What is blockchain technology.An easy way to understand blockchain is to visualize it as a database that is publicly shared among many participants. Each of these participants is connected to the network through their computer, and all of these participants maintain the same copy of the database.Therefore, one of the core fundamental principles of blockchain technology is that information is transparent and available to all participants in the network at the same time. Bitcoin is arguably one of the most famous public blockchains.It primarily uses blockchain technology to provide its users with digital currency that can be used to pay for products and services, just like regular currency, or act as a store of value.Anyone can join the Bitcoin network because it is open to the public.
Blockchain is a cryptographically secure database. In order to read or write information to the database, the user must have the correct encryption key. The keys are paired: a public key that identifies the database and a private key that ensures that only the appropriate participants can update the information in the database. This ensures that information is available to those interested in reading and/or updating it. Additionally, the blockchain can be deployed privately to select participants, further restricting access to who can view and/or update information on the blockchain.
Another core feature of blockchain technology is that it has no single point of failure. If a failure occurs on one or more nodes on a blockchain network, the other nodes still retain data and the network continues to function. By extension, this means that the blockchain is decentralized; no single entity "owns" the network. A blockchain is often referred to as a distributed ledger because information resides on multiple devices on a peer-to-peer network, where each device replicates and holds an identical copy of the ledger and updates independently.
Blockchain technology gets its name from the fact that data is stored as blocks of information, and the blocks are linked together in a "chain"-like fashion. The new information is basically updated together as a block and appended to the previous version, creating an immutable, tamper-proof record. This property of blockchain makes it useful in situations where information must be preserved without any alteration.
Blockchain consensus driven.Information cannot be updated on the blockchain unless a majority of participants check and verify the credentials used, and this consensus-driven model basically ensures that no single entity can control the data and create fraudulent transactions.
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