Blurt Trading Academy Season 1 Week 2: Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

I am very pleased indeed to be here on blurt an gladdened indeed at this wonderful initiative which i believe is a step in the right direction for blurt which is going to help us bring more people into the blurt community

What Is Blockchain

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Today when we talk about blockchain many simply see's it as the technology that powers the first cryptocurrency bitcoin, but blockchain involves much more than that it because there isn't just that. A blockchain is a distributed ledger capable of recording different transactions.

Blockchain is a technology that stores information in batches called blocks which is being linked together in a chronological order to form somewhat of a continuous line or better known as a chain of blocks. When a change is made in the information that is stored in a particular block we can't rewrite that block but rather this new information is being stored in a new block with the dates of when this changes was being made.

Blockchain is based on the centuries old method of the general financial ledger, it's a non-destructive way to track changes over time unlike the age-old ledger method which was originally a book then a database file stored on a single system blockchain was designed to be decentralised and distributed across a large network of computers, this decentralising of information reduces the ability of data tempering.

Blockchain also creates a trust in the data in that before a block can be added to the chain a few has to happen one of them being the fact that a cryptographic puzzle has to be solved which leads to a block creation and the computer which solves this puzzle shares the information to all of the other computers on the network which is a proof of work and then this vast network will verify the proof of work and if it is found to be correct it will be added on the chain. The combination of this complex maths puzzle and the verification by many computers ensures that we can be able to trust each and every block on the chain since the trust building has been done by the network for us. The blockchain technology provides a trusted peer to peer interaction with our data which had revolutionise the way to access, verify and transact with one another. Now the blockchain is a type of technology which can be implemented in different ways it could be public or private or hybrid private-public blockchain.

What Is Cryptocurrency

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Well cryptocurrency is a form of digital or virtual currency that runs on a technology which is known as blockchain and is designed to work as a medium of exchange online to buy goods and services and make payments which was brought to us first in 2013 by Satoshi Nakomoto when the first cryptocurrency was created in Bitcoin.

Unlike our fiat and traditional money cryptocurrency is decentralised and free from any interference from third parties, it's not issued neither is it being controlled by any government or central authority unlike the other payment systems being handled by the government and cryptocurrency transaction are usually faster and easier with a much more success rate of successful transactions and cryptocurrency transaction fee are very low or non at all in some cases and offers no limit in making transaction and is available 24/7 and anyone could use cryptocurrency from any part of the globe and it reduces stress since we don't have to go through any hassles of paper work.

The cryptocurrency can be divided into two or is formed by joined two things "crypto" and "currency" ofcourse we know what currency is, i mean whatever we can use as a medium of exchanging goods and services and making payments can be termed as a currency and today our typical and generally accepted currency is paper money, the crypto is cryptocurrency stands for cryptography which is a method of using encryption and decryption to secure the data in the presence of any third party with ulterior motives. I believe cryptocurrency is revolutionising banking and finance the world over and over time will be generally accepted as a medium of exchange and a store of value this i believe

Cryptocurrency are quite immune to counterfeiting unlike our fiat money today and don't also require a central authority like our traditional banking system and they are protected by strong and complex encryption algorithm

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are interwoven in that blockchain is the technology on which cryptocurrency runs that's their common and unbreakable relationship

How Cryptocurrency And Blockchain Has Made Life Easier

There are a lot of ways that cryptocurrency and it's technology blockchain has made life easier. The blockchain technology is a wonderful initiative which has transformed the human life forever and change our general view of finance in general.

Well there are many examples of how crypto and blockchain have made our life easier today our banking system has a lot of fault that makes them untrustworthy but yet for some reasons it seems or almost look like we had no other option despite their faults we still continue to keep our money with them since it beats the alternative that of keeping it in our home until cryptocurrency and blockchain comes about which has provided us with the best possible alternative by eliminating all the faults of the traditional banking system and making it possible for us to be in full control of our money without meddling from anywhere whatsoever and without any needless regulations which slows or stops transaction, blockchain technology has made it so that financial power has been given to the masses and taken from the government.

Another way our life has been made easier with cryptocurrency is that we can freely travel to different countries far and wide without really having any need whatsoever to carry bundles of money or even credit cards since we don't need those to execute transactions. Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has drastically reduced transaction fees imposed by the middle men while ensuring that transactions are carried out smoothly and faster eliminating any fraudulent act like we see today where fraudsters often deceive people with fake transfers that can't be down with cryptocurrency since all transactions are verified on the blockchain and can't be faked.

Cryptocurrency has also made it easier for us to buy goods online thereby reducing the stress of moving from one place to another to buy goods we can simply at the comfort of our home buy a goods and then make permanent with crypto which is verifiable and permanent and can't be denied since we can't really wipe out the history. Transfers also are done in matter of seconds with cryptocurrency even transfers from one country to another and there is no rigours involved such as we see in our banking systems where sometimes transfers are being held up for almost a week because of network or one other problems, we don't have such issues with cryptocurrency as checks and balances aren't required.

All in all i believe that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has made life easier for us and any system that adopts it, no doubt it will help to bring about transperancy and ease and revolutionise that system

What Is Decentralisation

Decentralisation is the opposite of centralisation, in a centralised system power lies with one central body but in a decentralised entity power lies not just on one central authority but it is being evenly spread so to speak among all the members or users as the case may be which also makes communication between these groups to be feasible between and in and among the team members.

Decentralisation is like a loosely coupled system instead of an assembly line where it is tightly coupled and everything is affecting the other a loosely coupled system is where the pieces are still connected but the connection are kind of like an inter-dependent connection which is to say if one team is affected the rest could still continue working and it won't put a halt to the other teams unlike in a centralised system where in anything happens to the central authority then the rest of the members are hugely affected.

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So in a decentralised system it kind of creates a division among various units which are autonomous which each being vested some decision making power in such a way it is spread among every levels its kind of equal division of labour which inturn ensures that everyone has a say in the day to day running and implementation of things in the system, a decentralised system also offers security to its users unlike a centralised system where all the servers are connected to one entity which makes it easy targets for a hack attempts a decentralised system is not like that because it is connected through multiple servers making it impossible for hackers to breach in and accomplish their Malicious intent.

Advantage Of Decentralisation

• A decentralised system creates an open source communication lines among it various users

• A decentralised system also reduces all the hassle of third parties or middle men

• It's more adaptable to change than a centralised system

• There is better supervision and control

• Another advantage of decentralisation is that it ensures quick decision on the betterment of the company is made on time

• the top management also do not have to carry all the burdens of the company as the lower level government are entrusted with some basic powers also

Thanks @zology69 for this lesson