It is impossible to discover or evolve in the world of cryptocurrencies without knowing the term "Blockchain". But if you know it, do you really understand it? Come on board with us, we will try to define and explain the Blockchain.
Definition 👨🏫
Blockchain is a technology for storing and transmitting information, transparent, secure, and operating without a central control body. It is the technology at the heart of the Decentralized Web and its corollary, decentralized finance - Blockchain France.
It is a computer system that allows a transaction between two parties to be written down indelibly. It is a transparent register that everyone can consult, but without ever being able to modify the previous entries. This register is made up of blocks, each containing hundreds of transactions. They are added to each other, forming a chain, hence the term Blockchain.
By extension, a blockchain is a database that contains the history of all exchanges made between its users since its creation. This database is secure and distributed: it is shared by its various users, without intermediaries, which allows everyone to verify the validity of the chain.
There are 2 types of blockchain: public blockchains and private blockchains. The latter are characterized by a system of access, reading and verification permissions that is stricter than that of a public blockchain, the said register being reserved for a restricted network.
A public blockchain can be likened to a public, anonymous and unforgeable accounting ledger. As mathematician Jean-Paul Delahaye writes, one must imagine "a very large notebook, which everyone can read freely and for free, on which everyone can write, but which is impossible to erase and indestructible."
Operation ⚙️
A blockchain consists of blocks. Each block contains transactions made between users. The block is then verified and validated by the network nodes using cryptography. - A node is a computer connected to the blockchain network and using a program to relay transactions. -
During this stage called mining, members verify the authenticity of transactions by comparing them with previous transactions, identifying traceability, and checking related transactions.
When the blocks are validated, they are added (or time-stamped) to the other blocks to form a chain.
Note that the nodes keep a copy of the entire blockchain ledger and are distributed around the world to all users.
History of blockchain 📚
The architecture behind the Blockchain technology was described in 1991 when researchers Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta introduced a computer solution, allowing digital documents to be time-stamped so that they are never backdated or altered.
Their system used a secure cryptographic blockchain to store time-stamped documents. Later, in 1992, the so-called Merkle Tree protocol was introduced to the operation, making the system more efficient by allowing multiple documents to be combined into a single block. However, this technology fell into oblivion, and the patent expired in 2004
In 2004, computer scientist and cryptographic activist Hal Finney (Harold Thomas Finney II), launched a system called RPoW ("Reusable Proof Of Work"). The system worked by receiving a non-exchangeable and non-fungible proof-of-work token based on the Hashcash system, which in turn created a token with an RSA signature that could then be transferred from person to person.
The first blockchain as we know it was conceptualized in late 2008. That year, a whitepaper introduced a decentralized peer-to-peer electronic payment system called Bitcoin (yes, that one)
The whitepaper was distributed through a cryptography-related email list by a person or group of people using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
It was implemented the following year by Nakamoto as the main component of bitcoin, where it serves as the public record of all transactions on the network.
Things to remember 🧠💡
The blockchain is a tool that allows to store and transmit information in a reliable, transparent and secure way.
It traces the history of all exchanges that may have been made since the opening of a blockchain.
You will find public and private blockchains.
In a blockchain, all transactions are processed in the form of blocks that must be validated by network nodes before they appear in the blockchain and are visible to all users.
Its transparency and security allow the blockchain to be used in many applications outside of finance.
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