Crypto Academy Season 3 Beginners' course - Task 3: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, Public chains.

QUESTION (3) WHAT IS PUBLIC CHAIN AND WHAT WILL BE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PUBLIC CHAIN?

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In the cryptocurrency world, a public chain is a decentralized form of blockchain that is accessible to the entire public (permissionless), meaning that anybody with an internet connection can join, read, review, and published content on the network. The public chain employs distributed ledger technology, which means that all data is distributed throughout all network members rather than being held in a single place.

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In contrast to the private chain, the public chain allows individuals to perform transactions without the interference of a third party, and the transaction cannot be edited or altered, whereas the private chain requires transactions to be approved by the group that owns it, and the transaction can be edited or altered.

In a nutshell, the public chain is totally decentralized, which means that no group has authority over it. This provides greater transparency because anybody can join, as contrast to the private chain, which requires permission from the group that owns it before joining.

Characters of Public Chain

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• The public chain is completely decentralized that is no individual or group has control over it

• The public chain is Immutable that is the transaction data cannot be changed or altered

• There is no restriction, that is anyone can participate and access the information on public chain.

What will be the Advantages and Disadvantages of Public Chain?

Advantages

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Easy to access: one of the advantage is that the public chain is free and anyone with a good internet connection can access it, which means anyone can read, write, and publish information or content on the public chain network.

Transparency: another advantage of the public chain is transparency because it is an open source and the information is distributed throughout the network, making it accessible to anybody, anywhere as long as the person is connected to the network.

Immutability: Regardless of the fact that anyone can access the network's information, the blockchain is designed in such a way that maximum agreement between nodes is required before any information can be validated. Once the information has been validated and stored in the public chain, it cannot be modified, edited, or altered.

Decentralization: This is another advantages of the public chain, which allows each node in the network to participate freely without the need for a central authority. Every node has a copy of the ledger. The ledger is updated, and improved, also the maintenance operations are carried out by several nodes.

Disadvantages

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The cost of maintanance: The cost of generating a new block (mining) and maintaining the operation is very high. Setting up mining requires a powerful computer, and maintaining these powerful computers is very expensive, not to mention the energy consumed by these powerful computer.

Irreversible: The system's immutability prevents information from being edited or altered after it has been validated and stored. This could be a disadvantage if, for example, a user sends funds to the incorrect address due to an error or a lack of patience, because information once saved in the system is immutable, the funds cannot be reversed.

Crimes: Users can simply transact without the use of an intermediary and without the need for KYC verification thanks to the system's decentralized structure this is another disadvantage of the system as it being used by criminals to perform unlawful transactions such as the purchase of drugs and firearms.

Anonymity: the system's ability to protect users personal information is another disadvantage in a case where there is a fraud or hijack the attacker cannot be tracked or traced.

Thank you professor @stream4u for this wonderful and eye opening lecture.

Written by @barh3line