Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S11W5 -: Steem blockchain age
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Hello Steemians! Welcome to my engagement post for the crypto academy community, I can only hope you learn a thing two from it as the topic of discussion today is the Steem blockchain age. Do you want to know how old is the Steem Blockchain? Then, don't miss it for anything.
What is the Genesis block in blockchain? Explain its meaning. Show a screenshot of the Genesis block of the Steem blockchain. |
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From the literal meaning of the word "Genesis", being the creation, origin, or coming into being of something, one can deduce what Genesis block in a blockchain is all about. But then, what is a block in blockchain? Is it the building blocks we know or something else?
Block in blockchain terminology is a place or receptacle where information and data such as transactions are stored. It is called a Blockchain because more than one block is fused to form a chain storage of transactions.
Hence, Genesis Block is considered the first block in a blockchain. Genesis block, also known as Block 0 is considered the foundation block of every blockchain, as it has no predecessor block attached to it.
Step 1: Log onto Steemworld.org
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Step 2: Click on Block Explorer on the homepage as shown below.
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Step 3: A dialogue box appears, input the number 1 and click okay. This means you want access to the first block on the chain which is the Genesis block.
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Step 4: The next window displays the information of the Genesis block, such as timestamp (colour Red), Block ID (color Yellow), Witness (color Green) etc as seen below:
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What is the last block produced? Determine the total time of the Steem blockchain, using the production date of the Genesis block and the production date of the last block. |
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As of the time of writing this post, the latest Head block is 77477650 produced at the timestamp of 2023-08-22: 12:00:00 as shown in the image below.
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I did try the last block produced multiplied by 3 seconds method, below is what I got. But not very accurate to me, compared to the blockchain facts.
Here, A = 77477650 × 3 = 232,432,950 seconds
= 232,432,950 ÷ 60sec. = 3,873,882.5 minutes
= 3,873,882.5 ÷ 60min = 64,564.7083 hours
= 64,564.7083 ÷ 24hrs = 2,690.19618 days.
= 2,690.19618 ÷ 365days = 7.37040049 ~ 7.4 years.
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However, since we have the timestamp of the latest head block, and that of the genesis block from the image above while exploring the Genesis block as 2016-03-24, 16:05:00.
We can still determine the exact total time (or age) of the Steem Blockchain using the formula below.
Where;
A = Age or Total time of Blockchain,
Tⁿ= Timestamp of the latest or Head block
T¹ = Timestamp of the Genesis Block
Overall, the Total time or Age of the Steem Blockchain will be from the timestamp of the Genesis block to the timestamp of my reference block.
Hence, below is a tabular form, showing the numbers and calculations.
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Hint:
• 2016, the year Genesis block was formed is a Leap year, hence it's having 366 days. However, the Genesis block was formed on the 24th day of March, hence;
| The year 2016 = 366 - [ ( past days of Jan.) + (past days of Feb.) + (past days of March) + (16hrs, 5min) ] |
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Therefore, 2016 = 366 - (31)+(29)+(24) + (16hrs, 5min). Where; 16hrs, 5min = 0.67 days.
From; (16h x 60 + 5min) ÷ (24 × 60 )
= (960min + 5min) ÷ (1440min)
= 0.67days
Since 60 minutes make 1 hr.
Hence, 2016 = 366 - (31 + 29 + 24 + 0.67)
= 366 - 84.67
= 281.33 days
• The years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 all have completed 365 days while 2020 being a leap year has 366 days, all these years were fully completed.
• The year 2023, the year of my reference block is yet to be completed and it's not a leap year but the timestamp reads 2023-08-22; 12:00. Therefore;
| The year 2023 = (past days of Jan.) + (past days of Feb.) + (past days of Mar.) + (past days Apr.) + (past days of May) + (past days of June) + (past days of July) + (past days of Aug.) + 12hrs |
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Therefore, 2023 = 31 + 28 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 22 + 12hrs
Where; 12hrs = 0.5days; since 12/24 = 0.5
Hence, 2023 = 31 + 28 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 30 + 31 + 22 + 0.5 = 234.5 days
Therefore, the Total time or Age of Steem Blockchain is;
In Days = 2,706.83 Days
In Hours = 2,706.83 x 24hrs = 64,963.92 hours
In Minutes = 2,706.83 x 24hrs x 60min = 3,897,835.2 minutes
In Seconds = 2,706.83 x 24hrs x 60min x 60sec = 233,870,112 seconds
In Years = 2,706.83 = 7.42 years
This seems much more accurate when compared to the Blockchain facts by Justyyuk.
Explain the downtime of a blockchain - why can it occur? |
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The downtime of a blockchain is seen as the period in which the blockchain was faulty, down, malfunctioning, out of use, or not responding correctly. When this occurs, users alike can not carry out any activity such as assessing our digital assets or any other transactions on the blockchain as it is not responding. This occurs due to several reasons such as;
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Cyber Attacks: This is one of the main reasons for a down this involves attacks by hackers, and when this happens, users will experience downtime.
Network Congestion: when transactions are carried out in huge amounts, that is a high number of users are sending their transactions at the same time in a blockchain, it can cause an overload on the network, which would ultimately slow the network down.
System Upgrading: Aside from network failures and hackers might, users of a blockchain can experience downtime when an upgrade is being implemented on the network.
Power Deficiency: One other major cause of downtime is a deficiency of power. Blockchain network nodes run on a constant power supply, hence if there is any power shortage in any node, it affects the general functionality of the network.
System Maintenance: Like every other networking system, the blockchain is believed to be under maintenance from time to time, this may also lead to downtime as the maintenance process is going on.
Hardware Failure: Last, but not least is Hardware failure. When hardware on a blockchain ceases to function, it would lead to downtime in the blockchain.
Has the Steem blockchain experienced downtime? If it has presented downtime, explain, mentioning the cases. |
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The Steem Blockchain, I believe has distinct efforts put in place to prevent downtime, however, certain measures get outdated and need upgrading knowing it's not always going to be effective 100%. The Steem blockchain has experienced some moments of downtime, and it's even put into the record.
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It is recorded that, the Steem Blockchain has experienced downtime for about 16.63 days, which when calculated against my Total time or Age of the Blockchain is about 0.614% of its lifetime.
I.e.
Duration of Downtime = 16.63 days
Total time or Age = 2,706.83
% of Downtime = (16.63/2,706.83) x 100 = 0.614% ~ 0.61%
% of Uptime = ((2,706.83-16.63)/2,706.83) x 100 = 99.3856 ~ 99.39%
There are also records of this effect, 6 years back, in the year 2017 it was recorded that Steem Block suffered downtime from a DDoS attack.
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From personal experience, the Steem Blockchain experienced another downtime 10 months back, October 28th, 2022 to be precise due to a system upgrade.
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Although in both cases it is believed that funds weren't lost, however, users weren't able to assess their funds or the Steemit platform for a particular period.
CONCLUSION |
The Steem blockchain like every other can't into existence through the Genesis block known as the first block. I also learned that the Steem blockchain has experienced downtime I.e. inactive periods due to different reasons and also that it has been in existence for over 7.42 years. It was indeed a valuable lesson learned.
I wish to invite @yakspeace, @ninapenda, @ruthjoe, @drhira and @suboohi
Thank You for your Time
NOTE: Always have a smile on your face, as you are never fully dressed without one.
Brother I am very happy to see your publication which is really very well explained. You have truly shared that what is Genesis block and then you have clearly made certain calculations to check the last block
Down time of a blockchain can occurs and you have successfully given us some of the most important and most common reasons due to which downtime of a blockchain can occurs as well as you have also successfully interpreted that is steam have down time since it's creation or not
Over all your publication is appreciatable and you have made commendable efforts that's why I wish you success and good luck in this engagement challenge and may you get more and more in your future
Thank you for your wonderful support. I really appreciate, it means a lot to me.
Your welcome 🤗
Greetings @sahmie Boy 😁
What a talented person you are I'm astonished at your publication!!! What an impressive entry by your side totally praiseful. You have done an excellent job 👏 in writing that article. The each line in your post is nicely written and well explained. You have provided us brief information about the exact age of Steem Blockchain and how it has experienced downtime. Truly amazing!!!
Best of luck 🤞
Excelente participación amigo, gran precisión matemática y análisis interesante. No sabía sobre cuanto había sido la inactividad y ahora me hago una mejor idea gracias a tu información.
Te deseo mucha suerte en el desafío y éxito.
Saludos cordiales.
I really do appreciate your support and time, I am more than happy knowing you have learnt a thing or two from it.
Great job on your detailed explanation! Your analysis and mathematical precision are impressive. Your insights about the downtime of the Steem blockchain provide valuable information. Best of luck in the contest!
Thank you for your encouraging support, I can only hope my research was educative to the readers concerning the age of the Steem blockchain.
TEAM 1
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted through steemcurator04. We support quality posts, and good comments anywhere with any tags.Boss is at it again with a very detailed explanation..
I sure wish you all the very best in this contest.
This is mine
In the little brain you have accumulated some knowledge after the post. You have discussed blockchain in detail. I can appreciate how much time and talent you have spent to build it. Good luck to you.
It is indeed a wonderful feeling to see you express yourself of what you have learnt from my post. I am over the moon right now. Thank you for making out the time to go through the post. God bless you
Please come down from the moon to this platform you desperately need.
😆😆 I'm back to Earth and to Steemit, the heat up above is too much for me handle 🫡🫡
🌐🔐 @sahmie your in-depth exploration of the Steem blockchain's journey over the years is truly captivating! Your well-structured analysis makes it easier for all of us to grasp the evolution. Thanks for sharing your knowledge in such a comprehensive way! 👍🚀
Thank you so much for your time and this value respond. I very much appreciate your kind words
You have prepared a extraordinary participation for this contest and i really like your post. Because of you have written a very perfect about genesis block and your calculation is also very awesome. Thanks for making this stunning post for this challenge. I wish you good luck dear.