What is blockchain

Originally developed as the accounting method for the virtual currency Bitcoin, blockchains — which use what’s known as distributed ledger technology (DLT) — are appearing in a variety of commercial applications today. Currently, the technology is primarily used to verify transactions, within digital currencies though it is possible to digitize, code and insert practically any document into the blockchain. Doing so creates an indelible record that cannot be changed; furthermore, the record’s authenticity can be verified by the entire community using the blockchain instead of a single centralized authority.
BREAKING DOWN ‘Blockchain’
A block is the ‘current’ part of a blockchain, which records some or all of the recent transactions. Once completed, a block goes into the blockchain as a permanent database. Each time a block gets completed, a new one is generated. There is a countless number of such blocks in the blockchain, connected to each other (like links in a chain) in proper linear, chronological order. Every block contains a hash of the previous block. The blockchain has complete information about different user addresses and their balances right from the genesis block to the most recently completed block.
The blockchain was designed so these transactions are immutable, meaning they cannot be deleted. The blocks are added through cryptography, ensuring that they remain meddle-proof: The data can be distributed but not copied. However, the ever-growing size of the blockchain is considered by some to be a problem, creating issues of storage and synchronization.
Advantages of Blockchains
Efficiencies resulting from DLT can add up to some serious cost savings. DLT systems make it possible for businesses and banks to streamline internal operations, dramatically reducing the expense, mistakes, and delays caused by traditional methods for reconciliation of records.
The widespread adoption of DLT will bring enormous cost savings in three areas, advocates say:
Electronic ledgers are much cheaper to maintain than traditional accounting systems; the employee headcount in back offices can be greatly reduced.
Nearly fully automated DLT systems result in far fewer errors and the elimination of repetitive confirmation steps.
Minimizing the processing delay also means less capital being held against the risks of pending transactions.
Blockchains and Bitcoin
The blockchain is perhaps the main technological innovation of Bitcoin. Bitcoin isn’t regulated by a central authority. Instead, its users dictate and validate transactions when one person pays another for goods or services, eliminating the need for a third party to process or store payments. The completed transaction is publicly recorded into blocks and eventually into the blockchain, where it’s verified and relayed by other Bitcoin users. On average, a new block is appended to the blockchain every 10 minutes, through mining.
Based on the Bitcoin protocol, the blockchain database is shared by all nodes participating in a system. Upon joining the network, each connected computer receives a copy of the blockchain, which has records, and stands as proof of every transaction ever executed. It can thus provide insight about facts like how much value belonged a particular address at any point in the past. Blockchain.Info provides access to the entire Bitcoin blockchain.
Extensions of Blockchains
To use conventional banking as an analogy, the blockchain is like a full history of a financial institution’s transactions, and each block is like an individual bank statement. But because it’s a distributed database system, serving as an open electronic ledger, a blockchain can simplify business operations for all parties. For these reasons, the technology is attracting not only financial institutions and stock exchanges, but many others in the fields of music, diamonds, insurance, and Internet of Things (IOT) devices. Advocates have also suggested that this kind of electronic ledger system could be usefully applied to voting systems, weapon or vehicle registrations by state governments, medical records, or even to confirm ownership of antiquities or artwork.
Given the potential of this distributed ledger technology (DLT) to simplify current business operations, new models based on blockchain have already begun to replace the expensive and inefficient accounting and payment networks of the financial industry. Blockchain technology could free up billions of dollars: A recent Goldman Sachs report suggested that it could save stock market operators up to $6 billion a year.
While banks were initially hesitant to explore these technologies because of their concerns about potential fraud, they have started looking into how the blockchain might provide generous cost savings by allowing back-office settlement systems to process trades, transfers and other transactions much faster.
In fact, the first international blockchain transaction was completed on October 24, 2016. Brokered by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) , the $35,000 deal involved Australian cotton trader Brighann Cotton Marketing, which purchased 88 bales cotton from its U.S. division in Texas and sent it to Qingdao, China.