Blockchain: The Foundation of Bitcoin

Blockchain Bitcoin

 

Blockchain technology was invented for the virtual currency Bitcoin. But actually, their possibilities extend far beyond this application. Hardly any newer technology is currently experiencing greater hype. Aside from revolutionizing personal finance by making budgeting from traditional money to digital money, it could become an important tool for industry, banks, and insurance companies and radically change some sectors. Why is this so, and how does it actually work? Here are the answers to the most important questions.

What is a blockchain now?

In principle, one can imagine the “chain of blocks” as a digital database in which all transactions are meticulously and forgery-proof documented. In the case of the digital currency Bitcoin, it would not be a database, but a cash book. With one important difference: Unlike in the past, the information is no longer stored on a central system, but on many computers at the same time.

Technically, the blockchain is a decentralized database. Anyone can download them from the Internet, everyone can view the entire transaction history, i.e. read the complete cash book. The advantage: The blockchain updates itself automatically. All computers are connected to each other and always download the latest version of the database. Rewriting entries afterward is practically impossible. This would require an almost infinitely large computing power, which, however, no blockchain participant has.

Where does the name come from?

The transactions are always combined into blocks. These, in turn, are virtually linked to each other. A block can contain data from many transactions, such as account information, sums to be transferred, or contracts. From this, an algorithm then calculates a number, called hash in jargon.

From this hash, a kind of fingerprint of the data, you cannot reconstruct the original data, but it is easy to determine when a new transaction changes the original database. Since the hash value of the predecessor block is always included in the data of the next block, this results in a chain, i.e. a blockchain. If a certain amount of data is reached, the block is completed.

 

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What makes the blockchain so secure?

Recalculating all hash values from a block would be quite time-consuming, but not impossible. That’s why the inventors of the blockchain have built-in yet another hurdle. If you want to calculate a new block, you have to fulfill a task. In jargon, it is called proof of work.

The task is that the hash value formed from data from the block must meet a condition. It could be that the first five digits of the hash value must be 0. However, since the algorithm used to form the hash value from the data of a block is immutable, a value must be added to the data of the block.

This value, in combination with the data of the block, must result in the hash value with the required condition. Finding the value that needs to be added is extremely time-consuming and can only be done in a reasonable time with special computers. This process is called mining, in German: mining. The miners receive remuneration for their work, usually in the form of virtual coins. Whenever a miner has found the right number, a block is completed.

What are cryptocurrencies?

The name of the new money is derived from the word cryptography. This refers to a branch of computer science that deals with encryption techniques. These take over the job that central banks actually do: they control the money supply. In the case of Bitcoin, for example, it is precisely stipulated that there must be no more than 21 million coins.

Blockchain technology, in turn, is essential for the spread of cyber money. It records who owns which digital coins. This is the only way to prevent digital money from being spent twice. On the other hand, the supply of cryptocurrencies is almost unlimited. There are already more than 1400 different digital currencies worldwide. And as long as the hype is running, there are likely to be even more.

Understanding How Blockchain Technology Makes the Use of Virtual Money Possible

Blockchain technology is a method that makes it possible for Internet users, to send and/or receive money without need to use a third party infrastructure. Using a specific blockchain application and by way of cryptography, money remains confidential and virtual for as long as transfers are made and recorded in the open ledger of a blockchain platform.

 

 

The blockchain platform supplies the “private key” or the verification code needed by each transacting party, either as a cryptocurrency sender or recipient. Without a private key, the cryptocurrency cannot be transferred or recorded in the blockchain ledger. The inclusion of a private key encryption therefore, renders the cryptocurrency transaction valid.

Correlated to the “private key” is the “public key,” the latter being the open cryptographic message generated by the blockchain application to identify every cryptocurrency transactions recorded in its blockchain ledger. A blockchain cryptograph entry therefore represents the public key and a valid private key.

How the Blockchain Platform Records and Links All Related Cryptocurrency Data

The blockchain ledger is open as it allows verification of transactions as they occur.

A specific blockchain recording, starts by linking the origin of the cryptocurrency in use. The original cryptocurrency transaction may be related to the purchase of the virtual money for a specific value using actual cash. The virtual money may have originated from a cryptocurrency exchange platform or cryptocurrency wallet provider.

Another origin of a specific cryptocurrency is when a miner earns it by solving all transactions connected in a particular blockchain ledger.

In both cases, a public key to identify the original transaction is generated, while the procurer or miner receiving the cryptocurrency will obtain a “private key.” If a portion or all of the original cryptocurrency received will be sent to another blockchain platform user, the private key encryption of the new owner will be recorded in the blockchain ledger.

The new recipient will likewise receive his or her own “private key,” as it gives the recipient valid authority to use the cryptocurrency for his or her own blockchain transaction.

In every blockchain transaction, the public key identifying the cryptocurrency transaction must come with a corresponding “private key,” to allow confirmation that the transaction is connected to a particular series of blockchain entries.

A cryptocurrency may be in bitcoin denomination or any other type, classified as alternative coins to the widely used bitcoin. Some examples of alternative coins or altcoins are Ethereum,Litecoin, Ripple, Dash and Cardano.

How to Convert Cryptocurrency into Actual Cash?

Still using cryptography, virtual money or cryptocurrency can be converted back into actual cash through a cryptocurrency exchange platform. The platform may be one that belongs to a third party cryptocurrency broker or a peer-peer network of cryptocurrency users.

The commutation of virtual currency into actual cash will again be recorded as a related part of the series of blockchain transactions; tying it up to the initial blockchain entry identifying the method of how the cryptocurrency was obtained. Once the public key and the private key has been verified through the blockchain platform, actual exchange of cryptocurrency into cash will be allowed to take place.