Mini Crypto Program Part 3 || "Understanding of Blockchain", by @calipo09

Hi everyone it’s great to be back again to join this week’s mini crypto program. I will like to admit that upon joining this community and participating in the weekly assignments has really helped in building my reputation on steemit and also helped me acquire more knowledge about crypto and other relevant stuffs. Also I will like to appreciate @liasteem for this great opportunity to learn more about crypto.

What do you know about blockchain?

source

Looking at the evolution of the world and technology, data, information and other relevant stuffs are transferred by an electronic means which has proven to be more efficient than the traditional way of data transfer. I know we all know them so let me not bore you with them. However, transfer of data over an electronic means has its own demerits hence the introduction of blockchain technology.
Blockchain is a system which is made in a way that, recorded information is made very secured in such a way that, there is minimal or no chance to have unauthorized access, hack or cheat the system.
Blockchain is basically a digital financial book (ledger) which is more advanced and secure and is distributed among all nodes of the computer system on the blockchain. The blockchain gives users the opportunity to keep track and get access to their records (be it old or new) of transactions they may have made because it saves the date, time and place of each transaction made and this helps the user or the users to detect any shortcomings in their transaction history. Blockchain became very popular after people started using the bitcoin crypto and this is because it’s the blockchain technology they use to run their services.
A blockcahin is comprised of Blocks, Nodes and Miners which makes it impossible to change or modify. Below are brief notes on blocks, nodes and miners.

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Describe one type of blockchain!

There are four main types of blockchain networks and they are;
Private blockchain, Public blockchain, Consortium blockchain, Hybrid blockchain. All these types of blockchains have their own merits and demerits however I will be elaborating on the public blockchain.
A public blockchain is a type of blockchain which is open and available to everyone who wants to join. There is no specific permission which will be needed before joining a public blockchain and everyone within this type of blockchain network can read, write and participate in it. This type of blockchain is usually not controlled by any one. Some example of public blockchain are Bitcoin and Etherum.

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Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the type of blockchain you choose!

Advantages of Public Blockchains

• Privacy

In public blockchains, the privacy of the users is not taken for granted. Even though transactions and other information related can be seen by everyone, it’s only the account name which will be displayed leaving the personal records and information hidden.

• Safety

With public blockchains the security is maximum. As mentioned earlier, the blockchain network is made up of blocks which are connected and hashed. And every block in the network is encrypted in such a way that it becomes very difficult to hack the information or data within the block and hence keeping the data safe.

• Transparency

Public blockchains are very transparent such that activities and transactions made on the blockchain can be seen by everyone on the blockchain which makes it easy for users to monitor network at their desired time.

• Efficiency

Another plus for public blockchains is its efficiency and this is because, transactions are done very quickly and this has made it very popular amongst other types of blockchains.

Disadvantages of the Public blockchain

• Crime

Even though the privacy which is given in the public block chain is good it creates an opportunity for crime because, Criminals can use the opportunity to commit crimes like illegal transaction amongst others since their identities will not be revealed and also difficult to track.

• High energy consumption

The public blockchain due to its nature consumes a lot of energy due to the hardware which will be used. Most of this hardware require a lot of electricity and energy to be able to operate which also causes the cost of running such blockchain very expensive.

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Visit Blockchain Demo, and what did you learn from that page? (screenshot required)

A visit to Blockchain Demo to explore. I know this is going to be fun. Without wasting much time, let’s get into it.

• After clicking on the link I was redirected to blockchain demo and below is a screenshot of the page I was directed to.

• The navigation bar of the page displays, Hash, Block, Blockchain, Distributed, Tokens and Coinbase as shown in the image below.

• Trying to navigate the site, I clicked on Hash and the page appeared as shown below. It displayed SHA256 Hash, Data and Hash and the display assigned for data which had nothing in its box but the hash displayed this code e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 as shown in the image below.

And I got to learn that a valid hash starts with a zero (0) and this implies that the data in the above image is invalid.

• Now I inputted a value which is “calipo” in the data section to see if I would get a valid hash but I didn’t since it did not begin with a zero. And this was the hash f383fb8aae1a27789e7c2611ed943f3222268ece75e5cc97d1166acd84edff0a as shown in the image below.

In summary, each data inputted has its own hash which is displayed and its unique and two different data can have the same hash.

• I next visited the blockchain page on the navigation bar and this was the display I saw after clicking.
  It displayed five blocks and each block has five columns namely; Block, Nonce, Data, Prev and Hash.

• So I tried typing in “calipo” again and I noticed a change of color of the block and from the hash, it showed the data was invalid and rejected. And this affected all the blocks.

• To make the hash a valid one, I realized that I had to click on mine after inputting the data and after that, it showed that the hash was now valid and accepted as shown in the image below and also I noticed that the prev block of the second block displayed the hash of the first block.

• Also when I click on the block I realized that it displays a single block among the blocks displayed in the blockcahin section. A snapshot of the block page below.

• To end with I got to know that all valid hashes had four zeros at the beginning and also the blocks are interconnected.

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Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using blockchain technology!

Advantages of Blockchain Technology

• Decentralization
  Blockchain technology is designed in such a way that, activities are not centered but its rather dispersed all over the network and everyone can make decisions without any interference from any third party.
• Security
  Blockchain network are the best when it comes to data security. It has a sophisticated security which gives a strong assurance of data being kept safe.
• Speed
  Data transfer in the blockcain network is very fast and swift unlike local banks where one must go through several procedures before a transaction can be made.
• Privacy
  In blockchain networks, the privacy of all users are kept a secret because the bio data and other relevant data are kept confidential and the user is very well assured of privacy.
• Transparency
  Even though the privacy of the user is kept confidential, all activities of every user can be traced by everyone and this makes it simple for users to track any misconduct within the blockchain.

Disadvantages of Blockchain Technology

• Crime
  Even though the privacy which is given in the public block chain is good it creates an opportunity for crime because, Criminals can use the opportunity to commit crimes like illegal transaction amongst others since their identities will not be revealed and also difficult to track.
• Wrong Transactions
  Due to how sophisticated the blockchain network is, if one is making a transaction and makes a mistake by transferring funds to a wrong account, it’s so sad that it can’t be retrieved again because data inputted in the blockchain cannot be reversed.
• Lost Keys
  Since data inputted in the blockchain cannot be modified or changed, when one loses hold of the private keys required to login, that will be the end of the road for that particular person and all data will be lost because there will be no way to retrieve it.

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Conclusion

Blockchain I will say is one of the best technologies invented in our time. The advanced nature of this technology has made it easier, safer and faster when it comes to making transactions and also everyone can join in no matter the status. And another thing I found amazing about the blockchain network is its transparency where all users get to see how all activities are going and enables the user to track transactions themselves.
However, all users are supposed to be very mindful of the shortcomings the blockchain technology comes with to prevent its implications.
I will like to thank @liasteem for this assignment and it has again given me the opportunity to learn more about blockchains. I hope covered the all the questions to your expectation and will be waiting anxiously for your response.