Blockchain Technology in a single view
A complete guide of blockchain technology
The term Blockchain might sound like its too much complicated at first but to be honest its not, if i break this term down into two new words, then they are block and chain. And now block means the container or box which can contain the information such as transactions date, amount of money transferred or deposited and the name of a person whom money was sent. So in simplest term, blockchain is the chain of blocks which are interconnected by a link or node.
What we will learn from this guide
- Introduction to Blockchain Technology
- How it works?
- How blockchain going is to disrupt various industries?
- Applications
Introduction
A blockchain is a list of records called blocks that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. — Wikipedia
The blockchain technology uses the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) which never allows anyone to alter the data in the chain. Blockchain technology ensures that the data is highly secured by higher level of encryption because cryptographic algorithms and hashing keep the blockchain secure.
How it works?
First of all let’s have a look at the following image.
Let’s create the scenario of online banking and understand how money is sent to another account.
Step #1
Let’s say a user wants to send the X amount of money to another bank account, so he initiates the transaction.
Step #2
When the transaction is initiated by the user in the step 1, then a fresh new block is created if we understand this in terms of blockchain technology.
Step #3
When the new block is created, now the block is broadcasted to all the nodes in the network or chain.
Step #4
Since this newly created block is visible to every node of the network, now its time to validate this block. Every node in the network validates every newly created block to validate it, when every node returns the same response which means that the block is valid.
Step #5
When the validation process is successful, now the block is added to the chain.
Step #6
In the last step of this process, transaction is verified and gets executed. In the last step X amount of money would be transferred to the respective account.
How blockchain is going to disrupt various industries?
The blockchain technology is going to disrupt various industries such as Banking, Healthcare, Real Estate and many more. Since everything is being online rapidly, so the use of online applications increased drastically from the last few years and as long as the security is concerned, then nobody wants to take any kind of risk when it comes to keeping the data secured. And as you now know blockchain technology is so powerful and secured which doesn’t allow anyone to tamper or damage the data.
Applications
The blockchain technology is being used in various fields such as health, online payment transfer and many more. Some of the most prominent applications are given follows.
- Payments and money transfer
- Assets management
- Insurance
- Healthcare
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Passport
- Personal Identification
- Real Estate
- Travel
- Food and supply chain etc.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is the most secured and prominent way of keeping online things safe. Since it goes through the long process to validate even a single block and when every node in the network nod its head in yes, then it verifies and executes it due to which hacking is close to impossible.
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Know your author
Himanshu Verma has graduated from the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam University, Lucknow (India). He is an Android & IOS Developer and Machine Learning & Data Science Learner, a Financial Advisor, and a Blogger.
