What is the blockchain?

A Blockchain system is a structure for recording information in a way that is impossible to change from it’s initial state.

Blockchain is basically a shared digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across a network of computer systems on the chain. Each block in the chain contains a number of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger.

Key Components of the Blockchain

• Distributed Ledgers : the distributed ledger technology enables the blockchain system to store data that is consensually shared and synchronized across multiple node networks.
• Smart Contracts : smart contracts can be likened to “stored procedures” in relational databases as they a set of rules that can be stored on the blockchain and executed automatically.
• Immutable Records: once data is entered in the blockchain, it is replicated across its network of computer nodes; thus evading the ability to change the form of the data from it’s initial state.

How does Blockchain work

The blockchain basically stores information in two phases:

• Insertion phase: the information to be stored is received and parsed by the smart contract, some meta-data like time created, size of data etc are additionally included and then written to the “Master Node”.
• Replication Phase: all slave nodes connected to the master, receive the new record and individually duplicate it, then the nodes link securely together to prevent any single node from being altered or a block being inserted between two existing nodes.

Benefits of the Blockchain

• Trust: With blockchain, you can be rest assured that you are receiving accurate and timely data, and that your confidential blockchain records will be shared only with network members to whom you have specifically granted access.
• Security: Consensus on data accuracy is required from all network nodes, and all validated transactions are immutable because they are recorded permanently. No one, not even a system administrator, can delete a transaction.
• Performance: the use of sophisticated record keeping techniques like sharding, indexing etc makes the blockchain highly efficient and reliable for scaling systems.

Common Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain platforms are platforms that implement various blockchain protocol with a suite of programming/scripting languages, infrastures and provide a concensus network for validating blocks on the chain. Some of the commonly known and used blockchain platforms in 2022 are:

1. Ethereum
2. Near
3. Avalanche
4. BitCoin
5. Solana
6. Hyperledger Fabric
7. Cardano

Conclusion

In this short article we’ve learnt what “Blockchain” is, we’ve also seen key components of blockchain that makes it different from regular databases, we also listed some popularly used blockchain platforms across the world;

In our next article we will discuss in details what “Smart Contracts” are and how they are implemented on the Blockchain; we kindly implore you to keep an eye on our social media pages for forthcoming articles.

written and published by salem ododa