User:Dterragni/blockchain technology

This blog is a simple explanation for my IT class…

Being in the 21st century, you need a system where records can be stored, facts can be verified by anyone, and security is guaranteed that way no one can cheat the system by editing records because everyone using the system will be watching. Systems like this are on the horizon and the software that powers them is called a blockchain.

Blockchains store information across a network of personal computers making them not just decentralized but distributed. This means no central company or person owns the system, yet everyone can use it and help run it. This is important because it means it’s difficult for any one person to take down the network or corrupt it. The people who run the system use their computer to hold bundles of records submitted by others, known as blocks, in a chronological chain. the blockchain uses a form of math, called cryptography, to ensure that records can’t be counterfeited or changed by anyone else.

You’ve probably heard of the blockchain’s first major success, a form of digital cash, called bitcoin, that you can send to anyone, even a complete stranger. Bitcoin is different than credit cards, pay pal, or other ways to send money because there isn’t a bank or financial middle man involved. Instead, people from all over the world help move the digital money by validating other’s bitcoin transactions with their personal computers, earning a small fee in the process. Bitcoin uses the blockchain by tracking records of ownership over this digital cash so only one person can be the owner at a time and the cash can’t be spent twice like counterfeit money in the physical world can.

But, bitcoin is just the beginning for blockchains. In the future, blockchains that manage and verify online data can enable us to launch companies that are entirely run by algorithms, making self-driving cars safer, help protect our online identities, and even track the billions of devices on the Internet of things. These innovations will change our lives forever and it’s all just beginning.