Blockchain Technology is the Most Significant Invention since the Internet and Electricity
“If you want to know what’s going to happen in five years, you don’t look in the mainstream. You look at the fringe.”
— Steve Jobs
Blockchain technology is one of the most fundamental and revolutionizing invention. Claimed to be as significant to the internet or electricity. Unfortunately, few have heard of the tech but massive social media coverage is helping.
Blockchain is one of the most promising new technologies for the future. It’s a distributed ledger technology that underlies bitcoin. Providing a new way to record and transfer data. Even more notable is the transparent, and safe data, that is auditable, and resistant to outages.
Blockchain gives the power to individuals working together. The ability to make organizations more transparent, democratic, decentralized, efficient, and secure and are all promises of the tech.
Topics included in this article are:
• How does Blockchain and Bitcoin technology work?
• Blockchain’s Interference with Banking and Payments
• Blockchain can create a secure decentralized network for IoT Devices
• Blockchain will change how we ride and transport goods in the world
• Blockchain is Redefining Data Storage
• Blockchain can enable accurate Voting Systems
• Blockchain has the potential to make our Governments Truly Democratic
How does Blockchain and Bitcoin technology work?
Here’s how Blockchain works. Similar processes run when completing a bitcoin transaction.
Process 1 — Transaction
Two parties, A and B, want to exchange a unit of value (cryptocurrency or digital representation of some other asset like a title, birth certificate, degree etc) and initiate the transaction.
Process 2 — Block
The transaction is packaged with other pending transactions thereby creating a “block.” The Block is sent to the blockchain system’s network of participating computers.
Process 3 — Verification
The participating computers (called “miners” in the Bitcoin blockchain) evaluatethe transactions and through mathematical calculations determine whether they are valid, based on agreed-upon rules. When “consensus” has been achieved, typically among the 51% of participating computer, the transactions are considered verified.
Process 4 — Hash
Each verified block of transactions is time-stamped with a cryptographic hash. Each block also contains a reference to the previous block’s hash, thus creating a “chain” of records that cannot be falsified except by convincing participating computers that the tampered data in one block and in all prior blocks ever created is true. Such a feat is considered impossible.
Process 5 — Execution
The unit of value moves from the account of party A to the account of party B.
This is principally how most Blockchain based technologies work.
Blockchain’s Interference with Banking and Payments
Blockchain will do Banking what the Internet did to Media
Blockchain technologies can be used to provide financial services to billions of people around the world in 3rd world countries who don’t have access to these financial services.
Bitcoin allows anyone to send money to anyone in any country almost instantly and with very low fees.
Blockchain can create a secure decentralized network for IoT Devices
Samsung and IBM want to create a decentralized network of IoT devices using the blockchain. Operating like a public ledger for a large amount of devices it would eliminate the need for a central location to handle communications for IoT devices.
Devices could communicate directly to update software, manage bugs, and monitor energy uses.
· Builds trust between parties and devices.
· Reduces risk of collusion and tampering.
· Cuts costs by removing overhead associated with intermediaries.
· Shortens settlement time from days to near instantaneous.
Blockchain will change how we ride and transport goods in the world
Blockchain can be used to create decentralized peer-to-peer ride sharing apps allowing both car owners and users to arrange terms and conditions in a secure way without 3rd party providers.
The use of built in e-wallets will allow car owners to automatically pay for parking, tolls, electricity, fuel etc.
Blockchain is Redefining Data Storage
Data on a centralized server is inherently vulnerable to hacking, data loss from outages, and human error. Using Blockchain technology allows cloud storage to be more secure and robust against attacks.
Storj.io is a Blockchain startup focused on creating private and encrypted online storage all based on Blockchain technology.
Blockchain can enable accurate Voting Systems
Political elections are almost always corrupt. America’s 2016 election was not the first time both parties accused each other of rigging the election results.
Blockchain can be used for voter registration, identity verification, electronic vote counting to make sure all votes are legitimate.
Creating an immutable, publicly-viewable ledger of recorded votes would be a massive step in helping elections more fair and democratic.
Blockchain has the potential to make our Governments Truly Democratic
Government systems are often slow, opaque, and prone to corruption. Implementing Blockchain systems can greatly reduce bureaucracy, and increase security, efficiency, and transparency of government operations.
Perhaps one of the most important things about bitcoin is it’s ability to stop war in the way we know it today. Today we live in a world with governments that completely control their fiat currency and choose to print as much of it as they want at any time.
Governments then use that money to build all sorts of tanks, bombs, airplanes to murder people all over the world. If you think about it, that’s what war is. It’s a group of people who go murder other people who they’ve never met and don’t know anything abut because another group of strangers in Washing DC told them to do it.
This is all being paid for by printing money. However, with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies there’s a limited supply, that sort of things can’t happen in the world if everyone is using bitcoin. Blockchain based currencies will prevent governments from being able to print money at will and then use that to buy guns to murder people around the world.
Conclusion
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I hope you learned something new from this article. If you would like to see more please leave a comment below or hit me up on social media!
