A look at Blockchain Technology

What is it?

Ever wonder if there is an easier way to complete transactions without having to deal with online wallets, banks, and third-party applications. Well, its possible thanks to Blockchain. Here is everything you need to know about Blockchain. Imagine four friends meet up for dinner after they are done one friend pays the bill and all of them decide to split amongst each other. Now on the next day when they send their money, the transaction goes through without a hitch but not for everyone. Some of them couldn’t complete the transaction. It can happen due to technical issues at the bank, one of their accounts were hacked, daily transfer limits being exceeded and sometimes additional charges like transfer charges associated with transferring money. To solve these problems the concept of cryptocurrency came into existence. Cryptocurrencies are a form of digital or virtual currency that runs on a technology known as Blockchain.

Thanks to Blockchain cryptocurrencies are immune to counterfeiting, don’t require a central authority and are protected by strong and complex encryption, algorithms and in a market of more than 1000 of cryptocurrencies like litecoin, ethereum and so on one reigned supreme Bitcoin. Different cryptocurrencies use different hashing algorithms. Bitcoin uses the SHA256, ethereum which is also a famous cryptocurrency that uses ETHASH. This transaction and several other similar ones are taking place all around the world. These transactions are validated and then added block by block. The people who validate these blocks are called miners. Miners need to solve a complex mathematical problem, the miners who solve this first adds the block to the blockchain and rewarded with 12.5 bitcoins. The process of the addition of the block to a blockchain is called mining.

Potential applications

·      Automotive- Consumers could use the blockchain to manage fractional ownership in autonomous cars.

·      Financial services- Faster, cheaper settlements could save billions of dollars from transaction costs while improving transparency.

·      Voting- Using a blockchain code, constituents could cast votes via smartphones, tablets and computers resulting in immediately verifiable results.

·      Healthcare- Patient’s encrypted health information could be shared with multiple providers without the risk of privacy breaches.

With many practical applications for the technology already being implemented and explored, blockchain is finally making a name for itself at age 27, in no small part because of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. As a buzzword on the tongue of every investor in the world, blockchain stands to make business and government operations more accurate, efficient and secure.