The other day, I was travelling back in the local bus, and there was a group of people seated behid me, who were talking vehemently about crypto, NFTs, and Blockchain. The last word obviously struck a chord because a couple of years ago, when we saw that insane crytpo and NFT craze, the word on everyone’s lips was, you guessed it – Blockchain. There were many who tried to explain the idea in simple terms, but somehow, it never really made complete sense to the masses. Days passed, and the craze died out.

The world moved on to AI and chatbots, but as it now turns out, the blockchain conundrum still remains unsolved, and I am going to try and demystify this concept for you all in this blog post.

What exactly is Blockchain?

Let’s cut right to the chase here. A blockchain, in the most basic terms is a digital ledger. For those of you who may not know, a ledger is basically a record of all your transactions. In this case, the digital ledger, or should I call it now, a blockchain, is a way to keep record of all transactions in such a way that it is secure and transparent. Each block in this blockchain, holds a certain number of transaction records, and once it runs out of storage, it is sealed off and linked to the previous block in this chain, and so, a blockchain is formed.

This blockchain is managed by a network of computers, also known as nodes. These nodes work together to ensure that the information is accurate and tamper proof. The idea is simple, once the block is filled and sealed off, there is no way for annyone to make any changes, even via backdoor methods. Pretty cool, and frankly, one of the big reasons why crypto transactions are looked at from various perspectives.

 

 

How does a Blockchain work?

Ok, to explain this, let me take a real life example – Imagine you and your friends are maintaining a shared journal. When someone uploads something to the journal, everyone gets a copy of it. However, after some time, if the journal entry needs to be changed in any way, it can only be done with the unanimous agreement of everyone of your friends who are co-contributors of the journal.

Now, let’s apply this logic to the blockchain conversation. The ledger is decentralized, which means that no single person of organnisation is in control of it. Rather, it works on the collective trust between the network, that keeps the information secure. To take things even further, blockchain technology makes use of cryptography in order to keep each block secure.

Each block in the blockchain has its own unique hash, and it is so sensitive that a single change to a single value inside the block triggers a change in the hash value of the block, alerting the network of a potential attempt of breach.

Too much to take in? Well, have you ever sent a message on your family Whatsapp group and then either deleted it or edited it? Everyone gets alerted and is on your case to find out what you deleted or edited, right? Well, it’s kind of the same thing in case of the blockchain.

 

 

Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

Now that you know what a blockchain is, and how it works, let’s talk a bit about cryptocurrencies. The whole blockchian idea blew up due to the arrival of the Bitcoin and Ethereum. These two names are probably the biggest in the world of cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin being the more transactional of the two, hovering at around $95,000 at the time of writing. Ethereum, on the other hand, is more versatile, being used for transactions, and also as a platforms for developers to build decentralised apps (dApps) using smart contracts.

What is common between the two currencies is that both work on the blockchain technology, and if the past couple of years are any evidence, they have both demonstrated that blockchain technology can be revolutionary for supply chain, healthcare, and even voting systems.

 

 

Real-World applications of Blockchain technology

Supply Chain Transperancy

These days, we see compaies make big claims about their products, especially in the consumer goods market. For example, we have companies claiming that their coffee powder is made out of hand selected, home-grown, and highest grade, coffee beans. However, as things stand today, there is no way for the consumer to know if these claims are even true or not.

But, if blockchain technology was introduced in this industry, consumers could track every step of the process, from the sourcing of coffee beans to the final delivery to your doorstep. This way, the consumer will be in the know, and if something is not up to the standard, steps can be take immediately,

Healthcare

Blockchain technology could be used to maintain a secure ledger of patient data that can be securely shared with doctors anywhere in the world. The tamper proof nature of blockchain will ensure that the records are safe, and safe from notorious elements.

Could this revolutionise timely treatment of emergency cases? Perhaps.

Voting Systems

One of the most required use-cases of blockchains today, is voting systems. How often do we see the losing party complain about the vote count being tampered with? Almost every day!!

However, if we were to use blockchain technology, vote counting could become more transperant, accurate, and ensure that the final judgement of the public is exactly how it should be, no mischief.

Current status of Blockchain

Blockchain technology may not be the most used buzzword today, but it is becoming of the most adopted technologies around the world. Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies that are based on real world currencies, are being worked on and even employed in many parts of the world. Major banks and banking service providers are using blockchain technology to further secure and speed up transactions.

Many coutries are even mulling the roll out of a fully digital currency built on blockchain technology (Some are doing pilot roll outs as we speak). Other industries are also actively looking at Blockchain, and how it could help optimise their services or processes.

The day is not far, when we see blockchain becoming the backbone of the industry and make everything that much safer and quicker.