How blockchain works and why it can be a revolution?

"Worldwide spending on blockchain solutions is expected to grow from 1.5 billion in 2018 to an estimated 15.9 billion by 2023"

A blockchain is a specific type of  distributed ledger, just as a square is a specific type of rectangle i.e. not all distributed ledger shows properties as blockchain

• Media - TaTaTu, a social platform is using blockchain technology to reward its audience. It uses what it calls TTU tokens to pay those who watch movies, play games, listen to music, and later can be exchanged with cash. A feature film, “the social freedom” is being recently financed by TaTaTu.

• Supply chain – Due to its immutable ledger, organizations can keep track of records and have clear visibility of data and inventory too. Syncron, an after-sales solutions company in one of its orange paper, actually shows how it can happen.

• Trading – Tradelens, a joint initiative of IBM and Maersk creates a global trade platform to improve visibility, reduce cost, and vigorous paperwork.

• Insurance- Smart-contract, one of Blockchain’s applications became a blessing for the insurers and the customers. These contracts allow them to manage claims in a secure and transparent manner.

These diverse applications also indicate the potential of Blockchain and give us a reason why we should have knowledge about blockchain.

• Blockchain is not a programming language

• It's, not a Bitcoin. It is the cryptocurrency used for payments while blockchain is the                      primary technology used for it.

• Blockchain is not a product. It’s a network of nodes that can grow continuously.

• It's "thought" that there is only 1 blockchain. But No, there are three categories of                   Blockchain- Public Blockchain, Private Blockchain, and Consortium Blockchain

So, Blockchain is wholely a new technology which uses a distributed ledger, shared across a peer to peer computing network called as nodes. Every piece of information is mathematically encrypted and added as a new “Block” to the chain of historical records. Various Consensus Mechanisms are used to validate a new block with other participants before it can be added to the chain. This prevents malicious actions without requiring a central authority.

How blockchain actually works?

Here we are considering Bitcoin as an exchange medium for ease of understanding

The public key is what the seller owns, while the private key is owned by the buyer. This process of using two keys is called public-key cryptography. While some nodes are busy in mining the block, others are busy verifying the data. So, for the art piece you want to buy online, the network verifies two pieces of data

• The amount of bitcoin entered in the transaction

• Whether it was you who send the bitcoins.

When the miner mines the block they have to consider the fact that, each block has to include the hash of the previous block of transaction. Hash is like a fingerprint for a block. It identifies the block and is

 always unique. The software which the miners uses to create a block attaches the resulting Block hash to a random number called the nonce. The resulting block hash is a complex number with a certain number of zeros in front of it. It takes about 10 minutes to figure out what nonce goes with the correct number of zeros. Once this is figured out it, the miners send proof of work to the network and with help of consensus mechanism block is generated.

Why it can be a revolution? Consider The structure of the world and society we live in. Today who controls the internet controls the world. The Internet is a decentralized structure consisting of several nodes. By controlling some of these nodes, you can control the whole country or region, as it happened with, Facebook or telegram. Controlling the right nodes can help manipulate the data, even retrieving, and creating fake data. According to Economic times, about 92% of the world’s currency is digital which is created by private and commercial banks. Moreover, today online and social portals are being widely used for promoting political agenda no matter what country you live in. The fact is, those small number of privileged and powerful people control the world, where the internet plays a vital role. But Blockchain because of its properties can change the scenario.