What is Blockchain? My views at first readings …

What is "blockchain" recent buzz word actually? Well, seems nobody able to presented the exact definition on, as the technology relatively new and untapped for other huge potencies. However we can provide analogies close to daily familiar things in order to describe the blockchain. Some says it's a database ledger of transactions, supply chain information of commodities and services, digital assets, personal identify information etc, etc, which processed in more decentralised architecture and open platform nature. Mmm, it stills confusing huh?

Imagine this, the medicines you took to reduce the pain and illness. How sure you are about its origin and composition? It must be come from some where, and contains some ingredient and raw material. All of the stages of it's making process and distribution up to end user are produce the data series. Expand this and multiply it at the global scale and within certain range of time, you will have a huge data, including the risk of inaccuracy as well. Nah, the blockchain will be dealing with these; validating, restructuring, processing and keeping these huge data in quickly, securely, sort of. To do those thing, blockchain was packaging the data in blocks and distribute the work load to computers called "nodes" linked with the platform. All blocks of data linked together by hash (identifier) of previous block, keep in untampered ways so to said create the immutable records.

Inside the blockchain, image credit

Blockchain technologies are expected to be applied for another things and subjects. Open possibilities for blockchain application? To name a few; the bank transactions, nation-state budget and spendings, and even on election vote counting. Blockchain also may applied for keeping the medical records, E-notary, collecting taxes, smart contracts, insurance clams process, postal and payment delivery, etc. Its bold statement actually, however make sense considering the earliest level of its development currently.

Video courtesy of Youtube

In short, we can describe the blockchain technology with these principles below:

First, decentralised infrastructure. Imagine the similarities and differences between Brittanica Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia. Both are collecting information and presented information gathered and presented in index, but the difference is Brittanica do it through a central institution where all input from contributors are analyse, edited and published. While on the otherwise, wikipedia let all contributors to add, editing and re-check the others accuracy of works.

Blockchain is about decentralise everything and removes the need for a central authority to manage data or values transactions. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralised version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.

Image credit of blockgeeks.com

Second, lowering the uncertainty. Blockchain is deliberately working under the assumption and circumstance of no-trust to everyone work on data works of entry, verification, and finalising it. Consider this uncertainty of the data exchange among institution and people, blockchain function to lower the uncertainty of data transaction in case of not knowing who dealing with and even have no records if things go wrong. Create shares reality across non thrusting entity.

The security of blockchain derived from the thousands computers working together to update the data. Every 10 minutes the blockchain get updated, create a new block of transaction, where all computers called the miners competing to resolved the block in mathematical problem. The correct answer of those "problem" validate through consensus among computers, and only added to the block after more than 50% agreed.

Third, transparency at the highest level. Blockchain technology provides a high level of privacy by ensuring that transaction details are shared only amongst the participants involved in those transactions. In addition, they also provided a high level of transparency. Since everyone participated were allowed to be viewing, tracking the data series exchange, and contribute to correcting, including validation, monitor, authentication and auditing the data. Of course, it exist at computers information data level that so fast and unseeing by human eyes.

In more technical terms, said that blockchain systems include a fully audit-able and valid ledger of transactions. This ledger is indelible and unforgeable. Entries into the ledger can only be made if they are validated by the system. And in order to change it, every single other blockchain in the system would also need to be changed. For this reason it’s impossible to delete a blockchain transaction in an attempt to hide it and fraudulent transactions cannot be added

…

So, what do you think guys? Am i correct on this? Hope you have inputs and questions in comment section below … 😊

Thank you,

Aceh — January 22, 2018

Video courtesy of youtube