What does blockchain mean? Many people don't know what blockchain is, and some people have never even heard of it. In fact, blockchain is a common example. I collected relevant information about what blockchain means to everyone.
What does blockchain mean? 1 When it comes to blockchain, you have to mention its twin brother, Bitcoin.
Go back in time to exactly 1 1 years ago. On June 1 65438+1October1day, 2008, the whole world was shrouded in the huge shadow of the financial crisis. That day, a mysterious geek who called himself "Satoshi Nakamoto" sent an email.
An article entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" was attached to the email.
Satoshi Nakamoto said in his email that he is studying a new electronic cash system, which is completely peer-to-peer and does not need any trusted third party. About half a month later, Satoshi Nakamoto released the source code of the Bitcoin system non-stop.
On June 3, 2009, an interesting invention was born. Satoshi Nakamoto has generated the first bitcoin block on the server, which is the so-called "bitcoin creation block". Since then, the Bitcoin system has been officially opened.
Having said that, we might as well stop and think about how we conduct cash transactions in real life.
Suppose you borrowed 6,543,800 yuan from a friend and promised to pay it back one month later, you may choose to transfer money by bank card. The bank is responsible for subtracting 6,543,800 yuan from your deposit account and adding 6,543,800 yuan to your friend's deposit account.
Here, the bank is the institution responsible for bookkeeping. The potential reason why you choose bank transfer is that you believe it is reliable and will help you transfer 1000 yuan to your friends.
However, in the digital world, inventing a currency is another matter.
The hero behind the bitcoin game
First, Satoshi Nakamoto wants direct peer-to-peer transactions, bypassing banks as third parties. This problem is easy to handle, so there is no bank. Users issue their own currencies through a unique mechanism and trade directly with each other.
But this brings another problem. There is no reliable intermediary bookkeeping, and users don't know each other. How can we ensure that no one cheats when trading?
For example, in the digital world, electronic documents can be easily copied. Value1digital currency, 0 yuan, copy and paste 10 times with the mouse, and it will become 100 yuan. Is it a mess?
To solve this problem, we need to provide a mechanism for everyone to trust each other.
The method adopted by Bitcoin system is to record all transactions openly and transparently in chronological order. These records are permanent and cannot be tampered with. So you can't do anything sneaky.
With these mechanisms, the Bitcoin system can run successfully.
This system stores data in the form of blocks, called blocks. About every 10 minute, new blocks are added. Each block records the detailed transaction process of Bitcoin with a time stamp. Different blocks are connected in time sequence by some algorithm, which is a chain.
Together, it is called "blockchain".
In this way, the blockchain took root with the birth of Bitcoin. If Bitcoin is the eye-catching star in front of the stage, then the blockchain is the behind-the-scenes hero responsible for providing trust mechanism in the underlying technology.
New changes in accounting methods.
Although behind the scenes, the talent of blockchain was quickly excavated.
In technical terms, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology. To understand it, let's give the simplest example.
Suppose your family keeps accounts like this: you, your father and your mother have separate books, and you keep separate accounts of your expenses. At the end of each month, the total household expenditure can be counted together.
But dad likes to buy cigarettes, mom likes to buy cosmetics, and you like to buy snacks. You may have forgotten some items intentionally or unintentionally, and sometimes you will modify them in the book. Therefore, when the accounts are audited at the end of the month, there will always be some discrepancies with the actual expenses at home.
In order to change this situation, you bought a new account book. You and your parents use a new account book to keep accounts, remind each other, supervise each other, and check every expense together.
At the same time, you also agree that once the expenses are checked, they are not allowed to be altered or deleted. After trying for several months, you find that this * * * is much more consistent with the ledger and the actual expenditure at home.
Blockchain belongs to the second accounting method. The short story above tells us that it has at least so many advantages or benefits.
The first is decentralization. In the past, the database maintained by one party was maintained by many parties. Everyone writes data together with the knowledge of * * *, and no one can control the data alone.
Secondly, it makes everyone change from separate bookkeeping to separate bookkeeping, which brings data consistency and transparency.
In addition, the blockchain only allows data to be written, and it is not allowed to be deleted or modified, which can prevent data from being secretly tampered with.
Mutual trust between strangers
In reality, many scenarios, such as how to keep accounts at home, are much more complicated. Moreover, some links in financial transactions and business processing are mostly operated by strangers. How can we make everyone trust each other?
This is the time for the blockchain to show its talent. Don't forget, it can provide a mutual trust mechanism from the underlying technology.
For example, if you go to the vegetable market to buy things, you may worry about whether fish, shrimp and vegetables are safe. Some companies saw business opportunities and moved the data of farmers and fish ponds to the blockchain. In this way, you can know which fish pond you bought, and you will eat more safely.
For another example, there are often links in the circle of friends to raise money for seriously ill patients. When donating money, you may have some concerns: Is the patient's condition real? Can donations really reach patients?
In order to eliminate these concerns, some Internet non-profit organizations use blockchain, so that you can clearly see the steps of using donations. If the audit finds that the patient's situation is not true, the blockchain system will automatically refund the donation to your account.
In the future, what changes can blockchain bring to our lives?
It is conceivable that when blockchain is widely used in various fields of society, it will become an important infrastructure in the information age and can solve many headaches at present.
For example, the blockchain will "chain" countless information islands together, and it is not necessary to repeat the inspection just because of changing hospitals. Entrepreneurs don't have to run multiple departments in order to run a program; Many transactions no longer need third-party guarantee, consumers no longer worry that the deposit can't be refunded, and creators don't have to worry that their works are stolen but get nothing. ...
What does blockchain mean? 2 From an academic point of view, blockchain is a new application mode of computer technology such as distributed data storage, point-to-point transmission, identification mechanism and encryption algorithm. Blockchain is essentially a decentralized database.
Many people still don't understand this explanation, so I will make a simple metaphor.
Suppose the environment: if you have an account book at home, let you keep it. Mom and dad used to give you a salary and let you put it on the ledger. In case you are greedy and want to buy delicious food, there may be a dozen records missing from the account book.
This is just an example. I believe that when I was a child, everyone might want to take some money from their parents' pockets.
Solve the problem with blockchain;
If the whole family is mobilized to keep accounts, the above problems will not exist, because you are keeping accounts, your father is also keeping accounts, and your mother is also keeping accounts. They can all see the general ledger, and you can't change it, and neither can your parents, so there's nothing you can do about your dad who wants to buy cigarettes and is greedy.
"Blockchain" of functions
It can not only record every transaction, but also record almost everything valuable to human beings through programming: birth and death certificates, marriage certificates, ownership deeds, degree certificates, financial accounts, medical history, insurance claims, votes, food sources and anything else that can be represented by codes.
Each block is like a hard disk, all the information on it is saved and then encrypted by cryptography. These saved information cannot be tampered with.
Every 10 minute, the blockchain system will check all data generated during this period (such as transaction records and time records of editing or creating blocks, etc.). ) and store these data in a new block, which will be connected with the previous block to form a chain. Each block must contain information about the previous block to take effect.
Characteristics of blockchain
1, unusually safe:
Unlike centralized databases owned by companies or government agencies, blockchain is not controlled by anyone or entity, and data is completely copied (distributed) on multiple computers.
Unlike centralized databases, attackers do not have a single entry point, so data security is more secure.
2. Do not tamper with:
Once you enter the blockchain, no information can be changed, and even the administrator can't modify it.
Once things appear, they can never be changed. This property is of great significance to the ever-changing and rapidly changing network world in which human beings are currently located.
3. You can visit:
All nodes in the network can easily access information.
4. No third party:
Because the decentralization of blockchain can help peer-to-peer transactions, you don't need the approval of a third party whether you are trading or exchanging funds.
The blockchain itself is a platform.
Blockchain technology refers to a way for all people to participate in bookkeeping. There is a database behind all systems. You can think of the database as a big ledger. At present, we keep separate accounts.
Because there is no centralized intermediary, making everything run automatically through preset programs can not only greatly reduce costs, but also improve efficiency. And because everyone's account books are the same, it can ensure that the account book recording process is open and transparent.
Blockchain technology is the underlying technology of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been running very stably for many years without the operation and management of any centralized organization, so some people noticed its underlying technology and abstracted it, calling it blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology.
A report released by Santander, Spain's largest bank, shows that if blockchain technology is used in global banks around 2020, it will save about $20 billion a year. Such data is enough to illustrate the tremendous changes and breakthroughs that the "blockchain" has brought to the traditional financial sector.
Cloud computing is usually defined as providing dynamically scalable and usually virtualized resources through the Internet, but it is usually a centralized organization that provides a cloud computing platform. The network composed of blockchain generally has no specific organization, so blockchain is closer to the definition of distributed computing system and belongs to a kind of distributed computing.
Future Development and Application Scenarios of Blockchain
1, digital identity
Many people will encounter the dilemma of "proving that my mother is my mother" when opening various certificates. With the blockchain, you don't have to worry anymore.
It turns out that our birth certificate, real estate license, marriage certificate and so on. You need a central node before everyone can admit it. Once transnational, contracts and certificates may be invalid due to the lack of global central nodes.
The unbreakable characteristics of blockchain technology have fundamentally changed this situation. Our birth certificate, real estate license and marriage certificate can be notarized in the blockchain and become something trusted by the whole world. Of course, it is easy to prove that "my mother is my mother".
2. Health care
To put it simply, it is to use blockchain to build a general record base with time stamp, so as to extract data information from different databases.
For example, if you go to see a doctor, you don't have to go to other hospitals for repeated inspections, and you don't have to go over and over again for medical insurance reimbursement, which can save time and expenses.
3. Tourism consumption
For example, we often use Ctrip, Meituan and other apps to find and order hotels and other services, and each platform gets commissions from them.
The application of blockchain is to remove middlemen, create a safe and decentralized way for service providers and customers, and achieve the purpose of direct connection and transaction.
4. More convenient transactions
Blockchain can make payment and transaction more efficient and convenient. The blockchain platform allows users to create smart contracts, which will become active when certain conditions are met, which means that automatic payment can be released when both parties agree to meet their conditions.
5. Strictly control product quality.
If you buy an apple, under the technology of blockchain, you can know the whole process from fruit farmers' production to circulation. There are government regulatory information, professional testing data, enterprise quality inspection data and so on. Intelligent supply chain will make the food we eat and the goods we use safer and make us feel more at ease.
6, the art of property rights protection
The creator puts his works on the blockchain, and when someone uses his works, he can know immediately. The corresponding royalties will also be automatically paid to the creator.
Blockchain technology can not only protect copyright, but also help creators to sell their works to consumers better and more directly without the assistance of distribution companies.
What does blockchain mean? 3 Advantages of blockchain
Decentralization, without the intervention of a third party, realizes point-to-point transaction, coordination and cooperation. Because the data is distributed in all nodes through algorithms and has a unique verification mechanism, no organization or individual can control the global data. Because it is distributed in all nodes, if any node stops working, it will not affect the overall operation of the system. This decentralized network will greatly improve the security of data. The data in the system is maintained by all nodes with maintenance function.
Openness, except that the private information of all parties in the system is encrypted, the blockchain data is open to everyone, and anyone can query the blockchain data and develop related applications through the open interface, so the whole system information is highly transparent.
Use of blockchain
Blockchain is an open, transparent, decentralized and secure technology, and the revolution of this technology is applied to the Internet. For data sensitive fields such as medical treatment, public opinion supervision and ecological detection, it can prevent data from being tampered with and ensure the authenticity of data.
In short, blockchain is not only a virtual currency, but its advantages will play an important role in many industries.