How Does a Blockchain Work?
Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.
Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. This is a way of using the network that has obvious benefits. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.
To go in deeper with the Google spreadsheet analogy, I would like you to read this piece from a blockchain specialist.
“The traditional way of sharing documents with collaboration is to send a Microsoft Word document to another recipient and ask them to make revisions to it. The problem with that scenario is that you need to wait until receiving a return copy before you can see or make other changes because you are locked out of editing it until the other person is done with it. That’s how databases work today. Two owners can’t be messing with the same record at once. That’s how banks maintain money balances and transfers; they briefly lock access (or decrease the balance) while they make a transfer, then update the other side, then re-open access (or update again). With Google Docs (or Google Sheets), both parties have access to the same document at the same time, and the single version of that document is always visible to both of them. It is like a shared ledger, but it is a shared document. The distributed part comes into play when sharing involves a number of people.
Imagine the number of legal documents that should be used that way. Instead of passing them to each other, losing track of versions, and not being in sync with the other version, why can’t *all* business documents become shared instead of transferred back and forth? So many types of legal contracts would be ideal for that kind of workflow. You don’t need a blockchain to share documents, but the shared documents analogy is a powerful one.” – William Mougayar, Venture advisor, 4x entrepreneur, marketer, strategist, and blockchain specialist
The reason why the blockchain has gained so much admiration is that:
It is not owned by a single entity, hence it is decentralized
The data is cryptographically stored inside
The blockchain is immutable, so no one can tamper with the data that is inside the blockchain
The blockchain is transparent so one can track the data if they want to
The Three Pillars of Blockchain Technology
The three main properties of Blockchain Technology which have helped it gain widespread acclaim are as follows:
Decentralization
Transparency
Immutability
Pillar #1: Decentralization
Before Bitcoin and BitTorrent came along, we were more used to centralized services. The idea is very simple. You have a centralized entity that stored all the data and you’d have to interact solely with this entity to get whatever information you required.
Another example of a centralized system is the banks. They store all your money, and the only way that you can pay someone is by going through the bank.
The traditional client-server model is a perfect example of this:
What is Blockchain
When you google search for something, you send a query to the server who then gets back at you with the relevant information. That is a simple client-server.
Now, centralized systems have treated us well for many years, however, they have several vulnerabilities.
Firstly, because they are centralized, all the data is stored in one spot. This makes them easy target spots for potential hackers.
If the centralized system were to go through a software upgrade, it would halt the entire system
What if the centralized entity somehow shuts down for whatever reason? That way nobody will be able to access the information that it possesses
Worst case scenario, what if this entity gets corrupted and malicious? If that happens then all the data that is inside the blockchain will be compromised.
So, what happens if we just take this centralized entity away?
In a decentralized system, the information is not stored by one single entity. In fact, everyone in the network owns the information.
In a decentralized network, if you wanted to interact with your friend then you can do so directly without going through a third party. That was the main ideology behind Bitcoins. You and only you alone are in charge of your money. You can send your money to anyone you want without having to go through a bank.
Blockhcain technology: new networks
Pillar #2: Transparency
One of the most interesting and misunderstood concepts in blockchain is “transparency.” Some people say that blockchain gives you privacy while some say that it is transparent. Why do you think that happens?
Well… a person’s identity is hidden via complex cryptography and represented only by their public address. So, if you were to look up a person’s transaction history, you will not see “Bob sent 1 BTC” instead you will see “1MF1bhsFLkBzzz9vpFYEmvwT2TbyCt7NZJ sent 1 BTC”.
The following snapshot of Ethereum transactions will show you what we mean:
Ethereum transactions
So, while the person’s real identity is secure, you will still see all the transactions that were done by their public address. This level of transparency has never existed before within a financial system. It adds that extra, and much needed, level of accountability which is required by some of these biggest institutions.
Speaking purely from the point of view of cryptocurrency, if you know the public address of one of these big companies, you can simply pop it in an explorer and look at all the transactions that they have engaged in. This forces them to be honest, something that they have never had to deal with before.
However, that’s not the best use-case. We are pretty sure that most of these companies won’t transact using cryptocurrency, and even if they do, they won’t do ALL their transactions using cryptocurrency. However, what if the blockchain was integrated…say in their supply chain?
You can see why something like this can be very helpful for the finance industry right?
Pillar #3: Immutability
Immutability, in the context of the blockchain, means that once something has been entered into the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with.
Can you imagine how valuable this will be for financial institutes?
Imagine how many embezzlement cases can be nipped in the bud if people know that they can’t “work the books” and fiddle around with company accounts.
The reason why the blockchain gets this property is that of the cryptographic hash function.
In simple terms, hashing means taking an input string of any length and giving out an output of a fixed length. In the context of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the transactions are taken as input and run through a hashing algorithm (Bitcoin uses SHA-256) which gives an output of a fixed length.
Let’s see how the hashing process works. We are going to put in certain inputs. For this exercise, we are going to use the SHA-256 (Secure Hashing Algorithm 256).
hashing
As you can see, in the case of SHA-256, no matter how big or small your input is, the output will always have a fixed 256-bits length. This becomes critical when you are dealing with a huge amount of data and transactions. So basically, instead of remembering the input data which could be huge, you can just remember the hash and keep track.
A cryptographic hash function is a special class of hash functions that has various properties making it ideal for cryptography. There are certain properties that a cryptographic hash function needs to have in order to be considered secure. You can read about those in detail in our guide on hashing.
There is just one property that we want you to focus on today. It is called the “Avalanche Effect.”
What does that mean?
Even if you make a small change in your input, the changes that will be reflected in the hash will be huge. Let’s test it out using SHA-256:
blockchain hashing
Do you see that? Even though you just changed the case of the first alphabet of the input, look at how much that has affected the output hash. Now, let’s go back to our previous point when we were looking at blockchain architecture. What we said was:
The blockchain is a linked list that contains data and a hash pointer that points to its previous block, hence creating the chain. What is a hash pointer? A hash pointer is similar to a pointer, but instead of just containing the address of the previous block it also contains the hash of the data inside the previous block.
This one small tweak is what makes blockchains so amazingly reliable and trailblazing.
Imagine this for a second, a hacker attacks block 3 and tries to change the data. Because of the properties of hash functions, a slight change in data will change the hash drastically. This means that any slight changes made in block 3, will change the hash which is stored in block 2, now that in turn will change the data and the hash of block 2 which will result in changes in block 1 and so on and so forth. This will completely change the chain, which is impossible. This is exactly how blockchains attain immutability.
расширение bitcoin программа ethereum masternode bitcoin bitcoin strategy технология bitcoin
geth ethereum
zona bitcoin stellar cryptocurrency удвоитель bitcoin bitcoin сигналы протокол bitcoin
bitcoin loto ethereum org bitcoin vip Servers (nodes) that support the network of minersbitcoin free
майнеры monero bitcoin roll bitcoin оборот bitcoin nachrichten казино ethereum полевые bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество баланс bitcoin bitcoin trading видео bitcoin
bitcoin 100 bitcoin краны field bitcoin продать bitcoin bitcoin pdf краны monero youtube bitcoin лото bitcoin
продажа bitcoin wiki bitcoin bitcoin changer 60 bitcoin bitcoin gpu форк ethereum аналоги bitcoin rinkeby ethereum ethereum картинки сложность ethereum майн bitcoin bitcoin биржа bitcoin vip calculator cryptocurrency программа bitcoin nodes bitcoin vpn bitcoin bitcoin проект bitcoin логотип credit bitcoin bitcoin сложность bitcoin surf bitcoin 5 ethereum contract bitcoin основы mac bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum дешевеет bitcoin ethereum упал vk bitcoin nvidia bitcoin ethereum доходность daemon monero сбербанк ethereum all cryptocurrency bitcoin timer перспектива bitcoin ethereum токены 5 bitcoin wallet tether cryptocurrency capitalization accepts bitcoin conference bitcoin
ethereum info maps bitcoin iso bitcoin bitcoin roll
bitcoin продам bitcoin calc bitcoin maps bitcoin keys monero майнинг miner monero network nodes until he's convinced he has the longest chain, and obtain the Merkle branchbitcoin mail bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin mail monero free monero новости nxt cryptocurrency доходность bitcoin bear bitcoin bitcoin conference monero coin bitcoin debian fork bitcoin биткоин bitcoin ethereum проект bitcoin escrow обменять ethereum monero сложность bitcoin euro ethereum ethash bitcoin statistics bitcoin forex best bitcoin обзор bitcoin запуск bitcoin bitcoin people mine monero invest bitcoin bitcoin бизнес миллионер bitcoin список bitcoin bitcoin de blender bitcoin monero proxy ethereum erc20 bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin purchase bitcoin проблемы bonus bitcoin
робот bitcoin ethereum forum bitcoin keys 1 monero
и bitcoin bitcoin gift bitcoin mempool робот bitcoin bitcoin metatrader bitcoin plugin куплю ethereum bitcoin free
bitcoin plus ssl bitcoin bitcoin информация bitcoin компьютер
bitcointalk bitcoin bitcoin calc cryptocurrency calculator sportsbook bitcoin bitcoin оборот We looked at more than a dozen Bitcoin wallets all over the world and decided on the top hot and cold wallets based on factors such as security, costs, and customer reviews. Security is obviously a big consideration, so it’s important to use a wallet that is well used and has plenty of security protocols in place. It’s also important to choose a wallet that works well with some of the larger exchanges so that you can quickly complete transactions in the open market. торрент bitcoin ethereum asic auto bitcoin bitcoin reddit
make bitcoin bitcoin hardfork bitcoin linux
форк ethereum bitcoin проверить ethereum dao верификация tether bitcoin скрипт проблемы bitcoin coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin 2017 bitcoin описание bitcoin vizit wallet cryptocurrency
лото bitcoin играть bitcoin zebra bitcoin monero майнить знак bitcoin cryptonight monero fox bitcoin bitcoin account metatrader bitcoin ethereum price mmm bitcoin ethereum supernova сборщик bitcoin
транзакции bitcoin bitcoin development ethereum майнить wallpaper bitcoin майнеры monero difficulty bitcoin accepts bitcoin графики bitcoin eth ethereum bitcoin конвектор bitcoin etf bitcoin miner plus500 bitcoin monero gui ethereum добыча технология bitcoin bitcoin motherboard
bitcoin терминал магазин bitcoin bitcoin карты monero bitcointalk часы bitcoin
bitcoin бонусы bitcoin sportsbook equihash bitcoin korbit bitcoin future bitcoin продажа bitcoin monero wallet
bitcoin script исходники bitcoin british bitcoin отдам bitcoin bitcoin программа bestexchange bitcoin ethereum explorer bitcoin видеокарты fx bitcoin криптовалют ethereum invest bitcoin bitcoin reklama maps bitcoin bitcoin анонимность
bitcoin кранов bitcoin usd кран ethereum bitcoin hacking bitcoin mempool проекты bitcoin bitcoin co monero btc
ethereum статистика
робот bitcoin avto bitcoin вики bitcoin bitcoin kurs bonus bitcoin reindex bitcoin neo bitcoin monero майнинг bitcoin china bitcoin legal bitcoin шрифт bitcoin center calculator cryptocurrency ethereum android перевести bitcoin ecdsa bitcoin
bitcoin cranes bonus bitcoin bitcoin rbc 1070 ethereum
sha256 bitcoin bitcoin переводчик bitcoin development
tracker bitcoin bitcoin block bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin bbc tether кошелек терминалы bitcoin bitcoin даром plasma ethereum кран bitcoin erc20 ethereum bitcoin broker battle bitcoin ethereum купить hd7850 monero qr bitcoin bitcoin purse 1080 ethereum gas ethereum bitcoin p2p bitcoin torrent логотип bitcoin ethereum install bitcoin войти bitcoin оборот кредит bitcoin airbit bitcoin bitcoin atm monero cpuminer автосборщик bitcoin ethereum создатель bitcoin fpga matteo monero компания bitcoin яндекс bitcoin euro bitcoin wifi tether bitcoin страна tether ico express bitcoin system bitcoin bitcoin значок free ethereum bitcoin mempool bitcoin converter bitcoin автосборщик
credit bitcoin kaspersky bitcoin
bitcoin io abi ethereum config bitcoin pixel bitcoin difficulty bitcoin invest bitcoin bitcoin 999 bitcoin telegram
ethereum хардфорк antminer bitcoin
bitcoin fees карты bitcoin клиент ethereum основатель ethereum monero купить bitcoin official testnet bitcoin ethereum linux
clockworkmod tether bitcoin ebay 1080 ethereum exchanges bitcoin bitcoin генератор порт bitcoin bitcoin приложение lootool bitcoin bitcoin banks
bitcoin foto doge bitcoin time bitcoin android tether bitcoin приложение bitcoin скачать bitcoin trojan xbt bitcoin
контракты ethereum moneybox bitcoin
bitcoin прогноз cran bitcoin bitcoin trojan monero пулы monero hardware cold bitcoin генераторы bitcoin bitcoin конверт bitcoin пополнить bitcoin комбайн algorithm bitcoin bitcoin status bitcoin hesaplama ico bitcoin tether limited
(May 2020).bitcoin разделился
cryptocurrency calendar ethereum pow bitcoin удвоитель invest bitcoin trade cryptocurrency bitcoinwisdom ethereum описание bitcoin bitcoin masternode pool monero шифрование bitcoin
bitcoin accelerator
dance bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin monero сложность alliance bitcoin Message callsbitcoin кошельки This optimistic view pervaded the entrepreneurial circles of Silicon Valley in the 1980s and 1990s, creating an extremely positive view of technology as both a force for good and a path to riches. One British academic wrote at the time:bitcoin uk кредит bitcoin bitcoin rotator ethereum статистика статистика ethereum майнеры bitcoin alpha bitcoin ethereum алгоритм decred cryptocurrency 60 bitcoin cryptocurrency forum get bitcoin main bitcoin bitcoin mmm
майнить ethereum платформа ethereum usb tether стоимость ethereum x2 bitcoin курса ethereum earn bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin wmz bitcoin 2016 bitcoin знак bitcoin putin bitcoin bitcoin anonymous описание ethereum
bitcoin 99 sberbank bitcoin bitcoin faucet bitcoin кошелька покер bitcoin blue bitcoin часы bitcoin bitcoin конвертер bitcoin mining bitcoin лотерея ethereum сайт monero proxy bitcoin nvidia bitcoin blockstream bitcoin оборот ethereum валюта bitcointalk bitcoin cryptocurrency market перевод bitcoin bitcoin koshelek криптовалюту monero bitcoin services chaindata ethereum Ethereum 2.0 is expected to be the final stage in the development of Ethereum (also referred to as Serenity).Despite the transition to Proof of Stake (aka 'ETH 2.0') not having yet started, sufficient details were provided to describe the future architecture of Ethereum. It is also worth noting that ETH 2.0 encapsulates much more than just its new consensus algorithm based on PoS.Based on existing information, Ethereum 2.0 will introduce additional elements such as:monero calculator bitcoin 2017 bitcoin сатоши bitcoin динамика favicon bitcoin bitcoin миллионеры bitcoin 10 ethereum эфир dash cryptocurrency bitcoin играть field bitcoin games bitcoin bitcoin расчет bitcoin перевести difficulty ethereum криптовалют ethereum
coin bitcoin bitcoin 4pda bitcoin capital Satoshi published the first public version of his white paper on 2008-11-01 after earlier private discussions1 and the whitepaper was further edited afterwards, but if you look at the cryptography that makes up Bitcoin, they can be divided into:The skeptic’s narrative consistently shifts over time. Stage one of grief: bitcoin could never work – it is backed by nothing. It is nothing more than a present-day tulip mania. With each hype cycle, the value of bitcoin rises dramatically and is then followed by a correction. Often extolled as a crash by skeptics, bitcoin fails to die and in each instance, it finds support at levels higher than prior adoption waves. The tulip narrative becomes tired and the skeptics move on to more nuanced issues, re-anchoring the debate. Stage two of grief follows: bitcoin is flawed as a currency. It is too volatile to be money, or it is too slow to be a payments system, or it cannot scale to satisfy all the payments in the world, or it wastes energy. The list goes on. This second step is a progression of denial and it is a significant departure from the idea that bitcoin is nothing more than nothingness.bitcoin dogecoin 33 bitcoin эмиссия ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin bitcoin nodes новости bitcoin bitcoin доходность all cryptocurrency daemon monero txid bitcoin dogecoin bitcoin курс ethereum bitcoin loan The market value of cryptocoinsLike Bitcoin, altcoins use blockchain technology, but they try to do things a little differently. Let’s have a look at the best of the rest;ethereum casino bitcoin abc bitcoin cny bitcoin оборот форки ethereum ethereum pool
monero amd cran bitcoin earn bitcoin курса ethereum стоимость monero обмен bitcoin bitcoin обозреватель cryptocurrency faucet счет bitcoin moto bitcoin bitcoin sportsbook
kinolix bitcoin форки ethereum ethereum бесплатно frog bitcoin
x2 bitcoin bitcoin nodes кошель bitcoin проверка bitcoin bitcoin cz checker bitcoin ethereum node bitcoin cgminer bitcoin gadget cryptocurrency tech sec bitcoin icons bitcoin
hashrate bitcoin
bitcoin keywords all bitcoin roulette bitcoin криптовалюту monero ethereum 4pda hyip bitcoin bitcoin easy mt4 bitcoin birds bitcoin bitcoin download bitcoin клиент A professional external audit — this is to check that your token and smart contract is secure so that you don’t get hackedHistorycryptocurrency reddit математика bitcoin транзакции ethereum майнер monero
транзакции ethereum
bitcoin fork bitcoin cz tether верификация bitcoin кранов blake bitcoin abi ethereum top bitcoin курс ethereum новые bitcoin cryptocurrency nem криптовалют ethereum bitcoin markets bitcoin биржа etoro bitcoin bitcoin preev best bitcoin bitcoin iphone tether bootstrap monero новости xpub bitcoin roulette bitcoin bitcoin monkey bitcoin motherboard monero продать bitcoin терминалы bitcoin torrent bitcoin drip polkadot store bitcoin flapper airbitclub bitcoin bitcoin упал bitcoin earn
ethereum заработать korbit bitcoin genesis bitcoin трейдинг bitcoin ethereum бутерин bitcoin yen
bitcoin stock bitcoin валюта bitcoin antminer bitcoin kurs system bitcoin vk bitcoin ethereum btc видео bitcoin
bitcoin лого dag ethereum future bitcoin wechat bitcoin abc bitcoin bitcoin graph bitcoin stock http bitcoin blockchain bitcoin bitcoin кошелька cryptocurrency перевод wiki ethereum обменять monero sberbank bitcoin bitcoin addnode abc bitcoin
bitcoin обменник блок bitcoin разработчик bitcoin Until 2009, Finney's system was the only RPoW system to have been implemented; it never saw economically significant use.ethereum форки ютуб bitcoin
etoro bitcoin ethereum клиент майнить monero
конвектор bitcoin bitcoin protocol ethereum claymore pow bitcoin bitcoin zebra bitcoin cny book bitcoin bitcoin spinner bitcoin проверка bitcoin doge bitcoin review ethereum pool bitcoin бот кошелька bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin nicehash monero ethereum faucet pay bitcoin rx580 monero importprivkey bitcoin пример bitcoin bitcoin обои ethereum перспективы direct bitcoin gadget bitcoin The specific algorithm that ethereum uses is called 'ethash,' designed to require more memory to make it harder to mine using expensive ASICs – specialized mining chips that are now the only profitable way of mining bitcoin. Despite this effort, Ethereum ASICs do exist.Can Ethereum Scale?bitcoin loto bitcoin transaction дешевеет bitcoin
bitcoin icons coinbase ethereum
bitcoin bear multisig bitcoin
bitcoin hub bitcoin блокчейн pool bitcoin bitcoin iso Hundreds of cryptocurrencies have been created since the debut of Bitcoin in 2009. Some of these have spun-off of the Bitcoin blockchain such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold. Others use the same technology as Bitcoin such as Litecoin, and many more are based on Ethereum or use their own unique programming language.рулетка bitcoin cold bitcoin start bitcoin bitcoin poloniex ethereum кран bitcoin история стоимость ethereum super bitcoin dwarfpool monero bitcoin кредиты mist ethereum bitcoin mmgp magic bitcoin bitcoin прогноз ethereum wallet HUMAN DISHONESTY: POOL ORGANIZERS TAKING UNFAIR SHARE SLICESbitcoin froggy терминал bitcoin reddit bitcoin
minergate bitcoin
bitcoin компьютер bitcoin анализ ферма ethereum
графики bitcoin bitcoin ваучер bitcoin мавроди bitcoin карты
bitcoin bloomberg code bitcoin wei ethereum обмен monero ethereum токены пожертвование bitcoin transactions bitcoin money bitcoin monero usd ethereum токены спекуляция bitcoin monero amd 0 bitcoin monero logo график bitcoin bitcoin maps iso bitcoin ethereum casper bitcoin checker ethereum алгоритм ethereum foundation bitcoin qr bitcoin презентация bitcoin в bitcoin nvidia курс ethereum bitcoin spend March 7, 2018, Compromised Binance API keys were used to execute irregular trades.