Business processes and operations are greatly powered by data and the speed of transmitting this information depends on how successful the business will be. Not only having great data to run the operation of your business but how well data can be trusted in implementing business processes. Business seeks greater security, greater trust, and a more efficient way of running their businesses and this is what Blockchain technology offers.
To most people, Blockchain has become a mysterious concept, rocket science, or a hard nut to crack, most businesses say they might not be ready for her shenanigans, but with my few weeks of study, I'd be explaining what blockchain means in simple terms and how this so-called mysterious technology works.
Basically, Blockchain is a record-keeping technology that tends to store data and track assets. Like a traditional database, Blockchain can be likened to a ledger, where all kinds of data can be input, including transaction date, type of transaction, transacted by, and the amount of transaction, but these traditional ledgers can be easily manipulated, subject to misuse and tampering and have lack of transparency. With Blockchain technology, it is a shared ledger, that encourages secured information sharing and transparent delivery, everyone in your business circle that has access to a transaction is allowed to view all transactions end-to-end and can even have an identical copy of business processes. Since the technology is a decentralized peer-to-peer network, it prevents any single participant or a group of people to manipulate or control the entire system.
Blockchain key elements have raised the bars of business security and greater trust in dealing with business participants, the ability to absolutely trust business transactional processing removes fear of risk and uncertainties. Blockchain as a distributed ledger technology allows network participants to have access to the immutable records of transactions, which has promoted transparency in the block. Immutability in blockchain simply means nobody can change or tamper transactions like a traditional database, if a correction is to be made in a transaction error, then a new transaction must be added, which then will be seen by all network participants.
How Does Blockchain Work?
In simpler terms, a Blockchain is an organized database network that stores information in a sequential chain of cryptographic hash-linked blocks, all confirmed and validated transactions are linked and chained from the beginning to the most current block, which means, tampering with one of the transaction blocks will affect the chains of another block of transactions.
The process of Blockchain
When a new transaction is initiated, the transaction details will be sent to the network of nodes in the database to verify the status of the transaction, if it's successful, a block of data that keeps the information you choose to record will be created in the database. These blocks created have a certain capacity, and if exceeded, it creates a new block that links to the previous block, which uses a unique code called harsh to achieve that. Chains of blocks are created and connected to the ones before and after them, and if the previous block tampers, it will affect the other because of their relationship. These blocks of transactions are tied together in irreversible chains called Blockchains. Each transactions blocks created are verified by the networks of nodes to confirm the previous block thus the entire blockchain. This eliminates the fear of data tampering with the technology.
Blockchain gives room for a decentralized system of keeping transaction records and efficiently tracking assets that prevent manipulations and improve business transparency.
As a new learner of blockchain technologies, I will document my process of learning Blockchain and how it's being developed.
Top comments (2)
Very apt. Thanks
I love the simplicity of the article