WTF Is The Blockchain? A Guide for Total Beginners
4 stars based on
58 reviews
The Blockchain blockchain technology for dummies a hot topic around the world these days, yet for many, the technology remains an elusive concept. Historically, when it comes to transacting money or anything of value, people and businesses have relied heavily on intermediaries like banks and governments to ensure trust and certainty. The need for intermediaries is especially acute when making a digital transaction. But what if there was a way of conducting digital transactions without a third party intermediary?
Well, a new technology exists today that makes this possible. Bitcoin first appeared in a white paper authored by a person, or persons using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
While the proposed Bitcoin payment system was exciting and innovative, it was the mechanics of how it worked that was truly revolutionary. Although commonly associated with Bitcoin, blockchain technology has many other applications. Bitcoin is merely the first and most well-known uses. In fact, Bitcoin is only one of about seven hundred applications that use the blockchain operating system today. The blockchain is a type blockchain technology for dummies distributed ledger or decentralised database that keeps records of digital transactions.
When a digital transaction is carried out, it is grouped together in a cryptographically protected block with other transactions that have occurred in the last 10 minutes and sent out to the entire network.
Miners members in the network with high levels of computing power then compete to validate the transactions by solving complex coded problems. The first miner to solve the problems and validate the block receives a reward. In the Bitcoin Blockchain network, for example, a miner would receive Bitcoins. The validated block of transactions is then time stamped and added to a chain in a linear, chronological order.
New blocks of validated transactions are linked to older blocks, making a chain blockchain technology for dummies blocks that show every transaction made in the history of that blockchain. The entire chain is continually updated so that every ledger in the network is the same, giving each member the ability to prove who owns what at any given time.
This also brings unprecedented security benefits. Hacking attacks that commonly impact largely centralised intermediaries like banks would be virtually impossible to pull off on the blockchain. For blockchain technology for dummies — if someone wanted to hack into a particular block in a blockchain, a hacker would not only need to hack into that specific block, but all of the proceeding blocks going back the entire history of that blockchain.
And they would blockchain technology for dummies to do it on every ledger in the network, which could be millions, simultaneously. Make no mistake about it. The blockchain is a highly disruptive technology that promises to change the world as we know it.
By enabling the digitisation of assets, blockchain is driving a fundamental shift from the Internet of information, where we can blockchain technology for dummies view, blockchain technology for dummies and communicate information to the Internet of value, where we can instantly exchange assets. A new global economy of immediate value transfer is on its way, where big intermediaries no longer play a major role.
An economy where trust is established not by central intermediaries but through consensus and blockchain technology for dummies computer code. Blockchain will profoundly disrupt hundreds of industries that rely on intermediaries, including banking, finance, academia, real estate, insurance, legal, health care and the public sector — amongst many others.
But overall, the elimination of intermediaries brings mostly positive benefits. The blockchain will enable an increased amount of people and businesses to trade much more frequently and efficiently, significantly boosting local and international trade.
Blockchain technology would also eliminate expensive intermediary fees that have become a burden on individuals and businesses, especially in the remittances space. Giving people who have limited exposure to the global economy, better access to financial and payment systems and stronger protection against corruption and exploitation. The potential impacts of blockchain technology blockchain technology for dummies society and the global economy are hugely significant.
With an ever growing list of real-world uses, blockchain technology promises to have a massive impact. This is just the beginning. A short History of Transacting Money Historically, when it comes to transacting money or anything of value, people and businesses blockchain technology for dummies relied heavily on intermediaries like banks and governments to ensure trust and certainty.