So you have been hearing a lot of noise about this blockchain thingy but haven't been able to understand or wrap your head around it, well you're not alone. I started hearing about the blockchain around August 2020 (I know pretty late right? ) and the curiosity in me did not let me rest until I got at least a basic understanding about this new technology.
In this post I would love to explain what the blockchain means using bitcoin as an example. I'm sure many of us have heard the term "Bitcoin", and some of us might even have loads of it haha...so I hope you would be able to relate.
Enough talk, let's dive in!
Using Bitcion as an example, the blockchain is a public ledger of all bitcoin transactions that have ever taken place right back to the very first transaction. Hence the blockchain is an ever evolving piece of technology.
It's constantly growing as new blocks are added. The transaction which are being added unto the blockchain are being processed by computers (Nodes) connected to the network. These Nodes are located around the globe, hence being a decentralized technology. Also as each block is been added unto the chain, it's done so in a chronological order and anything that happens on the network happens as a whole.
Features of the Blockchain:
Decentralized: The blockchain network is decentralized, meaning it doesn’t have any governing authority or a single person looking after the network. Rather a group of nodes maintains the network making it decentralized.
Immutable: This means that if you put something on the blockchain, it is really hard to change, it's pretty much there forever.
Distributed: This means that no one computer(Node) can decide. It's a network of computer(Nodes) around the world sharing that decision.
Public Ledger: It's just a table, like an excel table that contains a lot of information opened to everyone.
There are many other features and use cases of the blockchain. But I hope I've been able to at least give you an idea about what the blockchain is and why it's so interesting.
Keep building, catch you later!
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