Hey guys,
Welcome back to my blog post today we will gonna study the latest tech with a lot of hype these days - Blockchain technology.
we will also learn from the most simple answers to the questions from some topics related to blockchain.
So, I hope you're fine and doing good, now let's dive into the world of blockchain.
Blockchain is simply a continuously growing list of records, which are linked and secured together using cryptography - Wikipedia
Okay, complex?
Now let's understand in simple words - Blockchain is a digital ledger that stores information securely and transparently. It is decentralized, meaning that it is not controlled by a central authority, but rather by a network of computers that work together to maintain the integrity of the ledger, those computers are called here nodes in this blockchain tech, so don't get confuse when I say the word node.
Nodes can vary in size and computing power, ranging from individual laptops to powerful servers. In some cases, nodes may also be specialized hardware devices designed specifically for blockchain mining or validation. The distributed nature of blockchain technology means that nodes can be located anywhere in the world, making it a truly global and decentralized system.
Now let's get to the point Cryptography - Cryptography is used to secure the data in the blocks of the blockchain using a complex mathematical algorithm like SHA256 (we will learn about this in the next topic) and many other algorithms which help encrypt the information and making it unreadable for those who don't have the key to unlocking it and the data stays secure from unauthorized Individuals.
By combining blockchain and cryptography, we can create a secure, decentralized, and transparent system for storing and transmitting data.
The first block of the blockchain is known as the genesis block after the blockchain is initialized. The block will always stay block number one, forever and ever. so finally, a blockchain is called a chain or a blockchain because the blocks are cryptographically linked with each other through their hashes.
What is a Hash, hashing algorithm and SHA-256 ?
A hash is a fixed-size and unique output generated by a mathematical algorithm that takes an input message of any length.
In the encryption of data for more security the data is transferred into a secure format which is unreadable unless the recipient has a key. In its encrypted form the data may be of unlimited size, often just as long as when encrypted and this process is known as hashing and hashing algorithm. hashing algorithms produce hash.
SHA 256 stands for secure hash algorithm 256 bit and it's used for cryptographic security. The cryptographic hash algorithms produce irreversible and unique hashes. In SHA 256 the hash is always 64-digit characters long and it consists of digits and letters because it is a hexadecimal hash. It includes the numbers from 0 to 9 and the letters are a,b,c,d,e, and f, so there is a total of 16 of them.
Why hashing algorithms for security?
It's one-way it means that we can not go from the hash to the document at any cost
It is so deterministic because the same documents or data will give the same hash always.
Good for fast and vast calculations.
It's so secure that if we change a very tiny thing in the data or document the entire hash will change totally.
The hashing algorithm has very rare collisions thing. it is almost impossible and unlikely to be found.
What is a digital ledger?
Do you remember when I was defining blockchain we had seen the term ledger? So what is it? What is a ledger in this digital platform?
ledger or immutable ledger in blockchain refers to any record that can remain unchanged. It can not be altered and hence the data can not be changed with ease, thereby making sure that the security is quite tight. Immutability means that it is very difficult to make a change without collisions and as we know we will not have any collisions in the hashing algorithm.
How do nodes connect in this blockchain?
The blockchain is distributed ledger connected with a peer-to-peer network (P2P). the concept of a peer is fundamental to the operation of peer-to-peer networks and plays a crucial role in enabling decentralized and efficient sharing of resources among devices on a network.
Each node in the network stores a copy of the entire blockchain, which contains a record of all transactions that have taken place on the network. Each node also participates in the process of verifying transactions and adding them to the blockchain.
When a transaction is initiated on the blockchain network, it is broadcast to all nodes in the network. Each node then independently verifies the transaction to ensure that it is valid and meets the rules of the network. Once a consensus is reached among the nodes that the transaction is valid, it is added to the blockchain as a new block. The new block is then broadcast to all nodes in the network, and each node adds it to its copy of the blockchain.
The process of adding new blocks to the blockchain is known as mining and involves solving a complex mathematical problem that requires a significant amount of computational power. Nodes that successfully mine a block are rewarded with new cryptocurrency units as an incentive to continue participating in the network and verifying transactions.
The peer-to-peer network structure of blockchain ensures that there is no central authority controlling the network. Instead, all nodes in the network work together to maintain the integrity and security of the blockchain. This makes blockchain a decentralized and trustless technology, which has the potential to revolutionize many different industries by providing a more secure and efficient way to transfer and store data.
So this was it for today and comment down below. How does this technology look to you? What are your views about this technology and what do you think about decentralization?
And hope you like this blog. Thanks for reading and your valuable time is so precious to me. thank you so much for giving your precious time to this blog it means a lot to me.
Stay happy friends.