, decisions as to what gets implemented or what doesn’t are made by the community as a whole.
In a private, permissioned Blockchain, central administration belongs to a small group or a single body -typically, the management of a commercial enterprise or a private consortium of a select number of businesses.
When it comes to the tech, you can own a Blockchain application -but you cannot technically own the technology itself.
What Is a 51% Attack?
Cryptocurrency and other public blockchains typically use Proof of Work (PoW) as their protocol for verifying transactions.
In a process known as mining, nodes spend computing power in solving problems that entitle them to add information about new transactions to the database.
In a 51% attack, a group of miners gains control of more than 50% of the network’s mining hash rate or computing power.
With this majority, they can defraud other users by sending them payments and then creating an alternative version of the Blockchain (known as a fork) in which the payments never happened -a process known as double-spending.
Who Invented Blockchain?
As far back as 1991, Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta began commercially operating a rudimentary form of tamper-proof or immutable ledger while working at Bell Communications Research.
They developed a system of cryptographically chained blocks and whose wide distribution via appropriate incentives eliminated the need for a trusted third party.
The cryptographically secure chains of blocks had time stamps so that nobody could tamper with them.
In 1998, W. Dai, a computer engineer specializing in cryptocurrencies and cryptography, floated the idea of decentralized money, or B-Money.
In 2008, when “Satoshi Nakamoto” released the Bitcoin white paper, the underlying technology drew directly from the ideas proposed by W. Dai and the pioneering work of W. Scott Stornetta and Stuart Haber.
What Is Blockchain Example?
Aeternity is a scalable Blockchain platform suitable for many applications that require high-speed transactions, such as smart contracts, secure document exchanges, and nano or micropayments.
The technology has the potential to support the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, financial technology (FinTech), video gaming, trust-free exchanges, and other services.
BASF Corporation and arc-net are collaborating to use Blockchain technology to record and analyze sustainability in livestock through a network that connects every part of the process from farm to consumer.
Digital cryptocurrency systems like Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum provide an entirely electronic method of fund transfer, in which digital tokens or units of exchange can be transferred securely between parties without the need for intermediaries.
What Is Blockchain in Real Life?
In supply chain management, Blockchain allows transparency, with a shared record of ownership and the location of parts and products in real-time.
This potentially enables supply chain partners to known the status and condition of every product on the supply chain, from raw materials to distribution. IBM Blockchain currently provides such services.
The MediLedger Project is a Blockchain system that provides an open, decentralized network with an indelible record of transactions and data that allows members to demonstrate regulatory compliance and improve security.
Nano Vision combines Blockchain’s power with artificial intelligence (AI) to gather molecular-level data on Nano Tokens.
The AI then sifts through this data to find trends and analyze connections that could lead to medical breakthroughs.
Who Owns the Blockchain?
“The Blockchain” isn’t a single thing -so no single person “owns” it. There are many Blockchains in existence, spanning multiple sectors of the economy, and the characteristics and usage of each particular implementation determines who or what within that Blockchain network has the greatest degree of ownership.
In an open and public Blockchain system like Bitcoin, the network is fully decentralized, and its members remain anonymous. “Ownership” of the Blockchain belongs to the community as a whole.
In a private or enterprise Blockchain, the network is typically “permissioned” and often closed, so membership is restricted to individuals or organizations that have been formally invited to join the network by its central authority.
What is Blockchain in Simple Terms?
A Blockchain is a digital record of transactions. The name comes from its structure, in which individual data records or “blocks” are linked together in an additive list, called a “chain.”
When a new block is added to a Blockchain, it’s linked to the previous block by a cryptographic hash. In practical terms, the Blockchain is a peer to peer computer network.
Multiple computers validate every transaction added to a Blockchain on the network, which work together to ensure that each transaction is valid.
So a single system working on its own cannot add invalid blocks to the chain.
As a result of all this, the information in a Blockchain is virtually tamper-proof and unchangeable -a quality described as “immutable.”
What Is Blockchain Used For?
Blockchain technology can decrease the cost of international transfers by automating the payment process, reducing the number of intermediaries typically required, and eliminating banks’ need to settle transactions manually.
For companies transporting goods and raw materials, the entries on a Blockchain can be used to schedule events like the allocation of consignments to different shipping containers.
At the consumer level in healthcare, Blockchain may act as the medium binding personal medical records and the real-time health data streaming from connected devices of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).
Media companies have been using Blockchain technology to eliminate fraud, reduce costs, and protect Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
What Is a Blockchain Technology?
In essence, a Blockchain technology is anything that facilitates the operation and management of a decentralized, distributed ledger that records the origins and current state of a digital asset.
Blockchain technology involves three key concepts: blocks, nodes, and miners.
Blocks are the units holding data or transactions.
Nodes can be any kind of electronic device that maintains copies of the Blockchain and keeps the network functioning.
Miners use special software to solve incredibly complex math problems to validate entries on the network.
Disadvantage of Blockchain
On the debit side, there are issues with scalability. The more people or nodes that join a Blockchain network, the greater the chances of it slowing down.
In addition, the Blockchain mining process typically consumes significant amounts of energy.
A large public ledger can easily occupy hundreds of gigabytes of data storage. This can cause storage problems for individuals holding a copy of the ledger on their devices.
Implementation Costs
Even though most public Blockchain solutions are open source, they require a lot of investment from any organization looking to adapt them for enterprise purposes.
What Are the Disadvantages and Advantages of Blockchain?
Blockchain has the advantages of being a shared network/database that is immutable, transparent, secure, and decentralized.
Its power to facilitate secure data storage and transaction management has also opened up a multitude of use cases and scenarios that apply across numerous industries and walks of life.
However, transactions on a network may take a long time to complete, depending on the network congestion.
Blockchain implementations that use Proof-of-Work consensus also consume enormous amounts of energy and may be vulnerable to “51%” attacks.
Data immutability eliminates the “right to be forgotten” and can produce privacy issues for users unable to remove traces of sensitive information from the system.
As with many emerging technologies, specialist talent is required for Blockchain development and deployment -and these skills are sorely lacking.
Can Blockchain Be Trusted?
Detractors such as Bruce Schneier argue that public Blockchains inspire impersonal trust: users trust implicitly that miners will follow the required protocols and make the whole system work.
This manifests as faith in mathematics and code -trust as verification. But verification isn’t the same as trust.
At the other end of the scale, Forbes analyst Jim Blasingame argues that Blockchain is enabling the metamorphosis of trust from analog to digital.
In the “Analog Age,” trust intermediaries such as governments, banks, lawyers, or title companies were required to facilitate any transaction that doesn’t require the parties to trust each other.
Using cryptography and digital technologies, Blockchain can do the same -but more quickly, more efficiently, and often at a lower cost.
What Is the Disadvantage of Blockchain?
The principal disadvantage of Blockchain in its present form is inefficiency. Cryptocurrency Blockchain operations like mining typically take a long time to perform.
Activities on large Blockchain networks also consume enormous resources in terms of computing power and energy.
This can make Blockchain operations distinctly unfriendly to the environment and highly unsustainable.
Why Is Blockchain Expensive?
Blockchain is an emerging technology and still has some way to go before it achieves maturity and wide-scale adoption.
A recent study that used Blockchain to transfer and settle securities and cash to see if the emerging technology could, in fact, serve cheaper and faster than current settlement mechanisms found Blockchain to be slower and more expensive.
If you’re hiring a Blockchain developer in 2020, expect to pay average hourly rates from $81 up to $100.
Generally speaking, Blockchain app development starts at around $5,000 and can go as high as $200,000 or more, depending on the use case.
Regardless of the technology employed, a cryptocurrency project will typically cost from $15,000 up to $50,000.
Is Blockchain a Safe Wallet?
Software wallets install as applications on a computer or mobile device, which (assuming that the initial software installation is free of bugs and malware) is the principal source of security vulnerability.
Web-based or hosted wallets are provided as an online platform or service by a third party.
To ensure safety, you’ll need to perform due diligence on the web site or service provider to establish what security measures and protections they have in place.
Hardware wallets store private keys for Blockchain users on a hardware device, which typically has a USB interface.
Paper wallets function as a physical document on which a Blockchain user’s public and private key pair is generated using a software application, then printed to make a transaction possible.
Paper wallets must be protected against physical theft and damage to remain truly safe with hardware devices.
Is Blockchain the Future?
The first generation of Blockchain technology revolved around Bitcoin and digital currencies. With the introduction of smart contracts during its second generation, Blockchain technology became more versatile.
We’re still awaiting the third generation of Blockchain technology, which is likely to kick off once all the issues surrounding the scalability of Blockchain networks are addressed.
Once the kinks are ironed out, we may see Blockchain’s greater integration with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the future.
Innovations such as graph-based distributed ledger technology may expand Blockchain’s usage to exciting areas such as integration with smart and autonomous vehicles or the internet itself.
Why Blockchain Is the Future?
Blockchain has already proved its worth in facilitating cross-border and international payments while still maintaining an acceptable level of trust and transparency.
In years to come, integrating these mechanisms with other Blockchain applications such as supply chain management may provide a streamlined medium for conducting international trade.
As Blockchain matures, we can expect greater moves toward standardization, with mechanisms and protocols enabling anyone to implement Blockchain and collaborate towards the improvement of the technology.
Who Is the Father of Blockchain?
In his white paper laying out the terms of the new digital currency, the enigmatic entity with the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” makes direct reference to the work of W. Dai, a computer engineer who first suggested the idea of decentralized money (B-Money).
Nakamoto also references the work of Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two Bell Communications Research scientists who developed a rudimentary system consisting of a cryptographically secured chain of blocks -and who are regarded by many as the founding fathers of Blockchain.
Who really Invented Blockchain?
As far back as 1991, two scientists working at Bell Communications Research developed a prototype that was the first Blockchain.
In 1991, Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta began commercially operating a rudimentary form of tamper-proof or immutable ledger, consisting of a cryptographic system of blocks chained together, and whose wide distribution via appropriate incentives eliminated the need for a trusted third party.
These cryptographically secure chains of blocks had time stamps so that nobody could tamper with them.
What Are the Disadvantages of Cryptocurrency?
Given the size of large cryptocurrency networks, the speed of a transaction can be slowed to levels that make it difficult for platforms to compete with more traditional finance institutions.
Security vulnerabilities like Distributed Denial of Service and 51% attacks make cryptocurrency networks a high-value target for hackers and cybercriminals.
Price volatility makes it risky to invest in Cryptocurrency without a full understanding of all the factors involved.
The tamper-proof “immutable” nature of data on a cryptocurrency Blockchain makes it almost impossible to stop a cryptocurrency transaction once it is completed.
Parties often have to rely on good faith to get back tokens they’ve spent in error.
Though digital wallets can provide a convenient mechanism for cryptocurrency storage and management, the private keys they rely on introduce a single point of failure.
What Are the Harmful Effects of Bitcoin?
Bitcoin price fluctuations are completely unpredictable in the short term, making it a risky asset for investors.
Due to Blockchain transactions’ immutable nature on a cryptocurrency platform, Bitcoin does not provide any consumer protection.
In the event of a failed or erroneous transaction, all the losing party can do is try to convince the recipient of the funds to return them voluntarily.
According to some recent studies, cryptocurrency mining is causing harm to both human health and the environment.
Is Bitcoin Legal?
As of February 2020, Bitcoin was legal in the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, and other developed countries.
China heavily restricts Bitcoin without actually making its possession a criminal offense. India has banned its banks from dealing in bitcoins but has left the overall legal status of cryptocurrencies unclear.
Bitcoin is usually treated as property rather than currency for tax purposes and is generally not considered legal tender.
Bitcoin addresses don’t require Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or other personal information like standard bank accounts in the United States.
In 2020, the IRS created a new tax form requiring taxpayers to declare if they engaged in any virtual currency transactions during 2019.
Can Bitcoin Be Hacked?
For one thing, hackers can steal bitcoins by gaining access to a bitcoin owner’s digital wallet. There’s also the potential for security risks at various stages of the trading process.
During the transaction process, two-factor authentication routinely requires confirmation using both a passkey and a secondary source -e.g., a code sent to an email address or mobile phone.
Anyone who manages to gain access to these components can potentially authenticate transactions.
Attackers can also turn to more time tested methods, such as phishing and social engineering tactics, to induce victims to part with information such as their private key or expose their devices to malware that facilitates Bitcoin theft.
Can I Buy a House With Bitcoin?
The short answer is “Yes.”
The first Bitcoin real estate transaction, was for a single-family home in Austin, Texas.
The seller used BitPay, a global bitcoin payment service provider, to complete the transaction and convert the bitcoins they received into dollars.
With the deal having been agreed to a fixed dollar amount, the financial risk was largely transferred to the buyer due to the volatile nature of Bitcoin’s value.
It’s not yet possible to use Bitcoin to buy a house with a mortgage payment. In the future, cryptocurrency platforms built on the Ethereum platform (which enables smart contracts) may solve this problem.
This could facilitate real estate deals via the use of open-source contracts.
Is Cryptocurrency the Future?
In 2020, major retailers, including Microsoft, Wikipedia, Burger King, and Starbucks, are accepting Bitcoin as payment.
A recent survey suggests that 36% of small to medium-sized businesses accept Bitcoin as a payment method in the US.
This number is likely to grow in the coming years as cryptocurrencies become more mainstream.
Though it may not completely replace fiat currencies, which are backed by governments and credit and are highly centralized, in places where confidence in the government is weak, or inflation is running very high, cryptocurrency usage could increase.
More than 20 countries have already been exploring the concept of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Is Blockchain Still the Future?
Blockchain currently has applications in a diverse range of industries, including finance, health, agriculture, supply chain, entertainment, and media.
The technology and mechanisms of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts now have an established base, and Blockchain seems set to exert a major influence in the future.
The fact that the technology has applications beyond Cryptocurrency continues to fuel its growth.
For instance, IBM has engaged in more than 400 Blockchain projects spanning supply chain, government, healthcare, transportation, insurance, chemicals, and petroleum.
As active Blockchain networks continue to transform various industries, we will likely see new governance models emerge that enable large and diverse consortia to approach decision-making, permissioning schemes, and payments more efficiently.
Who Is the CEO of Blockchain?
The concept and technology ecosystem known as “Blockchain” doesn’t exist as a single corporate entity or monolithic thing.
There are diverse and numerous Blockchain systems currently in use throughout the world -some public and open, others privately owned by individual enterprises, or administered by a consortium of several organizations.
However, in the corporate sphere, there is a company known as Blockchain.com, and its CEO is Peter Smith.
Has Blockchain Ever Been Hacked?
With the rise in phishing and social engineering attempts, the increasing sophistication of eavesdropping and spyware extracting private keys and personal account information from unwary users of free public Wi-Fi, and the potential for 51% attacks (where a consortium of attackers may gain a majority share of a Blockchain network and dictate their own transaction space), Blockchain hacks have drastically increased in recent years, as hackers have discovered that vulnerabilities do in fact exist.
Since 2017, public data shows that hackers have stolen around $2 billion in Blockchain cryptocurrency.
What Are the Advantages of Blockchain?
In an open Blockchain system, the transaction ledger for public addresses is open to viewing.
For financial systems and commercial organizations especially, this adds a layer of accountability, holding each sector of the business responsible for acting with integrity.
For information repositories, this transparency makes data readily available to authorized stakeholders, who are also assured of its integrity.
Owing to its decentralized nature, Blockchain reduces or even eliminates the need for intermediaries or third-party intervention in many processes, like payments and real estate transactions.
The immutable nature of Blockchain data storage keeps it safe from falsified information, and its cryptographic protections and consensus mechanisms make the platform highly resistant to hacks.
Each time an exchange is recorded within the Blockchain ledger, an audit trail is present to trace where the assets came from. In exchange-related businesses, this can improve security and prevent fraud.
What Is the Problem With Blockchain?
Blockchain technology is still relatively new and presents problems with implementation.
Specifically, Blockchain operations tend to consume a significant amount of computer processing power and energy, making it decidedly unfriendly to the environment and, in some cases, actively detrimental to human health.
And while the current architecture of the Blockchain is high on energy consumption, it also has problems with scaling.
As more transactions are added to a bBockchain, and new members join the network, the resources and time consumed in the validation and distribution of the ledger to all the network nodes also rise, often introducing unacceptable or impractical delays.
