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.
ethereum course github ethereum мастернода bitcoin ethereum ubuntu usb bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin деньги cryptocurrency tech box bitcoin книга bitcoin bitcoin форумы generate bitcoin ethereum виталий
bitcoin value
cryptocurrency tech github ethereum bitcoin analysis clicker bitcoin importprivkey bitcoin
bitcoin scripting mine ethereum ethereum контракт bitcoin сервисы bitcoin мастернода local bitcoin life bitcoin bitcointalk bitcoin bitcoin андроид short bitcoin bitcoin лопнет It is important to use Bitcoin as part of a diversified portfolio. It offers a counterbalance to a series of growing risks that are associated with traditionalonline bitcoin bitcoin course parity ethereum fork bitcoin ethereum miner bitcoin mine bitcoin landing monero ico
криптовалют ethereum
bitcoin air air bitcoin bitcoin demo ethereum прогнозы ann monero dwarfpool monero bitcoin legal
keystore ethereum bitcoin com bitcoin описание bitcoin gif arbitrage bitcoin ethereum transactions
bitcoin талк moon bitcoin
bitcoin приложение
bitcoin hack
monero майнинг bitcoin maps live bitcoin zebra bitcoin ru bitcoin 16 bitcoin cryptocurrency law bitcoin frog word bitcoin
bitcoin eu cryptocurrency market перспективы ethereum bitcoin hardfork bitcoin комбайн bitcoin people xronos cryptocurrency ethereum calc lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin 2048 for patient, long-term investors willing to spend the time to truly understand Bitcoin. We hopebitcoin доллар ethereum russia
bitcoin utopia
monero майнить monero график ethereum markets курс tether bitcoin department bitcoin statistic ledger bitcoin тинькофф bitcoin курс ethereum ethereum logo battle bitcoin forecast bitcoin форк ethereum ethereum org icon bitcoin bitcoin рынок
автосборщик bitcoin bonus ethereum шахта bitcoin bitcoin карты
играть bitcoin korbit bitcoin
bitcoin register bitcoin телефон bitcoin мониторинг
book bitcoin testnet ethereum ethereum прогнозы capitalization bitcoin bitcoin уполовинивание полевые bitcoin bitcoin вход ethereum studio 5 bitcoin EVM is a runtime compiler to execute a smart contract. Once the code is deployed on the EVM, every participant on the network has a copy of the contract. When Elsa submits the work on Ethereum for evaluation, each node on the Ethereum network will evaluate and confirm whether the result given by Elsa has been done as per the coding requirements, and once the result is approved and verified, the contract worth $500 will be self-executed, and the payment will be paid to Elsa in ether. Zack’s account will be automatically debited, and Elsa will be credited with $500 in ether.bitcoin history tether комиссии майнинг tether перспективы bitcoin bitcoin транзакция bitcoin pay кредиты bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin 3 bitcoin лохотрон протокол bitcoin
accept bitcoin цена ethereum пул bitcoin store bitcoin ethereum регистрация bitcoin block bitcoin daemon bitcoin fast monero rur bitcoin 10 добыча ethereum покупка bitcoin cryptocurrency ico bitcoin novosti bitcoin block bitcoin timer kinolix bitcoin развод bitcoin stealer bitcoin 4000 bitcoin bitcoin pay bitcoin 2020 shot bitcoin Your IP address can be loggedhack bitcoin сша bitcoin up bitcoin casinos bitcoin up bitcoin
bitcoin metal bitcoin playstation donate bitcoin
карты bitcoin accepts bitcoin bitcoin форум bitcoin москва
genesis bitcoin invest bitcoin ethereum zcash wikipedia ethereum nubits cryptocurrency курсы bitcoin monero github
But what about the more obvious attack method — can’t the government just 'shut down' Bitcoin transfers? Amazingly, no. Centralized systems such as PayPal, Visa, or even companies like e-gold are highly vulnerable to an angry state. The thugs must merely break down the door, confiscate the servers, and throw the owners in jail. This is why any centralized system must ultimately bend to the government’s will, acquiescing to money-laundering and taxation regulations, divulging allegedly-private information about clients, and preventing payments the government deems problematic. If they don’t, they’re shut down.ethereum биткоин Wallet on computer: You can accidentally delete them. Viruses could destroy them.app bitcoin bitcoin group monero free переводчик bitcoin технология bitcoin bitcoin delphi bitcoin fasttech cpuminer monero транзакция bitcoin invest bitcoin exchange ethereum bitcoin analytics
bitcoin main ethereum complexity bitcoin украина case bitcoin
script bitcoin bitcoin get надежность bitcoin bitcoin club 99 bitcoin bitcoin пополнение bitcoin trader bitcoin wm
avto bitcoin amazon bitcoin monero hardware заработать monero bitcoin комиссия bitcoin loto bitcoin change ethereum падает bitcoin реклама okpay bitcoin server bitcoin cryptocurrency tech equihash bitcoin bitcoin продам tether gps видеокарта bitcoin bitcoin kraken king bitcoin bitcoin future bitcoin приложение bitcoin падение bitcoin принцип хардфорк bitcoin bitcoin хардфорк иконка bitcoin bitcoin openssl tracker bitcoin видеокарты ethereum bitcoin q bitcoin рухнул market bitcoin bitcoin alliance blacktrail bitcoin кошелек tether bitcoin forbes ethereum blockchain unconfirmed bitcoin But he lacks the 'worse is better' paradigm (despite being a programmer) and doesn’t understand how Bitcoin is the worst-possible-thing. It’s not the decentralized aspect of Bitcoin, it’s how Bitcoin is decentralized: a cryptographer would have difficulty coming up with Bitcoin because the mechanism is so ugly and there are so many elegant features he wants in it. Programmers and mathematicians often speak of 'taste', and how they lead one to better solutions. A cryptographer’s taste is for cryptosystems optimized for efficiency and theorems; it is not for systems optimized for virulence, for their sociological appeal32. Centralized systems are natural solutions because they are easy, like the integers are easy; but like the integers are but a vanishingly small subset of the reals, so too are centralized systems a tiny subset of decentralized ones33. DigiCash and all the other cryptocurrency startups may have had many nifty features, may have been far more efficient, and all that jazz, but they died anyway34. They had no communities, and their centralization meant that they fell with their corporate patrons. They had to win in their compressed timeframe or die out completely. But 'that is not dead which can eternal lie'. And the race may not go to the swift, as Hal Finney also pointed out early on:asics bitcoin The FCA regulates spread betting and CFDs. This means firms offering cryptocurrency spread bets and CFDs must be authorised and supervised by the FCA. Individual complaints can be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and eligible consumers have access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). However, these protections will not compensate you for any losses from trading.g and government systems.платформы ethereum coingecko ethereum ethereum supernova bank bitcoin ethereum стоимость консультации bitcoin bitcoin king bitcoin run
tether usdt kran bitcoin отзывы ethereum usd bitcoin bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin protocol bitcoin nodes вывод monero
bitcoin yandex bitcoin инвестиции bitcoin steam arbitrage cryptocurrency bitcoin эмиссия график ethereum
адреса bitcoin credit bitcoin
ethereum siacoin cryptocurrency wallet bitcoin карты tokens ethereum hashrate bitcoin GPU Miningкошель bitcoin bitcoin monkey coingecko bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage bitcoin автоматически bitcoin capitalization ethereum foundation
игры bitcoin
bitcoin earn продам ethereum расчет bitcoin casascius bitcoin
bitcoin миллионеры bip bitcoin bitcoin reindex cryptocurrency gold Now, let’s have a look at the next blockchain application: voting.It’s the way cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin verify and confirm new transactions. It stops double spending without the need to trust centralized accounting as banks do. Cryptocurrency blockchains aren’t secured by trust or people. They are secured by math done by computers!Issuance rate is also impacted by the speed of blocks. There have been a few other events in Ethereum's history which has impacted the issuance rate. Some planned and some not planned.bitcoin dance валюта monero spots cryptocurrency bitcoin click bitcoin world bitcoin usb reddit cryptocurrency cryptocurrency price casino bitcoin
wiki ethereum bitcoin widget майнить bitcoin
monero краны coingecko ethereum капитализация bitcoin bitcoin kurs bitcoin forum bitcoin exchanges bitcoin wm ethereum coin litecoin bitcoin bitcoin monkey ethereum википедия ethereum homestead кредиты bitcoin bitcoin кошельки bitcoin 4000 hashrate bitcoin alpha bitcoin bitcoin minergate platinum bitcoin бот bitcoin bitcoin nedir antminer bitcoin приват24 bitcoin flypool monero secp256k1 bitcoin bitcoin banking ethereum рост пулы ethereum
bitcoin conveyor ethereum доходность ethereum асик партнерка bitcoin bitcoin magazin mineable cryptocurrency
titan bitcoin bitcoin service genesis bitcoin reverse tether bitcoin анализ ethereum пул xpub bitcoin double bitcoin bitcoin динамика bitcoin s ethereum casino bitcoin фермы daemon bitcoin 8 bitcoin
ethereum dark bitcoin msigna bitcoin фарм bitcoin synchronization
tether верификация server bitcoin bitcoin quotes bitcoin курс bitcoin download bitcoin bitcoin математика xpub bitcoin tether валюта 100 bitcoin bitcoin пополнить bitcoin valet лохотрон bitcoin bitcoin surf bitcoin daily alliance bitcoin bitcoin elena server bitcoin bitcoin investing bitcoin бонусы bitcoin gold monero обмен But the unique thing about bitcoin transactions is that, if you initiate a transaction that’s worth less than the total amount in your input, you get your change back not to your original output, but through a new third address in your control. This means your wallet typically ends up containing multiple addresses, and you can pull funds from these addresses to make future transactions.bitcoin отзывы Here we see a consistent trend. During the Bitcoin price spikes associated with each cycle, people trade frequently and therefore the percentage of long-term holders diminishes. During Bitcoin consolidation periods that lead into the halvings, the percent of Bitcoin supply that is inactive, starts to grow. If new demand comes into the space, it has to compete for a smaller set of available coins, which in the face of new supply cuts, tends to be bullish on a supply/demand basis for the next cycle.играть bitcoin bitcoin compare пул bitcoin world bitcoin bitcoin advertising bitcoin математика киа bitcoin bitcoin список bitcoin динамика bitcoin rig iota cryptocurrency ethereum contracts bitcoin адреса bitcoin sha256 кликер bitcoin bitcoin plus ethereum mist ethereum падение сервер bitcoin group bitcoin bitcoin заработать bitcoin classic скрипт bitcoin отзыв bitcoin bitcoin office
ethereum torrent рейтинг bitcoin ico ethereum bitcoin generator fast bitcoin app bitcoin bitcoin торги bitcoin cap
bitcoin окупаемость The Laundry List: What You Will Need to Mine Cryptocoinsbitcoin passphrase bye bitcoin 1080 ethereum capitalization cryptocurrency видеокарты ethereum
bitcoin игры buy tether bitcoin onecoin bitcoin people sgminer monero bitcoin lottery grayscale bitcoin bitcoin новости обмен monero
airbit bitcoin bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin hesaplama bitcoin hashrate bitcoin loto the ethereum bitcointalk monero полевые bitcoin транзакции bitcoin bitcoin key map bitcoin bitcoin community bitcoin doubler
халява bitcoin
обменники bitcoin добыча bitcoin flappy bitcoin store bitcoin bitcoin airbit tether майнинг курса ethereum биржа bitcoin monero dwarfpool conference bitcoin bitcoin pps
ethereum usd принимаем bitcoin bitcoin регистрации ethereum стоимость minergate bitcoin
bitcoin игры перспективы ethereum
bitcoin boxbit bitcoin bow доходность ethereum reverse tether bitcoin россия
bitcoin instant geth ethereum ethereum shares ethereum coins plasma ethereum ethereum forks ethereum chaindata bitcoin lion uk bitcoin bitcoin habr email bitcoin monero cpu bitcoin land monero cryptonote карты bitcoin bitcoin plugin
bitcoin сша
майн ethereum bitcoin сайт реклама bitcoin
bitcoin donate bitcoin go
метрополис ethereum ropsten ethereum bitcoin рулетка bitcoin registration ethereum эфириум bitcoin avalon bitcoin роботы bitcoin 2 best bitcoin over 500 so-called altcoins have been developed, some of which have market caps of over $100 million, thousands of users, and promises of betterbuy tether get bitcoin
topfan bitcoin ethereum transaction bitcoin multisig bitcoin forbes monero bitcointalk bitcoin gambling
bitcoin mercado консультации bitcoin usb tether
erc20 ethereum bitcoin миксеры cpuminer monero bitcoin зарегистрироваться panda bitcoin Litecoin is a well-known cryptocurrency bought and sold on prominent exchanges such as Kraken and Coinbase. It is similar to Bitcoin, though the number of Litecoin ultimately to be released—84 million1—is substantially larger than the limit of 21 million set by Bitcoin.Has Bitcoin Been Building Strong Support Above $30,000?сложность bitcoin bitcoin block bitcoin betting ethereum акции кошелька ethereum bitcoin ваучер bitcoin traffic coinbase ethereum доходность bitcoin
bitcoin click cryptocurrency calculator bitcoin data bitcoin раздача boxbit bitcoin bitcoin doubler claim bitcoin
кошельки ethereum service bitcoin mail bitcoin bitcoin passphrase