How the Decentralized BlockChain Works
Blockchain technology will change the internet as we know it. Articles and whitepapers can be found all over the net universe, but like early software program user manuals are usually written by techs and are incomprehensible to most users. If you have tried to read up on blockchain technology and found your eyes glazing over by the third paragraph of technospeak, this article is for you.
Much has been written about the use of blockchain technology for cryptocurrency. And it works beautifully for handling the intricacies of the cryptocurrency system. The internet can transfer government issued money between banks and individuals, but that is only a small part of our daily use of the net. The blockchain, like the internet, is so much more than just mining and trading cryptocurrency.
Let’s take a quick tour of how the blockchain works, before diving into what it can do to change the internet.
Data on the blockchain starts with a record. The record can be anything; a contract, a blog post, a video, a comment on a post. A block is a bundle of records. The chain is a group of blocks linked together.
When the block is added to the blockchain, a long unique code called a hash is added to that block. That code also includes the hash of the previous block. These hash codes are what connects the blocks to form the blockchain. The hash code is created by a math function that takes digital information and generates a string of letters and numbers from it. Each hash code is unique and will look something like this
d6c7257abff7b54959cd728f06c0c74230391640115cc3ea73a7e54be62aecc4
But the blockchain doesn’t just use incredibly complex and unique hash codes to keep digital data secure, it goes one step beyond that. If any change is made to the original data, even so much as adding a comma in a sentence, it forces a new hash to be generated, thus breaking the chain because the next block in the chain still has the old hash. To make the chain complete again, a hacker would have to recalculate each hash in the chain since each one has the previous block hash attached to it and changing one block hash requires changing the next block and the next and the next all the way down the chain.
To do this requires enormous computing power, far more than a hacker would have available to them. The computing power needed to run the blockchain does not come from a central network of computers controlled by an individual, or a company or a government. The blockchain is a decentralized group of computers run by anonymous individuals all over the world. They allow their computing power to be used to create the hashes that bind the blocks together and recreate hashes as data is changed.
No one computer has the entire hash for a particular block of data, and the pieces of the hash are also duplicated among more than one computer. If I and three of my friends were “mining” the data for the blockchain, I might have the first chunk of a hash code for Stephen King’s latest book, coupled with the middle chunk of the biography of Gregory Peck, and the end part of the hash code generated for a bitcoin transfer from Bill Gates.
My buddy Joe could have the first part of the hash for the bitcoin transfer, the end part of the hash for the biography, and the middle part of a hash for the recipe for peanut butter dog biscuits.
My friend Sarah could have the end part of the hash for the dog biscuits, the middle part of King’s book, and the end part of a daily Ulog from Selina Gomez.
This system of blocks and hashes to bind them together spread out and duplicated across anonymous computers around the world not only makes every bit of data very secure against hackers and interference by outside parties, but also moves those transactions of data outside of any type of central control.
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Thus, blockchain technology is “decentralized” putting the power of the data firmly in the hands of the users. Decentralization also means that no single entity can control the internet, blocking or slowing down data and websites. True net neutrality can only be achieved via blockchain technology.
For any blockchain technology to be successful, it must be decentralized for security and freedom from interference, and it must also be super quick so it can handle data and transactions at hyper speed. Decenternet has created a powerful complete hyper-speed P2P decentralized internet infrastructure solution that gives blockchain technology the ability to change the world of the internet.
Let’s look at three examples of everyday applications that can take advantage of the speed and power of that decentralized blockchain running on the Decenternet infrastructure solution.
Transfer Money Quickly
We already know that the blockchain is used for transactions involving cryptocurrencies. These transactions move very quickly, depending in part which crypto and which blockchain platform are being used.
Check out this article from Fortune and the “bus station” real time application they have in the article to get a better understanding why these transactions depend on different underlying technologies for their speed. http://fortune.com/2018/07/15/txstreet-bitcoin-cash-bus-station/
Any financial transaction could take advantage of the security and speed of the blockchain, not just cryptos, cutting settlement time between financial institutions and individuals down to seconds rather than hours or even days. This is especially useful when the transactions are crossing international borders, something that often slows settlement time when there is political upheaval or slow internet connections between countries.
Smart Contracts
Let’s take the financial transaction one step further into the realm of smart contracts. With a smart contract, if you’re purchasing something like a house for example, all the paperwork including title transfer, warranties and deeds could be added to the same block along with the payment.
Using blockchain tech, not only is everything pertaining to the sale of that asset securely kept together, the transaction is completed at lightning speed. Smart contracts are already in use on the blockchain, and could be used between individuals, and companies of any size.
Asset tracking
Imagine if you bought a head of lettuce and heard about a salmonella outbreak affecting lettuce grown on one particular farm. Using blockchain crypto technology, a record of where that lettuce came from, who grew it, when it was picked, what trucking firm carried it to the wholesaler who supplied your grocery store and the date it was sold to you. You could instantly check to see if your head of lettuce was safe for consumption.
Defective parts, products and produce can be quickly traced to the point of origin using blockchain asset tracking. Owner verification and theft prevention is also easily accomplished.
With companies like Decenternet providing the platform, and companies like Anuvys providing an operating system utilizing the Decenternet platform, developers and programmers can build entire apps on top of the blockchain. Everyday internet activities that have already been built or are in development for the blockchain include blogging platforms, social media networks, video sharing sites, news delivery sites and more.
Because of the super fast, super powerful Decenternet internet infrastructure solution coupled with the Anuvys operating system, the power, speed, security and privacy of the decentralized blockchain is available for any internet application. Not only are the current applications able to take advantage of blockchain technology, but new solutions and applications are now possible.
We will soon be welcomed into the world of Internet 2.0. The world of a decentralized, safe, secure, and private global internet, making true net neutrality available to all.
