Understanding Blockchain

UNDERSTANDING BLOCKCHAIN

RAZI SALIH

UNDERSTANDING BLOCKCHAIN RAZI SALIH

Also known as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain is a technology that allows blocks of digital information to be stored in a public database.

Data is distributed across multiple servers (or nodes) globally, an aspect that allows anyone on the blockchain’s network to have near real-time access to entries on the chain. As such, it’s difficult for a single user to manipulate or delete data.

Blockchain’s decentralised nature is a major talking point. However, privacy and security are additional aspects that the technology can provide for various applications.

Privacy Users who wish to receive a copy of the blockchain can connect to the network as nodes. In doing so, they join multiple other users (millions in the case of Bitcoin, blockchain’s most high-profile use case) who have an identical copy of the blockchain. This is significant, as having information shared across so many nodes makes it more difficult to delete or manipulate it.

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The blocks of information are stored linearly and chronologically so that the most recent block is added to the end of the chain.

Security The blocks of information are stored linearly and chronologically so that the most recent block is added to the end of the chain. It’s difficult to alter a block’s content once it’s been added to the end of the blockchain, as each block contains its own cryptographic hash and that of the block before it. If a hacker were to try to edit a block’s information, they would have to edit the block’s code and that of the next block, and the next after that, and so on. Practically, this is not only tedious; it would require an enormous – and improbable – amount of computing resources.

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