Blockchain Explained: Is Blockchain The Future?

The popularity of Blockchain is increasing globally. The quick and effective technology is proving a successful and secure way to store and edit information, and organizations all over the world are using it to their advantage. 

What is blockchain and how does it work?

Blockchain is a type of database and a way of recording information that makes it difficult or impossible to change or hack. The information in the blocks can be opened, copied, and duplicated on separate computers. If someone was to change, add or remove any of the information on the database, it would change the information across all computers. It’s a secure way to storing and editing information.

What can blockchain be used for?

A wide range of documents can be stored in blockchain. For example, loan details, land titles, logistics and much more. Blockchain can also be used to store big amounts of data which can be shared in a multi verification environment that is perfect for real time secure information sharing. 

Transparency 

One benefit of blockchain is that there is transparency. The information in the database, when being transferred, gets shared through a peer to peer network. This means every participant can view the data being shared and can also easily use the consensus algorithms to either accept or reject it. If the data is accepted, it goes into the ledger as a block that is stored in a cryptography secured chain. As technology is advancing and evolving, the number of businesses that use blockchain is also increasing, this means adherence to data privacy laws becomes more important.

Less intercessors

Another benefit of using blockchain is that it cuts out the middleman, this helps companies save more money. Blockchain allows companies to carry out transactions safely and directly themselves, thus meaning lawyers, bankers, brokers and any other middlemen are not needed. It also means the transactions are carried out in a more interactive way, this is because anyone in the chain can make changes to the data. It also means the data can be viewed and authenticated by other participants. 

Blockchain security

One more benefit of blockchain is that it is very unlikely to be hacked. In blockchain, when new blocks with new information are added, they are always added to the end of the chain. Each new addition has its own digital signature which can be a series of numbers and letters, similar to an IP address. When you change the information in the block, it will also change the signature. This means if a hacker was to try hack into a block, they would need to change all the information up and down the blockchain correctly in order to be successful.

As mentioned before, blockchain is being implemented into a large number of industries, from healthcare to banking and accounting.  

Here is how blockchain is used in the finance industry:

Blockchain technology can be used to make the accounting processes and banking services quicker and more secure. For example, when making direct payments, a payer’s identity will be put into the chain, this will then be encrypted by a private key before being validated by the other participants in the network. 

Using blockchain means the account payable departments will not have to update their records to show when the payment is received, this is because the blockchain can be updated by the receiver themselves. Overall, blockchain makes the payment process much faster which is why more companies want to use blockchain. The total time for a blockchain assisted international money transfer is 00:20s.

Blockchain is proving to be the future of businesses and data, what do you think? 

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