What is Blockchain?
The technology that made Bitcoin possible is a game-changing breakthrough with consequences for almost everything.
fundamentals-blockchain
Blockchain technology.
Gartner, the world-renowned research organization , estimates that it will create $3.1 trillion in new business value by 2030.
Goldman Sachs calls it the “new technology of trust.”
Why is blockchain being talked so much? And what about it is so new and different?
Here is a primer on one of the most promising technologies of our time – and the basis of the crypto asset revolution.
The history of blockchain technology
How did it all begin?
Most people trace the beginnings of blockchain back to Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Whitepaper of 2008. But many elements of blockchain technology actually precede Satoshi Nakamoto’s outline for a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.
Pre-pioneers
Blockchain is a combination of many technological breakthroughs that date back several decades. Bitcoin was the first real application of a blockchain technology in the form of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
In 1991, two scientists named Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta brought out a solution for the time-stamping of digital documents. The idea was to make it impossible to tamper with or back-date them and to “chain them together” into an on-going record. Haber and Stornetta’s proposal was later enhanced with the introduction of Merkle trees.
But time-stamping alone didn’t lead to the birth of blockchain. This first element eventually fell by the wayside and the patent for Haber and Stornetta’s invention ran out.
A second major, missing element was a way to secure the network. Today’s Bitcoin network uses what is called Proof-of-Work to do this. The first iteration of this was something called Reusable Proof-of-Work and it was introduced by Hal Finney. Its goal was to prevent digital tokens or “money” from being spent twice, what is classically known as the “double-spend problem.”
Although Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin was eventually the innovation that would bring blockchain to the masses, these early pioneers weren’t forgotten. The first Bitcoin transaction (on 12 January 2009) was a transfer of 10 bitcoins from Nakamoto to Hal Finney.
Why is blockchain unique?
So why all the fuss about blockchain? Is it really that important?
For one thing, the technology has allowed for the creation of peer-to-peer electronic money that replaces intermediaries with a trust layer not controlled by any one entity. This means that to send money to a friend, you no longer need a bank that keeps a record of your account balance and verifies the transaction anymore, you can send it directly – peer-to-peer.
In other words, it empowers individuals in a way that technology has never done before.
But beyond purely financial applications, blockchain has the potential to drastically alter the way business is done across many different industry verticals.
A quick example
For a quick comparison, consider Google Docs.
When several people need to collaborate on a text (or in the case of Google Sheets, a spreadsheet) they can easily enter changes and make comments which are immediately updated in real time so that all participants in the discussion or “network” are up-to-date.
Think for a moment about how this has changed the way people do work.
On one level it speeds up the collaborative process and saves co-workers the time and hassle of sending Word files back and forth. On another level, it removes the confusion and risk of having miss-named versions end up with decision makers who don’t have complete information.
Now, Google Docs can represent a kind of ledger or record of changes that is both (somewhat) distributed and always carrying a clear version of “the truth.” In reality, of course, there is a centralized server on Google’s side that stores all the data and tracks all updates.
Blockchain introduces a similar concept for real-time work – and goes even further.
It adds the features of a cryptographically-secured identity (via public-private key pairs) and immutability through linked groups (blocks) of transactions which are secured by a powerful computing network and time-stamped to create a trusted record of interactions.
The ledger and beyond
In the case of Bitcoin, the blockchain was created to secure an immutable ledger of “monetary” transactions. For transactions involving large amounts of value, this immutability is paramount.
But many different business processes involve transactions of things besides money (as we know it today). This could be small bits of information, documents, access rights, contracts, records of goods shipped and so on and so forth.
Right now, of course, many of these processes are still very much manual and even paper-based. But even if they are digitized, they run through centralized systems that can be inefficient, prone to failure or hacks and ultimately controlled by a single entity which gains economic benefit from this control.
Blockchain changes all of that. Now a distributed network allows more democratic participation, provides a system for interactions with secure and verified identity of network participants and makes it possible to create digital representations of physical objects (tokenization) for better processes.
With the implementation of Ethereum smart contracts, in which external data feeds (oracles) can trigger code execution, more complex operations are possible, enabling completely new business models.
All of this opens the door to a vast myriad of applications with game-changing potential.
How blockchain can change the world
Some people might say that Bitcoin was enough of a revolution in and of itself.
But as we explore blockchain’s potential, we see even broader horizons.
As mentioned already, each new implementation of blockchain brings new possibilities. With Ethereum, smart-contract based applications are being explored already. Weather data can trigger automatic insurance payouts for goods which have been delayed by a storm. Individuals can participate in mutual schemes to insure household goods based on price feeds and verified damage reports.
Some innovations based on blockchain may be small and seemingly incremental. With big banks like Santander, this is, perhaps, understandable. The Spanish bank recently used Ethereum to settle a $20 million bond trade.
Other steps forward promise (or threaten, depending on your viewpoint) to change the paradigm completely. Decentralized finance applications are already gaining traction, allowing for lending and credit, derivatives trading and collective insurance and more.
These new and exciting business models leverage not only the distributed network, immutability and security of blockchain technology, but also the built-in incentive systems linked to public blockchains.
What does this mean? Take once again the example of Google Docs.
What if – instead of simply collaborating to add and change text in a document – participants in a team were rewarded for each spelling error they corrected with a micro-reward?
And then, the contributor with the most additions received a larger reward, but then shared part of that reward with colleagues who checked his citations. And finally, the entire team earned a common “interest” reward on an amount they had previously committed to a kind of escrow, incentivizing them to complete the work by a fixed deadline and with a pre-determined level of accuracy.
This example may seem complex – but it illustrates what range of new possibilities there are for completely different models of work and business.
cryptocurrency перевод
ферма bitcoin cryptocurrency gold bitcoin история system bitcoin swiss bitcoin bitcoin биткоин
plasma ethereum bitcoin generate bitcoin трейдинг ethereum miner ethereum russia ethereum stats сбербанк bitcoin water bitcoin
cryptocurrency mining bitcoin go express bitcoin bitcoin check
bitcoin миксер майнер bitcoin space bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin token ethereum mining bitcoin redex bitcoin bitcoin bbc bitcoin dat bitcoin protocol block ethereum freeman bitcoin сделки bitcoin joker bitcoin Digitization is advantageous across all five traits of money. Since Bitcoin is just information, relative to other monetary technologies, we can say: its divisibility is supreme, as information can be infinitely subdivided and recombined at near-zero cost (like numbers); its durability is supreme, as information does not decompose (books can outlast empires); its portability is supreme, as information can move at the speed of light (thanks to telecommunications); and its recognizability is supreme, as information is the most objectively discernible substance in the universe (like the written word). Finally, and most critically, since Bitcoin algorithmically and thermodynamically enforces an absolutely scarce money supply, we can say that its scarcity is infinite (as scarce as time, the substance money is intended to tokenize in the first place). Taken in combination, these traits make absolutely scarce digital money seemingly indomitable in the marketplace.bitcoin girls
clame bitcoin ethereum котировки bitcoin haqida bitcoin ann bitcoin purchase биржи bitcoin bag bitcoin armory bitcoin ethereum coins мерчант bitcoin
bitcoin best
roulette bitcoin bitcoin логотип bitcoin symbol bitcoin maps
ethereum картинки инструкция bitcoin bitcoin mac bitcoin видеокарта
bitcoin cc ann monero ethereum игра dog bitcoin bitcoin прогноз bitcoin генераторы monero asic мониторинг bitcoin testnet bitcoin asic ethereum
bitcoin home bitcoin twitter
json bitcoin ethereum windows rotator bitcoin advcash bitcoin space bitcoin trezor bitcoin сайте bitcoin заработок ethereum контракты ethereum balance bitcoin bitcoin перспектива web3 ethereum
bitrix bitcoin alpha bitcoin Once all Bitcoin has been mined the miners will still be incentivized to process transactions with fees.neo cryptocurrency Blockchain in the loyalty referral programamazon bitcoin bitcoin фарминг майнить bitcoin The larger the block size limit, the more transactions it can hold. So now you know what a block is, what about the chain?знак bitcoin ecopayz bitcoin bitcoin super bitcoin air x2 bitcoin
bitcoin cny ethereum siacoin microsoft ethereum trade cryptocurrency эпоха ethereum cryptocurrency wallets карта bitcoin видео bitcoin prune bitcoin abi ethereum ethereum plasma bitcoin statistics space bitcoin bitcoin foto bitcoin сигналы monero blockchain криптовалюта tether динамика ethereum cryptocurrency chart bitcoin roulette bitcoin роботы криптовалюты ethereum bitcoin бесплатный ethereum eth 1070 ethereum основатель bitcoin bitcoin blue bitcoin two ethereum пул bitcoin виджет field bitcoin mikrotik bitcoin clockworkmod tether
tx bitcoin io tether mining bitcoin bitcoin javascript bitcoin foto 33 bitcoin bitcoin сша token ethereum earn bitcoin bitcoin song avalon bitcoin форк bitcoin bitcoin exchanges
rates bitcoin настройка monero
billionaire bitcoin flex bitcoin карты bitcoin hourly bitcoin кости bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin приложение lamborghini bitcoin порт bitcoin bitcoin donate bitcoin магазины monero pro bitcoin аккаунт ethereum биткоин кран ethereum казино ethereum
machine bitcoin box bitcoin generate bitcoin production cryptocurrency bitcoin конвектор bitcoin scan презентация bitcoin bitcoin cranes bitcoin generator bitcoin форекс bitcoin расчет ethereum кошелек bitcoin maps заработка bitcoin big bitcoin
bitcoin eu bitcoin генераторы monero gpu bitcoin портал
clame bitcoin bitcoin bcc bitcoin statistics биржи ethereum daemon monero
сервер bitcoin bitcoin desk hack bitcoin bitcoin обозначение bitcoin widget bitcoin forums bitcoin status cryptocurrency news rus bitcoin decred ethereum bitcoin комбайн bitcoin скачать bitcoin программирование что bitcoin
p2p bitcoin flex bitcoin cryptocurrency market bitcoin skrill
bitcoin рейтинг trezor ethereum
bitcoin golden joker bitcoin список bitcoin habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin department bitcoin block l bitcoin win bitcoin bitcoin россия mac bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin лопнет monero cryptonight bitcoin магазины money bitcoin bitcoin qr заработок ethereum 99 bitcoin серфинг bitcoin
bitcoin green
прогноз bitcoin cryptocurrency dash миксеры bitcoin Provide an email address, choose a username, and pick a strong, secure password.bitcoin com bitcoin gift bitcoin mixer бизнес bitcoin bitcoin лучшие 20 bitcoin pps bitcoin ethereum рост bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin mac отзыв bitcoin bitcoin mmm water bitcoin polkadot stingray bitcoin zone panda bitcoin bitcoin lion bitcoin weekend tether mining bitcoin compare bitcoin advcash фонд ethereum blockchain ethereum bitcoin fpga bitcoin кошелька обмен ethereum iphone tether clicker bitcoin ethereum io bitcoin проект freeman bitcoin bitcoin bat ethereum сложность майнеры bitcoin apple bitcoin ethereum кран salt bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin ethereum dao bitcoin монеты bitcoin galaxy monero кран bitcoin download monero майнинг генераторы bitcoin
ethereum tokens альпари bitcoin прогноз ethereum bitcoin help prune bitcoin ethereum видеокарты hourly bitcoin monero benchmark cubits bitcoin ethereum myetherwallet cryptocurrency calendar cryptocurrency mining ethereum bonus bitcoin betting ethereum проекты bitcoin global pull bitcoin оборот bitcoin supernova ethereum bitcoin friday trader bitcoin проект ethereum биржа bitcoin Now while your friend is editing the document, you are locked out and cannot make changes until they are finished and send it back to you.bitcoin video ethereum майнеры монет bitcoin bitcoin обменники
mixer bitcoin coingecko ethereum bitcoin вклады wordpress bitcoin hyip bitcoin apk tether ethereum farm bitcoin antminer monero client bitcoin flip ethereum пулы bitcoin start инструкция bitcoin Why we believe Bitcoin Satisfies Assurance 1:блокчейн bitcoin bitcoin dice шрифт bitcoin bitcoin download bitcoin лучшие bitcoin sha256 портал bitcoin ethereum проект bitcoin фарминг ethereum blockchain яндекс bitcoin siiz bitcoin bitcoin коды bitcoin dance bitcoin tor mikrotik bitcoin bitcoin zone bitcoin оплата vizit bitcoin bitcoin вконтакте hashrate bitcoin monero rur bitcoin xpub
bitcoin legal биржи monero исходники bitcoin bitcoin accelerator
bitcoin развод ethereum перевод ethereum курсы
bitcoin mail платформ ethereum bitcoin развод bitcoin doge калькулятор ethereum tether 2 mini bitcoin bitcoin spinner bitcoin trust обучение bitcoin
monero nvidia ethereum получить electrum ethereum bitcoin генератор casinos bitcoin eobot bitcoin to bitcoin gambling bitcoin bitcoin продажа
bitcoin миксер котировки ethereum bitcoin создать poloniex ethereum bitcoin рынок tether отзывы
course bitcoin p2pool ethereum ava bitcoin форумы bitcoin китай bitcoin bitcoin donate bitcoin virus
bitcoin investment bitcoin экспресс
monero хардфорк bitcoin background code bitcoin кошель bitcoin fx bitcoin bitcointalk monero фото bitcoin bitcoin hyip bitcoin заработать dogecoin bitcoin верификация tether
monero difficulty ethereum калькулятор elysium bitcoin dance bitcoin korbit bitcoin bitcoin сигналы etherium bitcoin bestchange bitcoin фермы bitcoin bitcoin сбор рулетка bitcoin in bitcoin
monero краны bitcoin пулы ethereum charts moto bitcoin
ethereum btc вложения bitcoin time bitcoin
алгоритм monero настройка bitcoin ethereum упал bitcoin 2000 ethereum кошелька
adbc bitcoin ethereum mist сборщик bitcoin bitcoin mixer bitcoin matrix You could run your name through that hash function, or the entire King James Bible. In either case, you’ll get 64 characters out the other end. And, for a given input, you’ll always get the same output.konvert bitcoin обвал bitcoin bitcoin вложения instaforex bitcoin ad bitcoin legal bitcoin bitcoin форум bitcoin клиент график bitcoin bitcoin кошельки фото bitcoin bitcoin 3 bitcoin mmgp
курсы bitcoin работа bitcoin bitcoin qiwi bitcoin freebitcoin bitcoin 100 лото bitcoin roboforex bitcoin bitcoin миллионер ethereum habrahabr bitcoin payeer
bitcoin check bitcoin crash
1080 ethereum bitcoin plus mastercard bitcoin биржи ethereum bitcoin security genesis bitcoin bitcoin atm bitcoin algorithm bitcoin today
chain bitcoin cms bitcoin faucet cryptocurrency wirex bitcoin monero js bitcoin history боты bitcoin bitcoin elena bitcoin портал bitcoin card cranes bitcoin While Bitcoin transactions currently cost around $13, transactions using the Lightning network cost around one Satoshi, equivalent to a fraction of one cent.bitcoin antminer
cryptocurrency dash Ethereum’s current mining process is almost the same as bitcoin’s.bitcoin double инструмент bitcoin bitcoin ваучер 1080 ethereum bitcoin map ethereum контракт usb tether почему bitcoin bitcoin gambling bitcoin easy bitcoin бонусы 22 bitcoin bitcoin daily monero fee bitcoin капча bitcoin сатоши bitcoin kran ethereum github bitcoin gpu проекта ethereum bitcoin maps coindesk bitcoin bitcoin пул
адреса bitcoin cryptocurrency market исходники bitcoin bitcoin кран bonus bitcoin стратегия bitcoin обновление ethereum dat bitcoin bitcoin конвектор ethereum blockchain bitcoin сша bitcoin playstation 500000 bitcoin ethereum кошельки bitcoin icons ethereum википедия
ethereum прогноз 16 bitcoin bitcoin лотерея проекта ethereum solo bitcoin bitcoin торговля casinos bitcoin bitcoin 5 bitcoin перевести bitcoin 50 ico monero bitcoin keywords продажа bitcoin monero ann
yota tether 1 ethereum ethereum бесплатно casino bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin сбор платформа ethereum bitcoin коды почему bitcoin maps bitcoin new cryptocurrency auction bitcoin bitcoin genesis win bitcoin loan bitcoin bitcoin reserve bitcoin халява tether обменник майнер ethereum
ethereum org battle bitcoin 0 bitcoin
bitcoin кредит blocks bitcoin
bitcoin валюты autobot bitcoin bitcoin carding новости bitcoin
Linked-Inemail bitcoin майнить bitcoin market bitcoin
nova bitcoin bitcoin ishlash
bitcoin legal market bitcoin bitcoin торги bitcoin магазины eobot bitcoin bitcoin dark bitcoin презентация bitcoin торги tether пополнение ethereum frontier joker bitcoin
контракты ethereum keystore ethereum ethereum pos sec bitcoin
bitcoin trader 9000 bitcoin bitcoin приложения
настройка monero bitcoin логотип майнить bitcoin ethereum windows transactions bitcoin bitcoin telegram blogspot bitcoin Bitcoin is pseudonymous rather than anonymous in that the cryptocurrency within a wallet is not tied to people, but rather to one or more specific keys (or 'addresses'). Thereby, bitcoin owners are not identifiable, but all transactions are publicly available in the blockchain. Still, cryptocurrency exchanges are often required by law to collect the personal information of their users.bitcoin api bitcoin change blocks bitcoin mining bitcoin explorer ethereum lite bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin login trust bitcoin ethereum вики bitcoin ann ethereum bonus ethereum telegram работа bitcoin bitcoin 4096 bitcoin book bitcoin crypto bitcoin bloomberg uk bitcoin cz bitcoin bitcoin оборот alipay bitcoin bitcoin payza bitcoin protocol
bitcoin fasttech 50 bitcoin jax bitcoin bitcoin income bitcoin youtube ethereum cryptocurrency bitcoin withdrawal asus bitcoin пулы bitcoin bitcoin mmm ферма ethereum
ethereum стоимость ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin payoneer tether addon reddit ethereum bitcoin шахты bitcoin click monero minergate bitcoin транзакция bitcoin express пицца bitcoin