A blockchain is a distributed database that is shared across computer network nodes.
A blockchain, like a database, saves information electronically in digital format. Blockchains are well recognized for their critical function in cryptocurrency systems such as Bitcoin, in keeping a secure and decentralized record of transactions. The blockchain’s novelty is that it ensures the accuracy and security of a data record and produces trust without the requirement for a trusted third party.
The way data is organized differs significantly between a traditional database and a blockchain. A blockchain accumulates information in groupings known as “blocks,” which store sets of data. When a block’s storage capacity is reached, it is closed and connected to the previous full block, producing a data chain known as the blockchain. All the new information that follows that newly added block is assembled into a newly formed block, which is then added to the chain once it is completed.
A database typically organizes its data into tables, but a blockchain, as the name suggests, organizes its data into pieces (blocks) that are connected together. When implemented decentralized, this data structure creates an irreversible temporal line of data. When a block is completed, it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline. When a block is added to the chain, it is given a specific timestamp.
Important Takeaways
A blockchain is a sort of shared database that varies from traditional databases in the way data is stored; blockchains store data in blocks that are then connected together using encryption.
As new data arrives, it is added to a new block. Once the block has been filled with data, it is chained onto the preceding block, resulting in the data being chained together in chronological sequence.
A blockchain may hold several sorts of data, but its most popular use to date has been as a transaction ledger.
In the case of Bitcoin, the blockchain is employed in a decentralized manner, such that no one person or organization has power—rather, all users keep control collectively.
Because decentralized blockchains are unchangeable, the data input is irreversible. In the case of Bitcoin, this implies that all transactions are permanently recorded and accessible to anybody.
How Does a Blockchain Function?
Blockchain’s purpose is to enable digital information to be recorded and disseminated but not modified. A blockchain, in this sense, serves as the basis for immutable ledgers, or records of transactions that cannot be changed, erased, or destroyed. As a result, blockchains are often referred to as “distributed ledger technology” (DLT).
The blockchain idea was initially suggested as a research project in 1991, and it preceded its first popular use in use: Bitcoin, in 2009. Since then, the use of blockchains has grown exponentially, thanks to the development of multiple cryptocurrencies, decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and smart contracts.
Attributes of the Cryptocurrency Transaction Process: Blockchain Decentralization
Assume a corporation runs a server farm with 10,000 machines that are utilized to manage a database that contains all of its clients’ account information. This corporation owns a warehouse facility that houses all of these computers under one roof and has complete control over each of these systems and all of the information they hold. However, this creates a single point of failure. What happens if the power goes out at that location? What happens if its Internet connection is lost? What if it catches fire and burns to the ground? What if a malicious actor uses a single keystroke to erase everything? The data is either lost or damaged in either situation.
A blockchain allows the data in that database to be distributed across several network nodes in different places. This not only adds redundancy but also ensures the integrity of the data contained in the database—if someone attempts to change a record in one instance of the database, the other nodes are not affected, preventing a bad actor from doing so. If a single user tampers with Bitcoin’s transaction record, the other nodes will cross-reference each other and readily identify the node with inaccurate information. This method aids in the establishment of a precise and visible sequence of occurrences. As a result, no single node in the network has the ability to change the information contained within it.
As a result, information and history (such as bitcoin transactions) are irreversible. Such a record might be a list of transactions (like with cryptocurrencies), but it is also feasible for a blockchain to store additional information such as legal contracts, state identifications, or a company’s goods inventory.
To verify new entries or records into a block, a majority of the processing power in the decentralized network must agree. Blockchains are protected by a consensus method such as proof of work (PoW) or proof of stake to prevent bad actors from confirming bogus transactions or duplicate spending (PoS). These techniques allow for consensus even when there is no single node in command.
Transparency
Because of the decentralized structure of Bitcoin’s blockchain, all transactions can be openly watched by owning a personal node or utilizing blockchain explorers, which enables anybody to witness transactions taking place in real-time. Every node maintains its own copy of the chain, which is updated when new blocks are verified and added. This implies that you could follow Bitcoin wherever it went if you wanted to.
Exchanges, for example, have been hacked in the past, and customers who stored Bitcoin on the exchange lost everything. While the hacker may be completely anonymous, the bitcoins they obtained are readily traceable. It would be known if the Bitcoins stolen in any of these attacks were relocated or spent someplace.
Of course, the Bitcoin blockchain (as well as the majority of others) stores records that are encrypted. This implies that only the record’s owner may decode it and disclose their identity (using a public-private key pair). As a consequence, blockchain users may stay anonymous while maintaining transparency.
Is Blockchain Trustworthy?
In numerous ways, blockchain technology delivers decentralized security and trust. To begin with, new blocks are always kept in a linear and chronological order. That is, they are always appended to the blockchain’s “end.” It is exceedingly difficult to go back and change the contents of a block once it has been put at the end of the blockchain unless a majority of the network has achieved an agreement to do so. This is due to the fact that each block has its own hash, as well as the hash of the block before it and the previously stated time stamp. A mathematical function converts digital information into a string of numbers and characters to generate hash codes. If that information is changed in any manner, the hash code will change as well.
Assume a hacker, who also operates a node on a blockchain network, wishes to change a blockchain and steal bitcoin from everyone else. If they changed their single copy, it would no longer be in sync with everyone else’s copy. When everyone else compares their copies to each other, this one copy will stand out, and the hacker’s version of the chain will be discarded as invalid.
To be successful in such a hack, the hacker must simultaneously possess and change 51 percent or more of the blockchain’s copies, so that their new copy becomes the majority copy and, thus, the agreed-upon chain. Such an assault would also need a massive amount of money and resources since they would have to repeat all of the blocks due to the varied time stamps and hash codes.
Because of the scale of many cryptocurrency networks and how quickly they are developing, the expense of accomplishing such a feat would most certainly be unattainable. This would be not only exceedingly costly but also likely futile. Such an action would not go unnoticed by network members, who would detect such substantial changes to the blockchain. Members of the network would then hard fork off to a new version of the chain that was not impacted. This would cause the value of the attacked version of the token to collapse, rendering the attack ultimately futile since the bad actor now controls a worthless asset. The same thing would happen if a bad actor attacked the next Bitcoin split. It is designed in this manner so that participating in the network is significantly more economically encouraged than attacking it.
“Blockchain vs. Bitcoin”
Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two academics who aimed to develop a system where document timestamps could not be manipulated, proposed blockchain technology in 1991. But it wasn’t until almost two decades later, with the introduction of Bitcoin in January 2009, that the blockchain saw its first real-world implementation. 1.
A blockchain serves as the foundation for the Bitcoin protocol. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, described the digital currency in a research paper as “a new electronic cash system that’s totally peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.” 2.
The crucial point to remember here is that although Bitcoin utilizes blockchain to transparently record a ledger of payments, blockchain may theoretically be used to immutably store any number of data items. As previously said, this might take the form of transactions, election votes, goods inventories, state identifications, deeds to residences, and much more.
For example, tens of thousands of initiatives are attempting to use blockchains in ways other than transaction recording to benefit society—for example, as a secure means of voting in democratic elections. Because of the immutability of the blockchain, fraudulent voting would become much more difficult. A voting system, for example, may be designed such that each citizen of a nation receives a separate coin or token. Each candidate would then be assigned a unique wallet address, and voters would transmit their token or cryptocurrency to the address of the candidate for whom they wanted to vote. Because blockchain is transparent and traceable, it eliminates the necessity for human vote counting as well as the possibility of unscrupulous actors interfering with physical ballots.
Banks versus blockchain
Blockchains have been lauded as a disruptive force in the financial industry, particularly in payment and banking activities. Banks, on the other hand, are radically different from decentralized blockchains.
Let’s compare the banking system to Bitcoin’s implementation of blockchain to observe how it varies from the blockchain.
What Is the Purpose of Blockchains?
Blocks on Bitcoin’s blockchain, as we now know, hold data about monetary transactions. There are already over 10,000 additional cryptocurrency systems operating on the blockchain. However, it has been shown that blockchain is also a viable method of recording data about other sorts of transactions.
Walmart, Pfizer, AIG, Siemens, Unilever, and a slew of other corporations have already used blockchain technology. For example, IBM, for example, has developed the Food Trust blockchain to track the path that food goods travel to reach their destinations. 3.
Why are you doing this? There have been several outbreaks of E. coli, salmonella, and listeria in the food sector, as well as hazardous compounds being mistakenly put into meals. It used to take weeks to figure out where these outbreaks were coming from or what was causing people to become ill from what they were consuming. Using blockchain, marketers can follow a food product’s journey from its origin through each stop along the way and ultimately to its delivery. If a meal is proven to be tainted, it may be tracked back through each stop to its source. Not only that, but these firms can now see everything else with which they have come into contact, enabling the issue to be identified far sooner and perhaps saving lives. This is one example of blockchain in action, but there are many different ways to apply blockchain.
Finance and banking
Perhaps no sector will benefit more from incorporating blockchain into its business processes than banking. Financial institutions are only open during business hours, which are normally five days a week. That implies that if you attempt to deposit a check on Friday at 6 p.m., you will most likely have to wait until Monday morning for the funds to appear in your account. Even if you make your deposit during business hours, it may take one to three days for the transaction to be verified, owing to the large number of transactions that banks must settle. Blockchain, on the other hand, is awake all the time.
By incorporating blockchain into banks, users may expect their transactions to be completed in as little as 10 minutes—basically the time it takes to add a block to the blockchain, regardless of holidays or time of day or week. Banks may also use blockchain to trade money across institutions more rapidly and securely. In the stock trading industry, for example, the settlement and clearing procedures might take up to three days (or more if dealing overseas), which means that the money and shares are frozen during that time.
Given the magnitude of the funds involved, even a few days in transit might incur enormous expenses and hazards for institutions.
Currency
The blockchain is the foundation for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The Federal Reserve controls the US currency. A user’s data and cash are theoretically at the mercy of their bank or government under this central authority structure. If a user’s bank is hacked, the client’s personal information is jeopardized. The value of the client’s money may be jeopardized if their bank fails or if they reside in a nation with an uncertain government. Several failed banks were bailed out in 2008 with government funds being used in part. These are the concerns that led to the creation and development of Bitcoin.
By dispersing its operations over a network of computers, Blockchain enables Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to function without the need for a central authority. Not only does this reduce risk, but it also removes much of the processing and transaction expenses. It may also provide people in countries with unstable currencies or financial infrastructures with a more stable currency with more applications and a larger network of people and organizations with whom they can do domestic and international commerce.
Using bitcoin wallets for savings accounts or as a form of payment is particularly significant for people who do not have state identification. Some nations may be in the midst of a civil war or have administrations that lack the necessary infrastructure to offer identification. Citizens in such nations may lack access to savings or brokerage accounts and hence have no means of securely storing money.
Healthcare
Blockchain technology may be used by healthcare professionals to securely keep their patients’ medical records. When a medical record is created and signed, it may be recorded on the blockchain, giving patients confirmation and assurance that the record cannot be altered. Personal health data might be encoded and kept on the blockchain with a private key, making it available only to certain people and maintaining privacy.
Property Documents
If you’ve ever visited your local recorder’s office, you’ll be aware that the process of documenting property rights is both time-consuming and inefficient. A tangible deed must now be presented to a government employee at the local recording office, who manually enters it into the county’s central database and public index. Property claims must be reconciled with the public index in the event of a property dispute.
This method is not only expensive and time-consuming; it is also prone to human errors, with each inaccuracy making property ownership monitoring less efficient. Blockchain has the ability to eliminate the necessity for document scanning and physical file tracking at a local recording office. Property owners may have confidence that their deed is accurate and permanently documented if it is kept and validated on the blockchain.
It may be virtually impossible to show title to a property in war-torn nations or locations with little to no government or banking infrastructure, and definitely no Recorder’s Office. If a group of individuals living in such a region is able to use blockchain, then property ownership timelines might be formed in a transparent and unambiguous manner.
Contracts that are smart
A smart contract is a piece of computer code that may be embedded in the blockchain to help facilitate, verify, or negotiate a contract agreement. Smart contracts work on a set of criteria that users must agree to. When certain requirements are satisfied, the agreement’s provisions are immediately implemented.
Assume a prospective renter wishes to lease an apartment via the use of a smart contract. The landlord promises to provide the renter with the apartment’s door code as soon as the tenant pays the security deposit. Both the renter and the landlord would transmit their respective shares of the agreement to the smart contract, which would save the door code and immediately swap it for the security deposit on the lease start date. If the landlord does not provide the door code by the lease expiration date, the smart contract returns the security deposit. This would avoid the expenses and procedures involved with using a notary, a third-party mediator or lawyers.
Chains of Supply
Suppliers, like IBM Food Trust, may utilize the blockchain to track the provenance of products they acquire. This would enable businesses to validate not just their own goods, but also popular labels like “organic,” “local,” and “fair trade.”
According to Forbes, the food sector is rapidly using blockchain technology to monitor the course and safety of food along the farm-to-user journey.
Voting
As previously stated, blockchain technology might be utilized to allow a contemporary voting system. Voting using blockchain has the potential to reduce election fraud while increasing voter participation, as shown in the November 2018 midterm elections in West Virginia. 5. Using blockchain in this manner would make tampering with votes almost impossible. The blockchain protocol will also ensure transparency in the electoral process by lowering the number of people required to conduct an election and providing authorities with near-instant results. This would remove the necessity for recounts as well as any actual risk that fraud may have jeopardized the election.
Blockchain’s Advantages and Disadvantages
Despite its intricacy, blockchain’s potential as a decentralized method of record-keeping is almost limitless. Blockchain technology may have benefits beyond those listed above, ranging from increased user privacy and security to reduced processing costs and fewer mistakes. However, there are certain drawbacks.
Pros
Improved accuracy by eliminating the need for human intervention in verification
Cost savings by reducing the need for third-party verification
Decentralization makes it more difficult to mess with.
Transactions are safe, confidential, and quick.
Technology that is transparent
For inhabitants of countries with unstable or weak governments, this service offers a financial option as well as a mechanism to safeguard personal information.
Cons
Significant technological costs are connected with bitcoin mining.
Transactions per second are low.
use in illegal operations, such as on the dark web, in the past.
Regulation varies by jurisdiction and is still in flux.
Data storage constraints
The Benefits of Blockchain Chain Accuracy
A network of thousands of computers approves transactions on the blockchain network. This eliminates practically all human participation in the verification process, resulting in reduced human error and a more accurate record of data. Even if a machine on the network committed a computational error, it would only affect one copy of the blockchain. For that mistake to propagate to the remainder of the blockchain, it would have to be produced by at least 51 percent of the network’s computers, which is almost impossible for a vast and developing network like Bitcoin’s. Six cost-cutting measures
Customers often pay a bank to authenticate a transaction, a notary to sign a document, or a priest to execute a marriage ceremony. Blockchain removes the need for third-party verification, as well as the expenses connected with it. Business owners, for example, pay a tiny charge whenever they accept credit card payments because banks and payment-processing businesses must handle the transactions. Bitcoin, on the other hand, lacks a centralized authority and offers low transaction costs.
Decentralization
The blockchain does not keep any of its data in a centralized place. Rather, the blockchain is replicated and distributed over a network of computers. Every computer in the network updates its blockchain whenever a new block is added to the blockchain. By disseminating that information over a network rather than holding it in a single central database, blockchain technology becomes more difficult to manipulate. If a hacker obtained a copy of the blockchain, just a single copy of the information, rather than the whole network, would be compromised.
Transactions that are efficient
Transactions processed by a central authority might take several days to settle. If you tried to deposit a check on Friday evening, for example, you would not see any cash in your account until Monday morning. Whereas financial institutions operate during business hours, which are typically five days per week, blockchain operates 24 hours a day, seven days per week, and 365 days per year. Transactions may be performed in as little as 10 minutes and are secure after just a few hours. This is especially helpful for cross-border transactions, which often take substantially longer due to time zone differences and the fact that all parties must approve payment processing.
Interpersonal Transactions
Many blockchain networks function as public databases, which means that anybody with an Internet connection may see a list of the network’s transaction history. Although users have access to transaction data, they do not have access to identifying information about the people who are making those transactions. It is a popular misconception that blockchain networks, such as bitcoin, are anonymous, whereas they are just secret.
When a user conducts a public transaction, their unique code—referred to before as a public key—is stored on the blockchain. Their personal information, on the other hand, is not. If a person buys Bitcoin on an exchange that needs identification, their identity is still connected to their blockchain address—but a transaction, even if attached to a person’s name, does not divulge any personal information.
Transactions that are secure
The blockchain network must verify the legitimacy of a transaction once it has been recorded. Thousands of computers on the blockchain race to certify that the purchase data is accurate. The transaction is added to the blockchain block once it has been verified by a computer. Each block on the blockchain has its own unique hash, as well as the unique hash of the block that came before it. When the information on a block is changed in any manner, the hash code of that block changes; nevertheless, the hash code of the block following it does not. Because of this disparity, it is exceedingly difficult for information on the blockchain to be modified without notice.
Transparency
The majority of blockchains are completely open-source software. This implies that anybody with access to the code may see it. This enables auditors to examine the security of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. This also implies that there is no actual authority over who controls the Bitcoin code or how it is modified. As a result, anyone may propose improvements or additions to the system. Bitcoin may be upgraded if a majority of network users believe that the new version of the code with the upgrade is sound and valuable.
Banks for the Unbanked
The capacity for everyone, regardless of race, gender, or cultural background, to utilize blockchain and Bitcoin is perhaps the most significant aspect of both. According to the World Bank, an estimated 1.7 billion individuals lack bank accounts or any other method of keeping their money or wealth. Many of these people reside in developing nations, where the economy is still in its infancy and is totally based on cash.
These folks often earn a small amount of money that is paid in cash. They must then conceal this actual currency in their homes or other places of residence, leaving them vulnerable to robbery or unwarranted violence. Keys to a bitcoin wallet may be written down on a piece of paper, kept on a cheap mobile phone, or even remembered if required. For most individuals, these solutions are likely to be more readily concealed than a modest sum of cash beneath a mattress.
Blockchains of the future are also searching for ways to store medical data, property rights, and a range of other legal contracts in addition to serving as a unit of account for wealth storage.
Disadvantages of Blockchain Technology
Although blockchain technology may save customers money on transaction costs, it is far from free. The PoW mechanism, for example, which the bitcoin network employs to validate transactions, requires enormous amounts of processing resources. In the current world, the electricity used by the millions of machines on the bitcoin network is comparable to Denmark’s yearly consumption. 8.
Despite the expense of mining bitcoin, consumers continue to push up their power bills in order to confirm blockchain transactions. This is due to the fact that when miners add a block to the bitcoin blockchain, they are paid with enough bitcoin to make their efforts profitable. Miners will need to be compensated or otherwise encouraged to validate transactions on blockchains that do not employ cryptocurrencies.
Some solutions to these problems are emerging. Bitcoin mining farms, for example, have been set up to utilize solar electricity, surplus natural gas from fracking sites, or wind farm power.
Inefficiency in Data and Speed
Bitcoin is an excellent case study for blockchain’s potential inefficiencies. A new block is added to the network by Bitcoin’s PoW mechanism every 10 minutes. At such a pace, the blockchain network is anticipated to be able to handle just roughly seven transactions per second (TPS). Although other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, outperform bitcoin, they are still constrained by the blockchain. Visa, for example, has a processing capacity of 24,000 TPS.
For years, people have been working on solutions to this problem. There are currently blockchains with more than 30,000 TPS.
Another difficulty is that each block can only carry a certain amount of data. The block size argument has been and continues to be one of the most urgent challenges for blockchain scalability in the future.
Illegal Behavior
While blockchain network confidentiality protects users from hackers and maintains privacy, it also allows for unlawful trade and activities on the blockchain network. The Silk Road, an online dark web illegal drug and money laundering bazaar that operated from February 2011 until October 2013, when it was shut down by the FBI, is possibly the most referenced example of blockchain being used for unlawful activities.
By utilizing the Tor Browser and making illicit transactions in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, users may buy and sell illegal things without being traced on the black market. Current U.S. rules require financial service providers to gather information about their clients when they create an account, authenticate each customer’s identification, and certify that the customer does not appear on any list of known or suspected terrorist groups. 13. This method has both advantages and disadvantages. It enables anybody to access bank accounts, but it also makes it easier for criminals to trade. Many have claimed that the beneficial applications of cryptocurrency, such as banking for the unbanked, outweigh the undesirable uses of bitcoin, particularly as most unlawful behavior is still carried out using untraceable cash.
While Bitcoin was first utilized for such reasons, its transparency and maturity as a financial asset have resulted in unlawful behavior shifting to other cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Dash.
Many people in the cryptocurrency community are concerned about government regulation of cryptocurrencies. While it is becoming more difficult, if not impossible, to stop a decentralized network like Bitcoin, governments may conceivably make it illegal to hold cryptocurrencies or participate in their networks.
As huge corporations like PayPal begin to enable the ownership and usage of cryptocurrencies on their platform, this issue has diminished.
What exactly is a blockchain platform?
A blockchain platform enables users and developers to build unique applications on top of the current blockchain infrastructure. One example is Ethereum, which has its own cryptocurrency called ether (ETH). 16. However, the Ethereum blockchain enables the development of smart contracts, programmable tokens used in initial coin offerings (ICOs), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These are all built around the Ethereum technology and safeguarded by Ethereum network nodes.
How Many Blockchains Exist?
The number of active blockchains is expanding at an alarming rate. As of 2022, there are about 10,000 active cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology, with several hundred more non-crypto currency blockchains.
What Is the Distinction Between a Private and a Public Blockchain?
A public blockchain, also known as an open or permissionless blockchain, is one in which anybody may freely join the network and set up a node. Because of their open nature, many blockchains need encryption and a consensus technique like proof of work (PoW).
In contrast, a private or permissioned blockchain needs each node to be vetted before joining. Because nodes are trusted, the levels of security do not need to be as strong.
Who Created the Blockchain?
Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two mathematicians who aimed to design a system where document timestamps could not be manipulated, proposed blockchain technology in 1991.
- In the late 1990s, a cypherpunk advocated utilizing a blockchain to secure a digital payment system known as “bit gold” (which was never implemented).
What Is the Future of Blockchain?
With numerous practical uses for the technology now in place and being investigated, blockchain is finally creating a name for itself, thanks in no small part to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Blockchain, which has become a phrase on the lips of every investor in the country, has the potential to make corporate and government processes more precise, efficient, secure, and cost-effective by eliminating the need for middlemen.
As we enter the third decade of blockchain, it’s no longer a question of if or whether traditional organizations will embrace the technology—it’s a matter of when. Today, we observe a proliferation of NFTs and asset tokenization. Blockchain technology will see significant expansion in the next decades.
