It's 2017 now, 8 years have passed since the first launch of Blockchain white paper in 2008. Still the technology is in its nascent stage. Currently infrastructure tools and platforms are being built for the Blockchain technology so that the developers could build new kind of services running on BlockChain algorithm. Ethereum, which is an open source project, is leading the space. It's founder Vitalik Buterin is the veteran of this Blockchain and crypto currency field with his presence since 2011 i.e. 5 years out of total 7 years, although he is just 23 years old now.
Why should you bother ?
It's not very often when these kind of fundamental technology is invented, which has the potential to disrupt a major segment of our lifestyle. In the case of Blockchain technology, it can disrupt the whole fintech industry and create new possibilities in different other fields like payments, IOT, AI, contract settlements, online voting, digital media entitlement, identity systems ,etc. The rise of this tech has created a whole sea of opportunities for the developer communities.How does it work ?
The Blockchain technology is basically a distributed ledger technology where the data is recorded in multiple connected computers unlike in the case of Internet where all the data gets stored on a centralized server.Imagine there is a kind of magic paper. Now you keep one sheet of it with you and distribute 100 sheets of it to 100 individuals. The magic in it is such that if you write something on your sheet, it automatically gets written on each of the 100 sheets distributed previously. Similarly if anyone writes something on her sheet, it gets written on every other sheets simultaneously.(isn't it amazing!!!)
Similarly in Blockchain technology, hundreds of thousands of computers are distributed and connected in peer to peer fashion with an algorithm running on them. This algorithm works same as that of the magic paper. If something is recorded in one computer, it automatically gets recorded in each of the other computers which are running the algorithm.
The data recorded in each computers are secured with very complex cryptographic functions which are practically impossible to breach into.( We will discuss all the technical stuffs in future blogs).
How does it make a difference?
As we have seen that computers are used to record data independently on BlockChain technology. Therefore it eliminates the need of middlemen whose sole purpose was to keep records of data.The cryopto currency like Bitcoin works on BlockChain platform. Each of the transactions done with the Bitcoins are recorded in peer to peer fashion in distributed computers. In fact there is no company or organization to keep track on the transactions being done with Bitcoins. Therefore this tech is also called a trustless system where you don't have to trust a third party like banks to keep your money and transaction record.Currently the Bitcoin has reached to the monstrous $20 bn market cap.
Today the internet has become centralised where anything you share or post gets stored in that company's central server. Be it Facebook, Google, Instagram, Dropbox, etc, they store all your data and we have to trust them to not misuse our data. One thing you may not have noticed is that slowly a new type of economy has taken birth, it's Data Economy.
With the adoption of the Blockchain based products, our data will be stored securedly without having to trust anyone.
We will discuss in detail about Bitcoins, Data economy, Blockchain algorithm etc in future blog posts. I gladly welcome any kinds of query and suggestions. You can drop me a mail at mukeshjha5661@gmail.com ( Google still storing my data)
