Blockchain Technology

As technological advances loom large, it is no secret that cash payments are being outshined by electronic payments. Bitcoin, Alipay and PayPal are just some who are referred to as the trendsetters of electronic payments. However, it must be noted that Bitcoin stands in no platform’s shadow as it remains one of the only methods of money transfer that allows users to send money on a peer to peer basis within a decentralized ecosystem. The network upon which Bitcoin is built isn’t prone to manipulation or vulnerability and a central entity or administration has no authority over the settlement of transactions. Many speculators suggest that Fintech or Financial Technologies such as Bitcoin could surpass credit and debit card payments within the next decade. Bitcoin will be at the forefront of this revolution as it provides the infrastructure for a global user platform to handle money with financial freedom and privacy. The decentralized ecosystem upon which Bitcoin lies, is known as Blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology works on a distributed ledger model which records every transaction maintaining the authenticity of information on a secure global network which is tamper proof (Ogundeji, 2017). The utilization of blockchain technology is based upon two main concepts. The first being the distributed ledger model and the second is the cryptographic hash function.

The distributed ledger model is based on an inerasable concept that allows for all parties to have an updated ledger with the same information. It is the opposite to a centralized ledger whereby one party is responsible for the knowledge of all transactions. When one party is responsible for such valuable information, power in the form of information has been given to this one centralized party. This power now allows for the imposition of rules and fees for the safekeeping of this information. The distributed ledger acts in the opposite way whereby all parties can be in the loop of the information. This valuable information is now in the hands of all parties and as everyone is invested into this shared information, its safety and accountability cannot be compromised. There can be no tampering with the information as everyone would instantly notice the change in information and can now work together to weed out the culprit. The second concept of the cryptographic hash function is based on anonymity through the summarization of information. Information is inputted into complex mathematical functions that process this information and outputs it in the form of a unique mathematical code. Information inputted can be of many forms, with the most common being a string of characters in the form of text. The beauty about the outputted code is that it is completely unique to that piece of information. If the inputted information changes by even a punctuation mark then the code itself is completely changed into a brand new output code. These functions upon which we input information can be used to validate information or even maintain anonymity. We can input information about ourselves such as height, hair color, traits, qualities, etc. and create a code that represents this information in the form of a profile. As this is just a code, there is no way of backtracking through the code and function to figure out the information. Thus maintaining our anonymity. The technology has the capability to change everything through the revolution of how we interact with all forms of liquidity. Its potential stems from the very meaning of cryptography and through the incorporation of the technologies and theories developed by cryptographers, the digital money exchange system is resistant to both censorship and fraud.

Mining and Transactions
The parties that I spoke about earlier that are responsible for keeping the updated ledger on the distributed network are known as miners. Miners are volunteers that participate in an incentivized system that uses their computers and its processing power to store copies of the ledger. This dedication of their computing resources are generally rewarded with a small amount of crypto currency. Individual miners are known as a ‘node’, and each node is responsible for the efficiency of transactions. There are two purposes of mining: to create more of the currency and to confirm the validity of transactions using coins that are already in circulation. Just as the creation of more currency is important, the verification of transaction does not lag behind. The role of miners is essential for the perpetuity of the blockchain technology. Some might argue that this important responsibility given to miners can lead to the centralization and control of the technology by the miners themselves. The complexity of mining is steadily increasing and the requirements to mine not only comes at a huge expense but also large amounts of transparency. For the miners to take over the blockchain, every single miner in the world would need to be on the same trend of thought, with the same intentions, at the same time. If this were to happen then transactions would become less prevalent and if there are little to no transactions there would be no need for miners and the cryptosphere would lead to currencies becoming deflationary. This complexity of mining has led to large electrical cost for computers and in most cases the remuneration for being a miner only allows them to break even. Thus miners are now pooling together to reduce cost and maximize profits. This pooling together of miners have led to the advancement of the industry whereby miners are being hired by companies to perform these duties. This is leading to the mining process being strictly professional thus reducing any incidents that can harm the blockchain.
For a transaction to take place, the transaction would be announced to the entire system and two operations using the cryptographic hash function would be needed. Each person’s identity is encrypted and hidden through a hash function that creates a code for you to be recognized by. Only you, the owner, knows the input information for the code thus ensuring anonymity. The second operation is a way to quickly compare ledgers between computers/parties to ensure that that the persons attempting to transact actually own the coins. Miners are responsible for this transaction through the verification and processing of the transaction thereby ensuring the upholding of the blockchain technology.

SegWit
Segregated Witness (SegWit) is a change in Bitcoin’s code that allows certain data within each block to separated or segregated from ordinary transaction data. Each transaction carries with it certain information that helps with the verification of the transaction. Bitcoin has been under large amounts of speculation due to its 1MB blocksize limit for transactions. The application of SegWit to the technology will allow for more transactions to be processed within this 1MB blocksize limit through the reduction in data being processed. In addition to more transactions, the SegWit fixes Bitcoin’s malleability problem which is a kink in the new technology. Through the implementation of SegWit, Bitcoin can now allow for further scaling of the technology. As early as 2014, it was obvious that there would be changes to Bitcoin’s code to allow the network to improve. The improvements in the software shall pave the way for further improvements thereby making Bitcoin’s value as well as its competency as a currency stronger. The activation of the SegWit did not come as easily as we may think. There was great opposition by investors and members of the community to the activation. This opposition led to a split in the community. On one side there was the people who supported the SegWit and on the other there were those who encouraged the notion of increasing the blocksize limit known as the ‘Big Blockers’.

The Big Blocker’s solution was simply to the increase the blocksize so that each block can hold more data and therefore the network can process more transactions per second. However those who supported the SegWit, known as the Core developers, argued that the bigger the blocks would lead to a bigger blockchain. This bigger blockchain then leads to fewer nodes (more transactions per node reduces the need for plentiful nodes). Fewer nodes will now lead to less decentralization which can be a huge problem and it would undermine the entire idea of the blockchain technology. The Big Blockers insisted that this was fine as enough volunteers would still run nodes and the Bitcoin would remain decentralized. This opposition led to a ‘hard fork’ within the Bitcoin community. The hard fork meant a split in the Bitcoin with the development of an Alternative Coin known as Bitcoin Cash. This strategy was a means of satisfying both parties amicably. Those who felt the SegWit was not needed and to ‘soft’ of an option for the future were presented with Bitcoin Cash and those who supported this new form of data compression in the form of SegWit still maintained the originality of Bitcoin.

Why not use PayPal for transactions?
Some might argue that we can simply use PayPal as a means for online transactions as opposed to cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency has the upper hand when it comes to these online transactions as it allows for sending and receiving payments instantaneously without the need for an intermediary such as a bank. PayPal solely utilizes outward payments thereby restricting the nature of transactions to be made. In addition, Paypal’s centralized business model has been seen to demerit the company when being compared to emerging blockchain technology. A recent transaction conducted through PayPal between two Canadian newspapers was voided as the American company’s ‘acceptable use policy’ was breached by one of the newspaper. This breach of policy led to the newspaper’s account being frozen without the ability to receive, send payments and withdraw from the account. PayPal did not issue an explanation or response for the automatic action taken and then proceeded to redirect the payment. The payment between the companies was for an article entitled ‘Syrian family adapts to new life’ and because the transaction contained the word Syria, it was deemed noncompliant with PayPal’s policy. This is just one case whereby a centralized financial service provider has displayed its power and dominance and I can assure you that it is not the last. Thus it is important for investors to understand the importance of financial privacy and the merit of using a decentralized payment system.

What have we learnt?
The greatest appeal of cryptocurrency is decentralization. The very nature of cryptocurrency is that it is governed within a decentralized system and governed by consensus as opposed to a more traditional top-down hierarchy in which few people are in charge of decision making. The technology is relatively new and there are going to be many ups and downs. Software development is key and a recent proposition of SegWit2X can see another ‘hard fork’ and therefore another split. The blockchain technology is not only key for financial technologies but can be instrumental in other industries that relies on transparency, accountability, vigilance and security. It will allow for the more efficient running of operations through increased peer to peer activity. The concept of globalization have and will continue to reach new heights. This technology is proof that together as humans in this cruel world, we can all work together to make it a better place.
We can see some industries that the blockchain technology has already began to affect. These industries include:

1. Banking and Payments – Instantaneous transactions
2. Cyber Security – Advanced cryptography
3. Supply Chain Management – monitoring, accountability, security
4. Forecasting – prediction markets (Stocks, Betting, Elections)
5. Networking and Internet of Things (IOT) –
6. Insurance
7. Private Transport and Ride Sharing
8. Online Data Storage
9. Charity – Donations can be tracked to ensure that the money is going in the right hands
10. Voting
11. Government – Increasing efficiency of operations
12. Public Benefits
13. Healthcare
14. Energy Management
15. Online Music – Musicians can be paid directly from fans
16. Retail
17. Real Estate
18. Crowd funding