DASH SCHOOL 1: What Is A Blockchain?
By now I bet you’ve heard the word blockchain.
If you haven’t heard about the blockchain you’re likely living under a rock. The same amount of hype is currently surrounding blockchain that was once surrounding the world wide web in the 1990’s.
If you don’t know what a blockchain is, don’t worry. My hope is that after reading this you will. I have scoured the internet to find videos for newbies that answer the question, What is a Blockchain? I don’t know about you, but I find that videos are much better at explaining difficult topics than are written articles. Too bad this article isn’t a video. Maybe I’ll make it into a video some day. But not today.
There are lots of videos on the subject of blockchain, but below are three videos that do a great job of explaining what the word, blockchain actually is.
This first video was created by Amanda B. Johnson for her Dash School series and you don’t need any prior knowledge of blockchain technology in order to understand it. It was made especially for newbies:
That video covers the nuts and bolts of blockchain technology, but after watching it, you may be asking yourself, what does the blockchain actually look like?
The coolest aspect of learning about blockchain technology is that there are many blockchains in existence right now that you can look at.
Blockchains are very different because they are viewable online by anyone. They are public and you don’t have to possess special permission to see them in action. This is very different from how companies are being run. Companies usually have an intranet that is viewable only by employees from that particular company. Companies have a centralized structure and the databases within them are only generally accessible by those in the IT department.
Blockchains are public and decentralized.
They are maintained by many different computers all over the world. This is hard for people to wrap their minds around because we have been raised within the concept of centralized control structures. We are used to hierarchies, CEOs and chains of command. But if you were around in the 1990’s, you might remember that the internet was mostly a peer-to-peer (p2p) system. There was no centralized company collecting your personal data. There was no Google or Facebook. There was just you, your computer and your friend who sent you files over the internet. There was no company in between your computer and your friend’s computer. If you think back to those early p2p days, you’ll have a better chance understanding what blockchain technology is.
Here’s a video that will open your eyes to the innovative aspects of blockchain:
Now, before we take a look at a real, live blockchain, I’d like you to understand why the blockchain is so powerful and why there’s so much hype surrounding it. This next video actually shows you what a real live blockchain looks like in the flesh:
This video illustrates perfectly why the blockchain is so valuable.
Fraud is a huge problem in the world, and blockchain technology effectively gets rid of the problem of companies, organizations and governments “cooking the books.” With blockchains, you can’t go back in time and change the ledger to benefit yourself or steal from someone else. It’s designed to be immutable. This is huuuuuge!
Ok, now the fun begins! If you’ve never seen a blockchain, take a look at the Bitcoin blockchain. It’s the one that started this entire blockchain craze:
https://blockchain.info/block/000000000000000001aae5e3f52cd74864d0ae56208521ccb34789a627e6c4f7
It might not make sense to you, but it might be just enough to get your curiosity going and make you go down the rabbit hole. If that wasn’t enough, take a look at the Dash blockchain next: https://chainz.cryptoid.info/dash/block.dws?651062.htm
I remember when I first looked at the Bitcoin blockchain, it made me nervous!
If you’re curious about Dash, feel free to join us in the Dash Nation slack. You won’t find a friendlier, more down-to-earth digital currency community. Here’s your invite code: https://dash-nation-invite.herokuapp.com/
Follow Amanda on Twitter.
