Blockchain is the driving force for the new evolution of the internet. Blockchain technology is not changing the whole internet world at a disruptive level. Discussions on the level of disruption reminds me of the critics on the new medium of the past times “television”.. The idea that every new technology creates a new world, a new society, a new phase of history, critisizing television as a new technology for mass communication was said to altered the world during the 70’s. Now that Blockchain has come as a new technology, we will continue using the internet as well as our personel computers, mobile devices, social media platforms etc. What changes through Blockchain is the data structures that are at the background of the internet as well as the techniques used to keep and manage information. We use the information that is managed by single individuals, who run their own servers. Blockchain is the long-awaited user-centric web, where individuals have complete ownership of their own data, identity and digital assets. All in all, it is a revolutionary and liberated system, which makes everyone inside the business as equal as one another.
Now, let me discuss how this revolutionary technology works and what are the processes involved. Blockchain brings with itself the transparency of the data. This is exactly what is exciting about Blockchain; it is an actual managing tool and a chain of blocks that are all connected to one another. Every single block contains a certain operation information, and the next block contains the information about the previous one’s time and operation information along with its own, in a encrypted way. This is called “Cryptography”, which is a powerful encryption tool. Through this way, every block is connected to the other according to the time ranking. New blocks (or transfers) are checked by the all computers or nodes which are in the consensus mechanism. Furthermore, the information that is found in one block cannot be changed, because the information is also included in every block that comes after itself. In case of any change, as the block array is recorded by every computer in the system, only the damaged chain is going to be removed from the system and the system will continue to function. The computer, which contains the proof of blockchain blocks, also checks and verifies the newly created blocks. This system is a transparent, decentralized and unchangeable technology. Once the mechanism is created and run, it can track information easily, provide with reliability and security of information, as well as a medium of data and value/money that is between two persons without the intervention of third persons. It provides a decentralized governance and trust with its incorruptable and smart contracts, as well as cryptographic mathematics. Thus, it can be used in any technology infrastructure that needs these features.
The Blockchain technology is the infrastructure of the new internet era, which makes it inevitable that it is starting to get the attention of the entrepreneurs. There are a lot to do regarding this new technology, because the scope of application is so broad. Some usage areas are digital media platform, music applications, voting, law and intellectual property rights. One of the most popular area of application is the payment systems, which really excites me to talk about because the subject is related to crypto currency. Most of the people think that bitcoin and blockchain are completely different concepts, which is not as accurate as it seems. If you are working on blockchain, you have to understand the industry of bitcoin. The most basic and important idea about bitcoin is that what we call “coin” is not the money itself, but a crypto currency, which is completely detached from bank or finance industry. That is why this technology was preferred, when manufacturing data or producing money, which was supposed to be free from a centralized authority. As a result, a brand new value was created, because the system provided a medium, through which interpersonal and cross-border transactions are made. Moreover, bitcoin spends electricity and needs hashing power which will induce computing science to be improved such as, AI or Machine Learning. Thus, bitcoin mining machines give us to get more Hashing-Power.
Bitcoin is the platform, which enabled the blockchain concept to enter into our world. Initially, blockchain came up in the article of Satoshi Nakamoto in November 2008 and it was put into action in 2009. Bitcoin peer-to-peer has been able to send money from one person to another without the need for a mediator institution, which made it compatible and a successful alternative to traditional financial system. The users are able to send money to one another through creating and making use of digital wallets. Even though the blockchain technology was working slowly and taking a lot of time in the beginning, now, it is possible to send money in just a few seconds with ‘Proof of Stake’ consensus mechanism. The technology processes through the recording of all the blockchain blocks’ transactions by all the computers involved in the system. Thus, a currency/money cannot be used by the same person again in a different place or transaction when the person used once.