So
what really is Blockchain ? I am sure most of you would have come across this
term somewhere or the other, be it on some website, blog article, news or other place. Analysts are projecting it to be bigger than Social media,
Cloud Computing, Big Data or even Artificial Intelligence. Another term which is closely
related to Blockchain, which no one had heard of till few years back is Bitcoin. Blockchain, in the
simplest terms is the technology behind Digital or Virtual Currencies such as
Bitcoins.
Blockchain
is a form of Distributed database, which, as the name suggests stores the data in
bits and pieces at different places. In context of Bitcoins or Currency, it is a public
ledger (accessible to authorized users only, called miners) of the Bitcoin
transactions. As the name says, Blockchain is the chain of blocks, where each
block holds a series of transaction entries. Each transaction has a digital
signature that authenticates it. The “distributed” part is introduced by making
this ledger available to other miners. Transactions done every 10 minutes are
recorded into a single ‘block’. Each block is then connected to the previous one
in terms of transactional values, thus the name Blockchain. The Distributed
architecture gives no single party the power to tamper with the data, thus
securing it. Here, it is important to understand that Bitcoin is just an
application of Blockchain technology and that this technology in itself has the
potential to be as big as the Internet has become in the past 2 decades.
There
are reports that DARPA as well as NATO is looking to use Blockchain technology
for military related apps. This shows that Blockchain technology is becoming
more and more mature and is now ready for applications in the real world. It is being said that we are on the verge of a
time like early 1990’s when we were just introduced to the Internet. Blockchain
could change email, online shopping, Social networking, Internet of Things and
just about everything we do online. Maybe a time will come sometime in 2035
when people will wonder how civilization ever functioned without it.
All
said and done, it needs to be seen how much of all this will turn out to be
true eventually. Nonetheless, technology seems to be bringing up exciting new avenues,
which a common man cannot stay away from.
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