These days, it feels like everyone is talking about cryptocurrency. However, a word that keeps popping up in conversations about bitcoin is blockchain.
You might have some grasp on what bitcoin is — but what does blockchain mean? What is blockchain technology? Where can you learn blockchain technology?
If you’ve found yourself asking this question, you’ve come to the right place. This article seeks to define blockchain technology and show you how you can benefit from it.
The Connection to Bitcoin
To understand blockchain, you have understood bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a completely digital currency developed in 2009 by an anonymous entity named Satoshi Nakamoto. It promised to be a completely peer-to-peer currency not needing the government for any step of the process. It’s able to fulfill these ideals because 1. its digital nature means there doesn’t need to be any minting, and 2. it introduced blockchain technology.
Blockchain is the way by which blockchain avoids fraudulent interactions. While there is the possibility of someone counterfeiting print money, the dangers in cryptocurrency are expanded to duplicate transactions.
In blockchain, people, known as bitcoin miners, solve complex cryptographic equations that make sure that each bitcoin interaction is secure. Bitcoin miners verify every single bitcoin interaction — hence, bitcoin is completely peer-to-peer and completely safe. Each interaction is a “block” added to a “chain” of verified interactions.
Other Uses For Blockchain
Some people don’t like bitcoin and don’t think that it’s worth very much at all. However, almost everyone admits that blockchain is a revolutionary type of technology. Let’s take a look at some of the ways blockchain can help out your business.
Say you manufacture high-quality authentic olive oil. Olive oil is one of the easiest types of food to counterfeit, so you’re able to charge a higher price for authentic alcohol. Because of this, your customers have come to expect quality and authenticity from your product.
However, recently, some of your workers in a distant location have made a pact to counterfeit some olive oil and sell the authentic stuff yourself. Normally, you’d be none the wiser, and have to deal with customer complaints. You might even have to pull your whole product if the word gets out on social media to avoid a boycott, which can cost you weeks.
However, with blockchain, every step of the process has to be verified and given a serial number. That means that the counterfeited bottles of oil can be easily traced back to the specific workers who counterfeited the oil. Through the chain, you can trace the bottle of olive oil that they worked with, and only pull those ones from the shelves.
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Learn Blockchain Technology
A lot of people like to throw out big terms related to bitcoin. However, at the end of the day, it isn’t that difficult to learn blockchain technology. Consider the connection to bitcoin and the olive oil example, and you’re well on your way to understanding this important new technology.
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