These days, technology is reaching new heights of success at an incredibly fast pace. One of the latest triumphs in this direction is the evolution of Blockchain technology. The new technology has had a strong impact on the financial sector. In fact, it was originally developed for Bitcoin, the digital currency. But now it finds application in a number of other things as well.
Getting here was probably easy. But one still doesn’t know what Blockchain is?
Distributed database
Imagine a spreadsheet that is copied countless times across a computer network. Now imagine that the computer network was designed so intelligently that it regularly updated the spreadsheet itself. This is a broad overview of Blockchain. Blockchain stores information as a shared database. In addition, this database is continuously reconciled.
This approach has its advantages. It does not allow the database to be stored anywhere. The records in it have a real public attribute and can be verified very easily. Since there is no centralized version of the records, unauthorized users have no means to manipulate and corrupt the data. Blockchain’s distributed database is hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, making data easily accessible to almost anyone on the virtual network.
To make the concept or technology clearer, it is a good idea to discuss the Google Docs analogy.
Google Docs Analogy for Blockchain
Since the advent of e-mail, the conventional way to share documents has been to send a Microsoft Word document as an attachment to a recipient or recipients. Recipients will take their time to review it before sending back the revised copy. In this approach, one must wait for the reverse copy to be received in order to see the changes made to the document. This happens because the sender cannot make corrections until the recipient has finished editing and sent the document back. Modern databases do not allow two owners to access the same record at the same time. In this way, banks maintain the balances of their customers or account holders.
Unlike established practice, Google Docs allows both parties to access the same document at the same time. Moreover, it also allows both of you to see one version of the document at the same time. Just like a shared book, Google Docs also act as a shared document. The shared part becomes relevant only when the share involves multiple users. Blockchain technology is in some ways an extension of this concept. However, it is important to note here that Blockchain is not designed for document sharing. Rather, this is just an analogy that will help you have a clear idea of this cutting-edge technology.
Outstanding features of blockchain
Blockchain stores blocks of information on the network that are identical. By virtue of this function:
- The data or information cannot be controlled by any single entity.
- There cannot be a single point of failure.
- The data is stored in a public network, which guarantees absolute transparency of the entire procedure.
- The data stored in it cannot be damaged.
Search for Blockchain developers
As stated earlier, Blockchain technology has a very wide application in the world of finance and banking. According to the World Bank, more than USD 430 billion in remittances were sent through it in 2015 alone. Thus, Blockchain developers have a significant market demand.
Blockchain eliminates middlemen’s profits in such monetary transactions. It was the invention of the GUI (Graphical User Interface) that made it easier for the common man to access computers in the form of desktop computers. Similarly, a wallet application is the most common GUI for Blockchain technology. Users use the wallet to buy things they want using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.