What is Blockchain? | Beginner's guide

Blockchain is poised to change IT in much the same way open-source software did a quarter of a century ago.

What is Blockchain?

The Blockchain technology, is used to store and send information, which are linked and secured using cryptography. One block contains information about a specified number of data, if the block no longer has space in the memory for informations, another block of data is created, these blocks may remind a kind of chain. Every few minutes a new block appears in the chain, in which information about various transactions can be sent eg: trade, stocks, shares, sales, purchase of electricity, purchase or sale of currencies, including cryptocurrencies. Each block typically contains: a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of the data.

How Blockchain works?

As a peer-to-peer network, combined with a distributed time-stamping server, blockchain ledgers can be managed autonomously to exchange information between disparate parties. There's no need for an administrator. In effect, the blockchain users are the administrator. Each computer in the network can participate in the transfer and authentication of data. Thanks to this record, transactions are public. all of their history, from the very beginning of blockchain until today, can be reviewed and verified.

What Blockchain do?

Currently, blockchain can be used for a variety of purposes (trade, currency, stocks, logistics, electricity market).

• Regulatory Compliance Management: Enables secure compliance management and offers better visibility to regulators, with less effort.
• Supply Chain Management: Supports material/product tracking and faster vendor payments and settlement.
• Governance Improvement: Creates auditable records of any employee or technology action with provenance and non-repudiation. Also provides a reliable eKYC (Know Your Customer) solution.
• Data Security: Blockchain offers the most secure system for maintaining and sharing critical and sensitive data.

Is Blockchain safe?

With current technology and computing power, blockchain can not be forged. It is estimated that a computing power equal to half the Internet is needed to break a blockchain network. However, the introduction of quantum computers will require the implementation of new cryptographic safeguards. Blockchain transactions in the block chain are irreversible.