Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S11W5 -: Steem blockchain age || 25% to null

How are you? Hope so everyone would be safe and sound just like me as I am also safe Alhamdulillah.

I am very happy to take part in this engagement challenge which is all about the age of steem blockchain which is a new topic for me but I would try my best to answer all questions.

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Blockchain have different blocks like latest blog head block or Genesis block so here if I define Genesis block then any initial block in a blockchain network is called Genesis block (Genesis is also a word similar to generate and this is I have just given you guys a hint so that you may remember about Genesis block). Foundation and parameters of entire blockchain is set by Genesis block that's why it have a great importance at any blockchain. We can also say that Genesis block is birth of blockchain (it could be said in lame language to make it easier to understand to everyone)

Things that could be determined by steem Blockchain

Characteristics and rules of the blockchain are also determined by Genesis block because this type of significant information we can see from Genesis block and Genesis block could give us some important details like times stamp of block creation as well as block hash and initial distribution of tokens if it is applicable.

If I give an example of Genesis block of steem blockchain then it is important to note that Bing Bing of this network or blockchain and specific information which is significant and relevant to operation of steem blockchain can be determined by Genesis block. It seems to be very fascinating when we think to see that how block lay the groundwork of decentralised blockchain technology.

Method to check Genesis block at steem blockchain

• The most authentic site and most easy to use and most original is @steemworld.com and to check Genesis block again we have to open this site and then we have to login to our account.

• After that the first page when opening this site that we will see would be like this and from this page we will open block explorer as I have also highlighted in the screenshot.

• When you click on block explorer then on the very next page they will ask you the block number that you want to see so as we are here for checking Genesis block and it is the most initial block thats why we have to command it to give us information about block number one so inbox we will put one and then click on ok.

• After that we will be able to see different information about Genesis block time stamp , block id as well as witness signature and anything but you want to see is given in screenshot below.

That was all about information that what is Genesis block at this blockchain and what things can be determined by Genesis block as well as detailed method to check Genesis block from@steemworld.com

Method 1

You can see below a screenshot which I take from @steemyy.com.77527521 is the latest head block of the time when I open this site and captured screenshot. This latest head block when produced then times stamp was 2023-08-24: 05:44:39. Now the method is simple and I have to multiply latest block with 3rd digit. The reason to multiplying with three is that one block forms in 3 seconds that's why we will multiply this latest head block with 3 seconds so let's move towards procedure.

Calculations

Latest head block = 77527521

• 1 block produce in 3 seconds so here is a time to multiply 77527521 with 3.

77527521 into 3 = 232,582,563

Now we convert 232,582,563 into minutes so we have to divide it with 60 second as I minute = 60 second

232,582,563 ÷ 60 = 3,876, 376.05

Now we have to convert 3,876, 376.05 into hours so again divide it with 60 minutes

3,876, 376.05 ÷ 60 minutes= 64,606. 2675 hours

Now we have to convert 64,606. 2675 hours into days and we all know that 1 day contains 24 hours that's why we have to divide 64,606. 2675 hours to 24

64,606. 2675 hours ÷ 24 hours = 2,691.9278125 days

For converting 2,691.9278125 days into years we should know that there are 365 days in a year so we have to divide ➗2,691.9278125 days to 365 days

2,691.9278125 days ÷ 365 days = 7.375 years which on round off are approximately 7.42 years

Method 2

This is a second method that I am going to share with all of you and this method is simple and it is about subtraction and we can see from the data that is available that we have time stamp of both Genesis block as well as latest head block so here I am going to share and important method with you in which we use spreadsheet but first let me explain that what the method is.

Here we have to determine age of blockchain. Let me write all values available which would be used in second method of calculation.

Time stamp of Genesis block = 2016/03/24 16:05:00

Time stamp of latest block = 2023-08-24: 05:44:39

For calculating age of blockchain by this method we have to subtract both of them and for this we have to subtract time stamp of latest block from Genesis block time stamp. Expression for calculation would be like this;

Age of steem blockchain= Time stamp of latest Blockchain -Time stamp of Genesis Blockchain

So;

2023-08-24: 05:44:39 - 2016/03/24 16:05:00

It would be difficult and would be a very lengthy procedure so when you command in spreadsheet then it becomes very easy to calculate the age so I am using spreadsheet as I have also shown in screenshot and then we talk about age then it means we have to calculate years will have to calculate months and then we have to calculate days.

Below are the list of formulas that we can use for calculating age of steem blockchain in years in months or in days in which we want.

Year calculation formula=DATEDIF(A5,B5,"y")

Month calculations formula=DATEDIF(A5,B5,"ym")

Days calculations formula=B5-(DATE(YEAR(B5),MONTH(B5),1))

• From calculations we can see that age of blockchain is 7 years approximately 4 months and 2 days.

When we talk about down time of a blockchain then it can be defined as a period in which blockchain is not working or there is any malfunctioning or interruption in its normal functioning. During down time there are many activities and transactions that may be delayed or their process maybe hindered as well as if we talk about reasons due to which downtime may occur in a blockchain are several that I am also going to share very soon.

Network congestion

If the network is congested then it is the most important and most common reason of downtime of a blockchain because of high transaction volumes and activities that happens day by day at blockchain and as a result of all these activities and high volume of transaction blockchain may face strain to process all these activities with more efficiency.

Due to this congestion we can see a great delay in transaction confirmation and it could be due to some temporary for and blockchain sometimes have typical mechanism like transaction fees, aur different algorithms to manage congestion. Sometimes sheer volume of network also overwhelm and results in down time of blockchain.

Software vulnerability

Down time can be due to software vulnerability and bugs. In blockchain network there are some complex software codes for the functioning of blockchain and these issues and these software have different security vulnerability and these issues may leads to unexpected crashes in blockchain that results in downtime.

Developers of blockchain work on it to identify and fix these bugs and helps in releasing different software updates which enhance network stability but these vulnerability temporary down time not permanent down time.

External factors effect

There could be some external factors that can lead a blockchain towards down time. If I give an example then I want to say that the blockchain networks that rely upon external sources and oracles so anytime if this sources have any destruction or failure then it may impact the Network operations as well as if a blockchain network depend upon hardware then any failure in that hardware may lead to down time. Sometimes these external disturbance is can cause disruption in blockchain and can lead to down time.

Maintenance activity

In any technology there are the requirements of updates so in the same way blockchain network also require regular update and different enhancements so in these periods sometimes network need to be offline for a temporary time for putting blockchain in a maintenance mode to perform activities so down time may also occur in maintainence activities.

Attacks or security breaches

Down time in a blockchain can also because due to a reason of different attacks or security breeches but we all know that blockchain is always designed to be secure and it is not immune 2 attackers but still there are different articles that attempt to exploit vulnerability in the blockchain that leads to compromises or different descriptions in operations and as a result of these attacks blockchain also try to combat with situation by following different emergency measures.

STEEM blockchain is very secure and follows different preventions to avoid any kind of downtime situation and this blockchain is also giving continuous update to avoid such situations but if we talk about downtime situation in the past at this blockchain then yes it's true that change have also face a situation of downtime in past.

Here is the screenshot by which we can see that total down time period that steem blockchain face was about 16.63 days. If I talk about a situation and a scenario that this blockchain face regarding down time then in 2017 there was a very famous situation about DDoS

There are attackers that attack on this blockchain due to steemit future projections. More about this down time attack you can see in the screenshot.

Some months ago I was also facing down time like situation because I was feeling very difficulty in many of the transactions as well as images were also not showing at the platform and this was the first situation with me from the time when I start working here so I talk about it with a experience friend you can see discussion in screenshot.

That was all about my discussion about this topic hopefully everyone would understand everything very well.

I want to give an invitation to @wilmer1988 , @nahela , @josepha , @malikusman1 to participate 😀