What is Blockchain Technology?
There’s a reason why blockchain technology isn’t something that is in our faces. Let us look at some of the reasons why this could be happening. Before that, it is important to understand what is bitcoin technology. We are living in a world where people are operating most of their lives on the internet, where people are banking online, shopping online and where we have governments, economies, societies, all comprising of this digital ecosystem.
So, every time we log onto an application, we are essentially facilitating the flow of information. The blockchain is the hidden wire that is recording and storing each transaction that has been made, whether it is a digital transaction, exchange of a good or service or any kind of private data, as it is. This chain that tracks these transactions collects the data and puts it into encrypted blocks that can never be hacked into or modified and scatters these fragmented pieces of data through a global network of computers or what is called as “nodes”.
To simplify this, blockchain can be a distributed database of digital transactions that have been made which contain an encrypted block of code, also containing the history of the code that came before it right down to the very second you have made a transaction.
The beauty of blockchain technology is its decentralized structure that facilitates and verifies transactions and the digital ledger that it maintains. Everyone who is connected to that network can see the ledger and the transactions but there is no weak point in the system which is susceptible to any kind of threats where data can be breached. Because of this system, there is no monopoly of data collection, there isn’t any single party or organization that is controlling and monitoring the data, which means that your data remains on the network and remains private.
How blockchain technology can change the future
The biggest benefit will be for business owners and this is something that has already been adopted by the west. The blockchain technology will act as a middleman where blockchain-based contracts will become the norm, maintaining anonymity and storing complex business deals, arrangements, legal contracts and any kind of automated data. Biggies like Microsoft and IBM have already started creating their own blockchain technology to create blockchains for their customers and for their own projects like building a worldwide food system containing a network of manufacturers and retailers.
Blockchain and Crypto-currency
It is the backbone of blockchain technology that crypto-currencies like Bitcoin and Ether have been operating. These currencies are thriving through a full-fledged system of encryption, anonymity and a global reach. On the face of Bitcoin technology, you have this exchange of currencies made possible but the back-end is still dependent on the blockchain technology which again translates into a decentralized ledger technology, just like any other kind of blockchain technology. Imagine a world where people can safely engage in the exchange of goods and services without leaving a footprint outside of this system.
Blockchain has allowed bitcoin to become a billion-dollar industry where people are constantly and securely transferring data and their digital assets without the fear of it being hacked or modified by any third party.