Is Blockchain the Next Big Thing?

Apac CIO Outlook | Wednesday, March 17, 2021

There are several blockchain platforms that allow the creation of blockchain applications by using blockchain technology.

Fremont, CA: In recent months, blockchain technology has received a lot of attention. The rising popularity and prices of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have dominated financial headlines all over the world. Institutional investors, such as major banks, and public-facing billionaires, such as Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, have backed cryptocurrencies in recent years. In addition, businesses such as Square and PayPal have begun to integrate cryptocurrencies into their offerings as a means of paying for goods and services.

However, the blockchain is much more than just Bitcoin. In a nutshell, the blockchain's power is built on a distributed, stored, and managed ledger of transactions through multiple computing nodes in a blockchain network. Every time a user of a blockchain network decides to execute a series of transactions, a set of corresponding transaction entries is stored in a new, standalone block that is propagated to and therefore replicated on the blockchain network's computing nodes. When each computing node receives a block, it runs verification software to ensure that the received block is compatible across the blockchain and can be added to it. A block is added to each computing node's local copy of the blockchain if a consensus is reached among the computing nodes using a consensus algorithm. The added block contains a reference to previous blocks in the blockchain, as well as a cryptographic signature on the basis of metadata from the previous block. As a result, any attempt to alter, add, or remove a block in the blockchain has a negative impact on the authentication of all subsequent blocks and is unlikely to succeed, particularly if the block is early in the chain. In general, this system guarantees the blockchain's transparency by rendering it largely immutable and auditable.

There are several blockchain platforms that allow the creation of blockchain applications by using blockchain technology. Enterprise cloud service providers, such as Amazon, for example, provide managed blockchain services based on their strong cloud computing capabilities. Such blockchain services make it much easier to join public blockchain networks by creating nodes in such blockchain networks or create as well as manage scalable private blockchain networks utilizing proprietary software or open-source frameworks, such as Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum.