The Pros And Cons Of Blockchain

Blockchain, the future of transactions. It worries many people with confusion, but others embrace it as the future. Blockchain is a giant ledger that registers all types of transactions. These transactions can include anything. Blockchain is also very safe, also called “unhackable, ” which it is. Blockchain is so secure because it is decentralized, it utilizes cryptography, and transactions are verified by other users.

Blockchain is basically a giant ledger, recording payments from all accounts. It was originally developed as a part of bitcoin, but bitcoin and blockchain are very different. Bitcoin is a single currency and blockchain is a record of payments that can support many different currencies, the most used being bitcoin. As of Friday

Blockchain applications could replace these centralized systems with decentralized ones, where verification comes from the consensus of multiple users” (“Blockchain: The New Technology”). “Blockchain works by gathering, sorting, and organizing information into blocks and then chaining them together securely. A block is a collection of ledgers that are organized chronologically. After a block is successfully created, it is given its own timestamp to prevent duplications. Once fully completed, the new block is sent out into the network where it is formed into a chain with other blocks. Other users may be sending blocks out at the same time, but the timestamps make sure that they are in the right order. The chain is secured by a hash. A hash is a digital fingerprint, a hash is made up of many cryptographic code that is virtually unbreakable. The hash is created by taking specific information from each block to create the whole code,

The hash from one block is added to the data in the next block. “So when the next block goes through the hash function, a trace of it is woven into the new hash and so on, throughout the chain. So if there's any attempt to alter a previously created block, the hash that's encoded in the next block won't match up anymore. This mismatch will continue through all subsequent blocks denoting an alteration in the chain” (“Blockchain: The New Technology”). The cryptography also coordinates with decentralization because it enables more people to see that the blocks didn’t match up, meaning earlier detection. As mentioned earlier, a hash is the cryptographic code that protects a block and the chain. The hash is made from a scramble of data contained in the block that forms a code. “Cryptography is a long digital password with many complex symbols” (Bendor-Samuel). The hash can easily be made from the data but is virtually impossible to figure out the data from the hash, ensuring block and hash security. “The hash from one block is added to the data in the next block. So when the next block goes through the hash function, a trace of it is woven into the new hash. And so on, throughout the chain. So if there's any attempt to alter a previously created block, the hash that's encoded in the next block won't match up