Download Writing , content writing, essay writing. and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! BLOCKCHAIN Everything is computerized today. Many small companies have computer systems of their own. All is done online even your transactions. Blockchain, bitcoin has a bright future amo ng all the new technologies. In this article will talk about blockchain as well as its elements. What is Blockchain? How does it work? Blockchain in simple words is a collection of blocks. Each containing our personal data and is connected in chronological order. Many people believe that blockchain is like bitcoin, but the reality is blockchain is the underlying technology that enables bitcoin. Another way to describe blockchain is to suppose blockchain is the engine of the car and that car is of bitcoin. Every block in the blockchain contains information it could be about anything, like your transactions, personal data, and the entire system is spread across the computer system, making it decentralized. This decentralized nature makes it difficult to get hacked. Though the data is synchronized and the key element that makes blockchain keep working is trust. Now let's have a closer look at the blockchain. Every block in a blockchain has three sides: 1. Data 2. Hash 3. The hash of the previous block Different kind of data can be stored on blockchain. For instance, the data stored on the bitcoin blockchain would be about the transaction details (Amount, sender and receiver). Next comes the hash. Hash is similar to our fingerprints. Just like our fingerprints, it is also unique. It identifies the block and all of its components. Once, a block is made its hash is also created. Making changes in the block also change its hash. After all, making changes in the block, it no longer remains the same block. On the other hand, hashes are useful in order to determine changes made in the block. The final side of the block is the hash of the previous block. Hash of the previous blocks makes the chain making it secure. Let me explain this through an example. Suppose we have three blocks. Each of the blocks contains hash and the hash of the previous blocks. Hash of the block 1 is the previous hash of the block 2. Block1 does not have any previous hash as it is the first block. Usually, this block is known as the genesis block. Now let’s say you make some changes in the second block. As well as the has of the block also changes. That will make the third and all other blocks inoperative because they don’t contain the logical previous hash. But current computers are much stronger and faster. You can easily tamper any block and can easily calculate hashes of the block to make your chain valid again.