What is Blockchain Technology?

Decentralization and cryptographic hashing make any digital asset's past unchangeable and transparent. The most well-known use of blockchain technology is preserving asecure and decentralized record of transactions in cryptocurrency systems like Bitcoin.

A QUICK OVERVIEW

• A blockchain is a database that saves encrypted data blocks and links them together to create a single source of truth for the data that is chronological.

• A blockchain is a kind of shared database that varies from other databases in that it saves data in blocks that are subsequently connected via cryptography.

• A blockchain can be used to store other sorts of data, but up until now, transaction ledgers have been the most widely used.

• Due to its built-in security features and public ledger, Blockchain is a leading technology for practically all industries.

What is the concept behind Blockchain Technology?

• There're three core parts of Blockchain Technology: Blocks, Nodes, and Miners.

• Blocks: Each Blockchain consists of several blocks, and each block consists of three major elements: 

• Data: All our transactions details

• A nonce is a 32-bit whole number. When a block is constructed, the nonce is generated randomly, producing the block header hash.

• A 256-bit integer called the hash is attached to the nonce. There must be several zeroes in the beginning (i.e., be extremely small).

Nodes:

Decentralization is one of the key ideas behind blockchain technology. Any one computer or entity cannot own the chain. Instead, it functions as a distributed ledger through the network's chain of nodes. Any electrical equipment that saves copies of the Blockchain and keeps the network running can be a node.

Miners:

Through a process known as mining, miners add new blocks to the chain.

Every block on a blockchain has its own distinct nonce and hash, but it also refers to the hash of the block before it in the chain, making it difficult to mine a block, especially on long chains.

Finding a nonce that produces an approved hash is a tremendously difficult arithmetic issue, and miners employ specialized software to solve it. Since the hash is 256 bits, but the nonce is just 32 bits, it takes around four billion nonce-hash combinations to get the correct one. Miners claim to have discovered the "golden nonce" at that point, and their block is added to the chain.

How does Blockchain Revolutions takes place?

2008

"Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System" is published by Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for a person or group.

2009

Hal Finney, a computer scientist, and the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto carry out the first successful Bitcoin (BTC) transaction.2010

• Two Papa John's pizzas were purchased with Bitcoin in 2010 by Florida-based programmer Laszlo Hanycez. Hanycez sent 10,000 BTC, which were then valued roughly $60. It is currently valued $80 million.

• Officially, Bitcoin's market capitalization reached $1 million.2011

• World saw the parity of the Bitcoin and the US dollar with 1 BTC = 1 USD.

• Wikileaks, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other organizations started accepting  bitcoin as payment.

2012

• Blockchain is infused into popular culture through references to cryptocurrencies and blockchain in programmes like The Good Wife.

• Vitalik Buterin, a pioneer in the Bitcoin community, published Bitcoin Magazine.

2013

• BTC's market cap exceeded $1 billion in 2013.

• For the first time, Bitcoin's price topped $100/BTC.

• Buterin writes a paper titled "Ethereum Project" in which he asserts that blockchain technology is not limited to Bitcoin (e.g., smart contracts).

2014

• The D Las Vegas Hotel, Overstock.com, and the gaming business Zynga all began taking Bitcoin as payment in 2014.

• Through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), Buterin's Ethereum Project raised over $18 million in Bitcoin while introducing new blockchain applications.

2015

Over 100,000 businesses now accept Bitcoin.

2016

IBM suggested to use blockchain technology for cloud storage based businesses.

2017 

For the first time that Bitcoin reached $1,000 per BTC, $150 billion has been invested in cryptocurrencies.

2018

Facebook pledged to launch a blockchain organization and makes a suggestion that it may launch its own coin.

Many individuals are still only beginning to learn about blockchain technology. Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are frequently confused by people. Some people prefer to think of them as mere synonyms. You probably already know that they are not the same thing.

A completely fresh and different narrative is cryptocurrency! You might think of it as the network's currency or the asset that blockchain technology employs. Technically, it's referred to as the "tokens" by many individuals. However, other blockchains' ecosystems don't include tokens at all. It is a blockchain without tokens. A wonderful example of this type is Ripple without its own cryptocurrency, XRP.

Types of Blockchains

There are mainly two types of Blockchains:

A public blockchain, sometimes referred to as an open or permissionless blockchain, allows anybody to join the network and set up a node without restriction. These blockchains need to be safeguarded using encryption and a consensus mechanism like proof of work because of how open they are (PoW).

On the other hand, each node must receive approval before joining a private or permissioned blockchain. The layers of security do not need to be as thick because nodes are presumed to be trustworthy.

Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two mathematicians interested in implementing a system where document timestamps could not be altered, initially proposed the concept of blockchain technology in 1991.

Cypherpunk Nick Szabo advocated utilizing a blockchain to protect the bit gold digital payment system in the late 1990s (which was never implemented).

Sachin Kumar