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What Is Blockchain Technology?

The words bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and ‘blockchain’ seem to have been thrown around the Internet on a regular basis in recent months. However, while we might be hearing of them more regularly, not many people actually understand their purpose, or even what they are at all. Blockchain currently holds a very important purpose in the digital finance industry, and since Bitcoin is rapidly on the rise, it’s important to educate yourself about how blockchain works and why it’s becoming such a popular technology

So, What Actually Is Blockchain?

Many people believe that blockchain technology is completely ingenious, and when you learn about the technology and how it works, you’re likely to feel the same way. Satoshi Nakamoto invented the cryptocurrency Bitcoin back in 2008, and it has since evolved into a hugely popular cryptocurrency. The basis of Bitcoin is the technology known as the blockchain. Luckily, you don’t need to understand all of the mechanics behind blockchain to incorporate it into your lifestyle, however, a general understanding of blockchain never hurt anyone.
Essentially, blockchain is the digital ledger of economic transactions, and it can be programmed to record anything of value, meaning that it expands greater than just financial transactions, making it one of the most innovative technologies in the world today. Blockchain holds an unfathomable amount of data, and continually shares and reconciles it. The blockchain database isn’t restricted to one location, making all records public and verifiable, which is important as it may help to eliminate the possibility of a hacker corrupting the data.

Who Uses Blockchain Technology?

Since blockchain revolves around the world of cryptocurrency, financial officers currently utilize blockchain the most. The World Bank estimates that more than $430billion in money transfers occurred in 2015, but two years have passed since then and the demand for blockchain developers is higher than ever before, as the increased interest in cryptocurrencies heightens.
As there is no bank or third party required to make transactions via blockchain, the technology is highly popular amongst the general public as well. With the GUI (Graphical User Interface) involved, personal computing is now accessible to anybody, with the most popular GUI being wallet applications, where people can buy items with Bitcoin and store the currency in a secure manner. Malting transactions with this technology is much quicker far users. In addition to this, it helps to maintain some form of anonymity, as personal details such as forenames and surnames are not needed to complete a transaction—the only thing needed is the private and public key.

What Are The Advantages Of Blockchain?

One of the main qualities of blockchain is that it’s massively durable. As all blocks of information are stored identically across the database, it is extremely difficult for hackers to manipulate and corrupt the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
The network lives in a state of consensus, updating itself every ten minutes or so to ensure everything is still under control. With a self-auditing system handling digital values, every transaction made can occur within a ten-minute interval, making blockchain efficient and popular amongst cryptocurrency users. Transactions are commonly referred to as blocks, and there are two important properties that emerge from this, the first being transparency.

The Purpose Of Nodes

Nodes play a huge part in blockchain technology. Blockchain wouldn’t exist without nodes, as a node is a computer connected to the blockchain network, allowing a client to perform the task of validating and relaying transactions across the network. Then, the nodes get a copy of the blockchain, which is downloaded automatically when computers join the blockchain network.
Every node is a controller of the blockchain, joining the network by choice. Each node has a sale incentive for joining the blockchain, which is the chance of winning the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. When you come across the term ‘mining Bitcoin’, this is referring to the work that nodes do for blockchain, with each node competing to win bitcoins through puzzle-solving.

Blockchain Is A Decentralised Technology

It’s expected that decentralized technology will really explode in the upcoming years, as anything that happens on a blockchain function happens across the whole network. This is useful for a large range of reasons, as stock markets, for example, can become simultaneous on the blockchain, and it could make tasks such as record keeping much easier.
Blockchain functions with a global network of computers, all managing Bitcoin transaction records together. With the idea of decentralization, the network operates on a peer-to-peer basis, forming a giant collaboration community. This can help to prevent any form of ownership manipulation, as the entire technology is public enough for any changes or amendments made within the transactions to be picked up instantly.

The Emergence Of Blockchain In Video Games

Bitcoin features such as wallets or tokens have been used in video games far quite a few years now. With this technology, players can have more possession over their items or the currency that they loot and spend. By incorporating blockchain technology into the video game industry, players are guaranteed to have items that are worth -value, both to themselves and other players across the network. Games such as Spells of Genesis are known for using blockchain technology in their software. SoG in particular is a card game where all of the cards within the game are linked to blockchain and Bitcoin. Via Counter-Party tokens, players can make exchanges through blockchain transactions.
It has also become more apparent in video games to make items that players have in-game valuable in reality, presenting individuals with the opportunity to buy these items. This idea is extremely innovative, as you’re able to sell your in-game loot before you leave a game. You can ‘cash out’ and sell all inventory items as well as currency, but simultaneously allow players to recover funds that they have deposited.
We could see blockchain technology becoming implemented in a wide range of different industries, outside of the video gaming industry. Businesses are likely to consider implementing this highly secure and transparent technology as part of their cyber security, and we may even see blockchain technology being used as part of home automation in the future. With so many uses, blockchain technology is very likely to begin taking over the world.