What is Blockchain?

Blockchain seems complicated and can be, but its core concept is quite simple. A blockchain is a type of database. To be able to understand blockchain helps first to understand what a database is.

A database is a collection of information stored electronically on a computer system. In databases, information, or data, is typically structured in table format to allow for easier searching and filtering for specific details. What is the difference between someone using a spreadsheet to store information rather than a database?

Spreadsheets are designed for one person or a small group to store and access limited amounts of information. In contrast, a database is intended to house significantly more significant pieces of information that can be accessed, filtered, and manipulated quickly and easily by any number of users at once.

Large databases achieve this by housing data on servers that are made of powerful computers. These servers can sometimes be built using hundreds or thousands of computers to have the computational power and storage capacity necessary for many users to access the database simultaneously. While a spreadsheet or database may be accessible to any number of people, it is often owned by a business and managed by an appointed individual who has complete control over how it works and its data.

Introduction to Blockchain(History)

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited. Blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta, two researchers who wanted to implement a system where document timestamps could not be tampered with.

Blockchain had the potential to grow to be a bedrock of the worldwide record-keeping systems but was launched just ten years ago. It was created by the unknown persons behind the online cash currency bitcoin, under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto.