Blurttradinghub Academy season 2 week 2 - Blockchain

Hello everyone, welcome to season 2 week 2 of the blurttrading hub. We talked about Non-Fungible Tokens last week, and this week we are going to talk about Blockchain.

Blockchain

Blockchain can be described as a series of long transactions in digital ledgers that are nearly identical to the one that was executed before them. The major factor in blockchain is autonomy. The blockchain is autonomous in the sense that it is not controlled by a central body and for that reason it is possible to ensure that a particular transaction only happens once to effectively avoid double spending by people. By preventing double spending, no one is being stolen from and no one feels cheated.

This is a peer-to-peer system where individuals are responsible for overseeing and monitoring their transactions independently and in a relatively cheap way.
A block contains information such as transactions and cryptographic hash. So, the catenation of the blocks now forms a long chain of transactions which we know a blockchain.

Block creation

Every block created means that a transaction occurred and effectively telling us that the transaction took some time. The time it takes for a block to form is effectively the transaction time. Different blockchains have different transaction times that are dependent on some factors such are popularity, market cap and transaction cost. For example it takes about 14 seconds to complete a block on the ethereum blockchain whereas is takes about 10 minutes to complete a block on the bitcoin blockchain.

Blockchain types

There are various types of blockchain which are Private blockchain, Public blockchain and Hybrid blockchain.

Private blockchain

This is a system where users can only be invited to the blockchain by the administrators; they cannot use it at will. It is not open to the general public. It is mostly used by private organizations.

Public blockchain

Public blockchain is one that is open to the entire public without any form of restriction to users. No one is in charge; a peer-to-peer system of computers open to everybody is in charge.

Hybrid blockchain

This is one that has it's characteristics intermediate in behaviour to the private and public blockchain. It is neither here nor there.

Some important uses of Blockchain

Blockchain has numerous applications and we are going to explore some of them.

Cryptocurrency

Every cryptocurrency is built on a blockchain network. A cryptocurrency simply cannot exist without a blockchain. Blockchain is used in crypto to identify currencies that belong together and make sure they are in the correct network for transaction.

Game

Many games have adopted the use of crypto as methods of payment for in-app purchases. The downside to this, however is that what people do in the game cannot be regulated and as such people may end up spending so much on something that is actually worth very little. The first game to make use of crypto for payment was cryptokitties in 2017. It was a game about breeding cats online where people could buy virtual cats with real money. During that period a cat was sold for a record price of $100,000.

Conclusion

The impact blockchain technology has had on the world generally cannot be over emphasized. Blockchain has taken financial power out of the hands of a few and into the hands of the general public.

Rules

• Assignment should not be less than 300 words.
• Avoid plagiarism.
• use @nwabueze as one of your tags.

Assignment

1. In your own words define blockchain.
2. Explain two uses of blockchain.
3. In your own opinion, has blockchain done more harm than good to our society?