The Blockchain Explained – hoola

Now unless you’ve been asleep for the past decade or just living as a hermit, I’m sure you must have heard of Bitcoin. Bitcoin became huge some years ago as the first cryptocurrency ever introduced. It is a decentralized record of transactions maintained across a peer-to-peer network. I mean, to put it in absolutely simple terms, Bitcoin is internet money. But this article isn’t about Bitcoin, however it is relevant. This article deals with the underlying technology behind Bitcoin and its boons and curses. This technology is known as the Blockchain.

It is democratic and transparent, where the record of every transaction is forever immortalized on the internet.

We’ve touched upon blockchain in passing in one of our earlier articles and again, as we mentioned, the tech world is pretty straight-forward with its nomenclature. Broken down to basic ideas, the blockchain is exactly that — a chain of blocks. Each ‘block’ is unique with its own ‘fingerprint’ or hash identifier. Each block in the chain contains a fixed set of data. In the case of Bitcoin, this data is in the form of a set amount of transactions. In a decentralized system such as this, a group of peers verify and control transactions rather than a centralized authority like a bank or a government. It is democratic and transparent, where the record of every transaction is forever immortalized on the internet.

It can be a little difficult to understand what the blockchain really is, we understand completely. Especially if you’re a bit of a technophobe who doesn’t really care much about all this techie stuff. We get it, we get it. But you lot have to understand — this is cutting-edge technology which is sure to change the way the world interacts.

If brought into play, blockchain technology could disrupt some of our most powerful conventional systems: voting, banking, our supply-chain network, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

It is infinitely possible that your lives might be fundamentally affected by blockchain technology, and knowledge is power. (You can keep your power, Cersei, I stick by my idioms.)

It can be the digital innovation to completely revolutionize the systems humans have created for themselves millennia ago — systems that have been in place for centuries.

Let’s break this down into more digestible terms. In order to understand what blockchain is, let’s look at what it certainly isn’t. It is not just cryptocurrency — Bitcoin is an application of blockchain technology. That is what makes it possible. Blockchain is a new technology, not a programming language or an AI/Machine learning software. It is leading-edge tech, with its own set of rules and its own applications. In fact, it can be the digital innovation to completely revolutionize the systems humans have created for themselves millennia ago — systems that have been in place for centuries. It is, to put it simply, pretty cool, guys.

Here’s a more detailed overview of the systems that blockchain might disrupt or actually revolutionize:

Voting: Due to the transparency in every transaction or action ever made on the blockchain, voting will become fairer than it has ever been in the history of humankind. Corruption due to hidden agendas will be removed because every agenda will be openly displayed. It is so ideal that it is almost utopic.
Banking and Transactions: Bitcoin will forever be known as the first true application of the phenomenon that is blockchain, but it certainly not the only one. Banking and transactions will become more secure and efficient, removing the need for a third-party bank to save money. According to this article by the World Bank, 1.7 million adults still remain unbanked globally. This means they do not have their assets stored in a bank or any other financial institution. This may be mostly due to a lack of trust, which blockchain technology can remove due to its transparent system.
Cloud storage: Currently we have large centralized systems of cloud storage which isn’t very secure because it means there is only a single omniscient server. Literally, all our eggs in one basket — we really learn nothing from our elders. With blockchain, data storage can be decentralized, and made more secure because every peer will have the same hierarchy in the network. Any funny business at all, and you get caught — hash and all.
Supply Chain: With blockchain you can figure out the history and the quality of the product you are about to buy completely before you choose to spend money on it. Less waste, more efficacy.

Hoola understands the potential of this avant-garde tech and its applications that could make existing systems far more efficient. This is why we would like to try our hand at developing something in lieu of this and based on digital identity. More of self-sovereign identity and security on the blockchain could be found in this article. We’re moving towards a decentralized community, with more secure and transparent systems. This democratic power finally ensures an equal footing in systems where power was held unevenly. What a time to be alive, really.

Published at Sat, 20 Jul 2019 10:12:08 +0000

Bitcoin Pic Of The Moment
By Halans on 2014-03-15 11:09:08