Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S8W1 - The Importance Of Blockchain Technology

Fellow Steemians How are you doing today? I am happy to be among the participants of the contest that is being organized in SteemitCryptoAcademy Community titled: The Importance Of Blockchain Technology.

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What are the main issues arising in the existing system of blockchain technology?

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Despite the fact that blockchain is a good technology, it still has some issues arising in the existing system of blockchain, which are:

• The issues of security

• The issue of low scalability

• The issue of regulation

• The issue of high energy consumption

• The issue of a low workforce

Security Issues

In the existing system of blockchain, there is a security issue in that if I lose my Steemit keys, it means I cannot have access to my account since the keys are not something that I can have off hand. Losing my keys means losing access to my account.

Scalability Issue

Scalability is another main issue with blockchain. In a blockchain, each computer works to confirm transactions and keep accurate records of the blockchain, like storing data down to the most recent block of the blockchain. Nodes are what these computers are called since they have the capacity to store data. The system makes blockchain more secure, but it also makes the system more inefficient as blockchain grows and gains wider recognition.

Regulation issue

This issue is what is hindering the mass adoption of cryptocurrency. Blockchain isn't regulated, and because of this, people are losing interest in it, despite the fact that it is a good technology. In a few words, there is a lack of standards in blockchain.

High Energy Consumption

Blockchain makes use of a proof-of-work system to check nodes in order to confirm the next block that is produced, which consumes more energy. Also mining of equally consume energy. Energy consumption is mostly inefficient in some localities.

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Explain to us some of the key features of blockchain technology.

The key features of blockchain technology are listed and explained below.

• Public Distributed Ledger or Decentralization

• Hash Encryption

• Proof of Work or Transparency

• Miners

Public Distributed Ledger or Decentralization

This is one of the key features of blockchain technology. A "public distributed ledger" simply means a digital set of data that is shared across different locations (computers). Information that is inputted into a blockchain technology can't be changed, and everyone has access to the information, which makes changing data difficult. Also, in the case of decentralization, blockchain is different from centralized technology. In blockchain technology, there is no central authority, which makes it more unique.

Hash Encryption

Blockchain technology has very unique features for giving someone access to his or her account since the technology makes use of hash encryption. Blockchains make use of cryptography to store information. Also in addition to this blockchain make use of digital signature for verification of users where users are identified with their public or private key.

Proof of Work or Transparency

Proof-of-work is another very important feature of blockchain technology. As a user of blockchain, you will need to invest money and work before information can be produced. This also has to do with miners verifying blocks before they are added to the blockchain network.

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Give a basic and simple understanding of how blockchain technology works.

Blockchain technology works in the following ways, as discussed below:

• An authorized user of a blockchain network has to input a transaction that must be authorized first by the blockchain technology. At this point, a block that represents such a transaction or piece of data is created and sent across the network to every computer node that is linked to it.

• Next is authorization of nodes, verification of transactions, and adding the block to an existing blockchain network. This is where miners come in and get rewarded for producing blocks. Miners are the ones that finalize transactions, and it takes a different approach since it involves some mathematical equation.

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Provide an understanding of how we can be able to use zero-knowledge proof for authentication.

Zero-knowledge proof is simply a means of determining the real validity of information without revealing the information or statement itself. The party that is trying to prove a claim to a statement is the prover, whereas the verifier is the one responsible for validating the claim.

Based on my research and the little knowledge that I gained from the research that I did, we can use zero knowledge proof for authentication by using an online service that requires our identity before having access to our information. In this case, we need to provide our personal information like names, address, email, phone number, date of birth, state of residence, etc.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has its good and bad sides, which I have detailed in this post in tabular form.

Advantages	Disadvantages
It is a decentralized trust technology	it reduces fraud.
It lowers transaction costs	but it is not a universal recording system.
It has no single point of failure.	It enhances security and confidentiality.
Quick Transactions	Seamless Integration Into Existing Systems

I am calling on my friends @david-o, @noraandy and @yhudy