Technology

An Introduction to Blockchain Technology for Beginners

These days, technology is scaling new heights of success at an incredibly fast pace. One of the latest triumphs in this direction is the evolution of Blockchain technology. New technology has greatly influenced the financial sector. In fact, it was initially developed for Bitcoin, the digital currency. But now, it also finds its application in other things.

Getting here was probably easy. But is it still not known what Blockchain is?

A distributed database

Imagine an electronic spreadsheet, copied countless times over a computer network. Now imagine that the computer network is so cleverly designed that it regularly updates the spreadsheet on its own. This is a broad overview of Blockchain. Blockchain contains information like a shared database. Furthermore, this database is continually reconciled.

This approach has its own benefits. It does not allow the database to be stored in a single location. The records it contains have a genuine public attribute and can be verified very easily. Since there is no centralized version of the records, unauthorized users have no means to manipulate and corrupt the data. Blockchain’s distributed database is simultaneously hosted on millions of computers, making data easily accessible to almost anyone via the virtual web.

To clarify the concept or technology, it’s a good idea to discuss the Google Docs analogy.

Google Docs Analogy for Blockchain

After the advent of email, the conventional way to share documents is to send a Microsoft Word document as an attachment to a recipient or recipients. Recipients will take time to read it before returning the revised copy. In this approach, one must wait until the return copy is received to see the changes made to the document. This happens because the sender cannot make corrections until the recipient finishes editing and returns the document. Contemporary databases do not allow two owners to access the same record at the same time. This is how banks maintain the balances of their clients or account holders.

Contrary to established practice, Google Docs allow both parties to access the same document at the same time. In addition, it also allows viewing a single version of the document to both simultaneously. Like a shared ledger, Google Docs also acts as a shared document. The distributed part only becomes relevant when the exchange involves multiple users. Blockchain technology is, in a way, an extension of this concept. However, it is important to note here that Blockchain is not intended for document sharing. Rather, it is just an analogy, which will help to get a clear idea about this cutting-edge technology.

Blockchain Outstanding Features

Blockchain stores blocks of information across the network, which are identical. By virtue of this feature:

  • The data or information cannot be controlled by any single, particular entity.
  • Nor can there be a single point of failure.
  • The data is kept on a public network, which guarantees absolute transparency in the overall procedure.
  • The data stored in it cannot be corrupted.

Demand for Blockchain Developers

As stated above, Blockchain technology has a very high application in the world of finance and banking. According to the World Bank, more than $430 billion in money transfers were sent in 2015 alone. Therefore, Blockchain developers are in significant demand in the market.

Blockchain removes the reward of middlemen in such monetary transactions. It was the invention of GUI (Graphical User Interface), which made it easy for the common man to access computers in the form of desktops. Similarly, the wallet app is the most common GUI for Blockchain technology. Users make use of the wallet to buy the things they want using Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

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