This is my second article about getting started
preface
I have made an introduction about blockchain in the company before. Now I will reorganize it and share it with you.
First, about Bitcoin
Why say bitcoin, is to fry money, don’t worry, let’s first look at the current 2W more than one bitcoin in the end is what? Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer form of digital currency that is not issued by a specific currency institution and is based on a specific algorithm. Transactions are confirmed and recorded through a distributed database consisting of many nodes in the entire P2P network through massive computing. And use cryptographic design to ensure the security of each link of currency circulation. Bitcoin coins are issued by mining (proof of work), the total number is programmed to 21 million, and the first block reward is hard-coded to death. The reward a miner gets for digging a block will be cut in half every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years at an average of 10 minutes for digging a block. Since January 2009, the reward has been 50 bitcoins per block, halved to 25 bitcoins per block in November 2012, and halved to 12.5 bitcoins in July 2016. According to this rule, by the year 2140, all bitcoins (20,999,999,980) will have been issued and no new bitcoins will be created after that. Having said bitcoin, what does it have to do with blockchain? Bitcoin is a representation of blockchain. Blockchain is the underlying technology and infrastructure of Bitcoin, and bitcoin is an application of blockchain.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a decentralized, distributed ledger database.
- Decentralization: Unlike traditional centralization, there is no center, or everyone is the center.
- Distributed ledger database: Not only does the ledger data store on each node, but each node synchronously shares and replicates the entire ledger data.
The essence of blockchain technology is a database technology. Each block is like a hard drive, storing all information and encrypting it with cryptography. The stored information cannot be tampered with.
- A blockchain is a distributed database (system) placed in an insecure environment. (1) distributed, (2) insecure environment.
- Blockchain uses cryptography to ensure that existing data cannot be tampered with. (1) cryptographic hash functions, (2) asymmetric encryption.
- Blockchain uses consensus algorithms to reach consensus on new data.
A system with these three properties is called blockchain.
Third, the use of blockchain
Having introduced blockchain, what can we do with the technology? Blockchain is an underlying technology that helps users maintain collective, reliable and decentralized databases. It permanently expands the list of records (all records are traceable) and is immune to hacker tampering with cryptography. A typical blockchain consists of a series of blocks connected in a specific way, and users in the system, also known as “nodes,” perform validation tasks and store data in the block. The algorithm used to add new blocks to the chain and confirm the consistency of the transaction is called proof of work (PoW). Each block in the chain consists mainly of encrypted hash information and timestamps of the past blocks related to the transaction, starting with the Genesis block. Its main uses can be summarized as follows:
- Privacy protection
- Crash recovery
- Preventing data manipulation
I believe that if you are in financial or data-related industries, you must have used some of the technology of blockchain. Smart contracts, such as encryption algorithms, are already widely used in many places. Ok, the above is a brief introduction to blockchain, if you want to know more about it, you can refer to the relevant information.