What is a Blockchain?
A blockchain (a literal chain of blocks) is a peer-to-peer network which is looking to build and maintain a sequence of information bundles. For the information to be added to the sequence, it has to be verified first by decentralized nodes. The main goal of the blockchain is to give individuals back control of their own data, in contrast to private companies taking advantage of that. The power of the network comes from its decentralization, high availability and itsresistance, given multiple nodes are part of the network.
Every blockchain uses cryptography concepts, such as asymmetric cryptography and hash functions, to establish, support and maintain properties like data integrity and anonymity. Theoretical blockchains go back to the early 90's, when multiple different projects were aiming to create fully digitized, decentralized and securitized payment systems 1 . Most of them never had the chance to see the light of day, and those which did were unsuccessful.
However, in January 2009, the first public blockchain was released - the Bitcoin blockchain. It was created by a person/group of people that signed as Satoshi Nakamoto. More to come on this later. What is important to point out though is that, although, limited in functionality, Bitcoin worked as a proof-of-concept for more complex blockchains. The peer-to-peer payment system pioneered by Bitcoin allowed forward thinkers to extend the concept to incorporate applications like crowdfunding, domain registration, prediction markets, voting, etc. Having an individual blockchain for each every project isn't desirable, nor scalable. One of the most ambitious projects so far, Ethereum, is a blockchain that works as a framework for developing and sharing any kind of application by writing code in its quasi Turing-complete programming language, Solidity. Blockchains had to start by doing one thing (and doing it well).
Consider the following list of concepts one has to familiarize themselves with to develop and release a blockchain:
Data structures: linked lists, hash maps and graphs (merkle trees)
Cryptography: asymmetric (public-key) cryptography, hash functions
Distributed systems: consensus, consistency and sharding
Networking: peer-to-peer protocols, the packet model, routing
Economy: game theory, macroeconomics Another proof of the worthiness and capabilities of this technology comes from Estonia: the small european country started managing its registers, such as national health, judicial, security and commercial code systems on their own blockchain. The system has been live since 2012 and their initiative is only moving forward.
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