HISTORY BEHIND BLOCKCHAIN
Blockchain is one of the trending technologies in the industry, which is an implementation of digital currency. Blockchain is a growing list of records called blocks that are linked using cryptography. Cryptography is an art of protecting information by using encryption.
HISTORY BEHIND BLOCKCHAIN
Haber and Scott did the first work in 1994 by using Merkel trees. These are nothing but a data structure to store the data efficiently. But, Merkel trees caused a critical problem called as double-spending.
WHAT IS DOUBLE-SPENDING
Let us take a situation to understand this situation in a better way. Suppose, you purchased an item worth 100$. You can’t spend that 100$ again to buy another thing unless you steal it. But in Merkel trees, transactions were copied very quickly, and many companies suffered a drastic loss.
To overcome this problem, Satoshi Nakamoto implemented blockchain by hash-cash method by introducing bitcoin to this world. The solution to double-spending is called proof-of-work.
PROOF-OF-WORK:
Every transaction creates a new block. A group of people called miners validate this block. Each transaction generates a complex mathematical puzzle. If the transaction is a copy of previous ones, the same mathematical puzzle gets generated, and the miners discard them. If it is a valid one, miners create the solution to the puzzle known as the nonce. Once nonce is generated, the transaction is completed.
The merits of this blockchain technology are:
MERITS:
- Decentralised technology
- Peer to Peer network
- Hash Encryption
APPLICATIONS:
Blockchain is extensively used in many industries, like:
- Financial Services
- Voting
- Supply and Logistics
- Health-care
Every coin has a head and tail. Similarly, blockchain also has its demerits.
DEREMITS OF BLOCKCHAIN
- Extremely volatile
- Cannot block the users
- The problem for non-tech purposes
- A few members use blockchain to access the dark web.
CONCLUSION:
I think you have gained a piece of knowledge about blockchain. Though many technologies increase the luxury of our lifestyle, blockchain is the only technology that enhances our information security unless it is used for functional purposes.