The blockchain, or blockchain, is a public registry where all transactions ever made on something specific are shared, thus preventing counterfeiting.
Operations are recorded on the computers of all those participating in the chain, including data such as quantity, date, operation and participants. Once shared and registered online, they cannot be deleted. Thus, a faithful and verifiable record of all transactions that have been made in history, on that subject, which are also registered with cryptographic keys.
The blockchain as a public record
To be able to counterfeit a transaction, it would not be enough to change one or more computers. Being a public registry there can be millions of copies and the records of all the computers that keep a copy, something completely unfeasible, should be changed, being an open and public base.
That is why the blockchain or blockchain has become a fundamental piece for virtual currencies, such as bitcoin .
However, the Blockchain allows you to save any type of document, as we will see below. Thanks to the concept of distributed consensus, an unchanged record of past events is carried out. Its function is similar to that of the accounting ledger , but in the case of the blockchain it is responsible for recording digital events and that can be shared between many different parties . You could say that its operation is like a database, however the way of interacting is different.
Blockchain operation – blockchain
Normally data records have always been centralized or decentralized. A centralized database is in a single fixed site, such as a property registry. If you want to know who owns a home, you go to the registry of your city and find it. The decentralized database would be, for example, the municipal libraries, where you can find a copy of Don Quijote in all of them and read it. The distributed database goes further in the concept of databases:
- Each operation performed on this system generates a new block of data. Blockchain information is stored in a decentralized manner. That is, no public entity has ownership of the information. Since that information is derived to different servers from multiple computers. In addition, anyone can keep this information on the server and can be financially rewarded, according to their contribution to the network, this process is called mining, through this process all the information is verified.
- Use strong security, decreasing the chances of being hacked. In addition, the transactions that are made are irreversible since once the information is recorded it is also copied to other servers, it being impossible to delete a block of data, in addition everything is recorded in a history.
- All information that is stored in the system is public. However, only the person making the transaction will be able to discover all the information inherent in the transaction.
Other sectors that the blockchain can help
Although the blockchain was popularly known for its use in digital currencies, it is a system that can exchange all kinds of properties, such as:
- Electronic voting system:Governments could modify the current procedure and facilitate a voting system through block chains that avoid manipulation and censorship
- Cloud storage:The blockchain could eliminate the supervision of a provider (such as Dropbox or Google Drive), which responds for the data you save, but everyone will knowhow much and where you have it stored.
- Public records:In a much faster way and without bureaucracy, data such as patents and property records could be publicly registered.
- Elimination of intermediaries:Like eliminating supervisors in the cloud, all types of intermediaries could be eliminated. For example, if we want to rent a house for summer vacations, with this new technology, the presence of a traditional financial intermediary (bank) that charges a commission will not be necessary, since through a Blockchain system, both the lessor As the lessee will have all the information visible, it will serve as proof of identity without the need to resort to external managers (banks) that act as intermediaries.
