Recently, the world has seen a development in the technological sense, meaning that anything digital is constantly emerging and improving. On the exterior side of things, we have laptops, phones and tablets that are swift when it comes to running programs because of the development of faster software, all while these are conveniently sized.
Internally, you see that particular focus has been placed on security, which has also been improving with the times. One of the developments is businesses hiring a blockchain dev company to create a secure online application.
However, there are many questions when it comes to blockchain applications, let alone a blockchain. This may be a complicated structure to understand, but these dev companies are one thing people shouldn’t forget.
Understanding Hierarchical Structures
To first understand a blockchain’s development, you must first look at the concept of a blockchain. The best way to picture a blockchain is to think of hierarchical graphs. Some examples to consider are a family tree or an organizational structure, as they use diagrams to explain them.
The idea of the hierarchical graph gives people a sense of how things work and where things originate. For the family tree, this tells us who a person is descended from and any other descendants from the line. Likewise, organizational structures inform workers or even interns more about the processes of their workplace.
Hypothetically, if one part of a family tree or organizational structure is affected, the entire system and its process will also be affected.
Hierarchical Structures & Blockchains
Essentially, these blockchains work the same way that the graph works typically, but there are some differences as it doesn’t involve a family member or business employee. After all, they are digital structures that concern themselves with data and security.
In simple terms, a blockchain is a long list of records referred to as blocks, and they are interconnected through cryptography. The way this works is that every block contains:
- Transaction data.
- A timestamp of the transaction.
- A piece of data from the previous block. This is what we call the cryptographic hash.
Like a hierarchical structure, a blockchain has multiple blocks interconnected because of the cryptographic hash. The hash can be described as the “fingerprint” of each block in the form of a code. In each block, there are two hashes inside of them. The first is the block’s hash, and the other is the hash of the previous block. This is the same with all the other blocks except for the first one, the Genesis Block.
Changing The Data of the Blocks
This looks pretty unproblematic as a system, but there are times when someone may change one of the blocks’ hashes. Hypothetically, if someone were to tamper with the block’s hash, the hash would change as well. When this happens, all the succeeding blocks of the tampered one will be invalid. This is because of the discrepancy of the hash changing, which affects the entire system.
Nevertheless, hashing isn’t enough to prevent tampering as computers today are fast enough to tamper with multiple blocks in a short period. In light of these situations, proof-of-work is what the developers make use of, which essentially slows down the creation of newer blocks. For example, Bitcoin uses these blockchains, and it takes 10 minutes to calculate the proof-of-work and create a new block.
Now, if someone were to tamper with a block, you will need to recalculate this proof-of-work for the other blocks. This is a security system that uses hashing and proof-of-work, which is highly effective as one.
Another option would be to distribute the work through a Peer-To-Peer network where people receive copies of the blockchains, and their job is to verify and organize the entire chain. With the creation of a new block, all the people given access to this block will make sure that no tampering has happened.
Why The Big Fuss About Blockchain Development?
Even with the simplest explanation, blockchains and their applications are confusing. Nonetheless, the benefits can sum up how important blockchain development is.
Storing Data With The Securest of Securities
The number one reason companies should consider hiring a blockchain developer is that this offers an incredible amount of security. As stated before, if one part of this is tampered with, the entire system will be affected. For support, proof-of-work and P2P administrators are included.
From this, we can say that the system is very protective of the data attached to it. Of course, the changing of any transaction will be rejected by other blocks in the structure. But, of course, whatever data you put on the application will stay that way for eternity with this kind of system.
Speed It Up!
While the blockchain application may be slowed down by some processing and automating, the general system isn’t prone to ordinary people’s mistakes. There is only one place to streamline all the transactions made when it comes to transactions, and this is the digital ledger.
By having one place to store all transactions and preventing human errors, things will undoubtedly be as fast and as efficient as you could imagine.
Clarity In Your Business
A strength of this application is its decentralized network, meaning that they don’t need authority. With this, transparency regarding rules and regulations is much better.
Some peers are responsible for completing and validating transactions. Technically, these transactions can be handled by peers, but the decentralized network uses a consensus method. Through this consensus method, transparency is made so much easier.
Tracing Your Products
By making use of blockchains, product-selling companies can entirely focus on supply chains with vendors and creators. With this, they may also trace their products and ensure that none isn’t being replaced or misused in the process. In addition to product tracing, they may also choose to use this within their companies for traceability.
Conclusion
The blockchain is one of the many developments in an ever-changing technological world. Choosing not to evolve with the times will only lead to a business’s destruction in the future. With this, it’s not wise to do business without something as secure and convenient as the blockchain app.
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