Blockchain technology is not something you hear a lot as the term is not bandied about casually. It is not the cloud or the internet that you will understand and absorb it by the snap of your fingers. It’s not your regular smartphone which you can easily touch.
What is Blockchain Technology?
Our lives revolve around the internet nowadays, everything we do is on the internet now. Our banking transactions, our shopping everything can be done online. Ours is slowly turning out to be an app-friendly world. Of course! They add and make up our digital selves and constantly send information back and forth. Now everything you do online is recorded and that includes the exchange of value, every digital transaction; goods and services, and so on.
Blockchain technology amalgamates that data into encrypted blocks that cannot be ever changed or modified and throws open the pieces across a huge worldwide network of nodes or distributed computers.
The blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a shared list of records. These records are known as blocks. The encrypted block of code contains every detail of the block that came before it complete with the time stamped transaction. Chaining those blocks together makes for a blockchain.
What Comprises the Blockchain?
The blockchain mainly comprises of two primary components: a decentralized network which facilitates and verifies transactions, and the network is maintained by the network.
Taking the data security in the context the immutability of data is stored on blockchains.
This shared transaction ledger can be viewed by pretty much everyone but there is not a single point of failure from which the digital assets can be corrupted or hacked.
The decentralized trust ensures that there is not one organization which controls that data, even when it is about big tech giants like Facebook or Google. There are no third-parties who serve as the gatekeeper of the internet.
Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology has applications across every kind of digital record and transaction this has enabled major industries to make towards the inevitable shift.
The big banks and tech giants are the first ones to join the business and this will ensure innovation. The choice of block chain solutions ensures that the blockchain-based smart contracts which turn it into a middleman help simplify different kinds of complex business deals and automated exchanges of data.
Companies like Microsoft and IBM have warmed to the idea of blockchains and are utilizing their cloud infrastructure to build customized blockchains for customers. These companies also experiment with their own cases that mean building a worldwide food safety network which includes manufacturers and retailers.
Academically speaking, researchers have started implementing blockchain applications for numerous projects. Such projects include digital identity also medical and insurance records.
Startups are also using the technology everywhere right from doing global payments to music sharing, even using it for investigative purposes as it helps track diamond sales and legal marijuana industry.
It is true that the potential of the block chains is largely untapped but its potential is immense. Just imagine right from digital banking assets to transactions, you can basically put anything on a blockchain.
Why is it that blockchain technology is still not accepted universally everywhere? The answer lies in the fact that it must face various hurdles ranging from legal, economic, regulatory, and also a few technological hurdles. They must be properly evaluated before we will see any difference in its widespread adoption. But the truth is when it comes to the blockchain technology the baby steps is slowly but surely turning into giant strides.
At this rate, your digital life will soon be based on the blockchain foundation and you will gradually capitulate to its immense power!
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