网易100天---19、What Is Blockchain, The Ingenious Technology?

What Is Blockchain, The Ingenious Technology?
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Passage 1
区块链简介
A Gentle Introduction To Blockchain Technology
From binaryinformatics · 549 words · 5 mins
The Blockchain is the new technology buzzword these days, but what is it? Let us find out…

The blockchain is a digital ledger of online transactions that can keep records of not only just financial transactions but virtually every kind of data transaction. To simplify this, let us take an analogy of a database that is available across a network of computers, this network is designed to keep this data updated regularly. This idea of shared data available across a network is the basic concept behind blockchain.

It was originally invented to create a database that will record Cryptocurrency transactions.

To manage transparency, the transaction of cryptocurrency is managed by its peer to peer network, and not by just one central authority. This decentralization of data creates a robust shared peer to peer network.

WHAT IS THE USE OF BLOCKCHAIN?

Is a shared digital ledger really useful in your day to day life?

The question is legit but there are many practical uses of this technology that will help you to sort your everyday life. For example, the finance sector is one of the strongest use cases for the technology. The World Bank estimated that over $430 billion in money transfers were sent in 2015 and the blockchain will potentially cut out the middleman for these types of transactions making the transactions more cost-efficient.

Today, personal computing is the inseparable part of our lives this became possible due to the invention of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), commonly known as “desktop”. The “wallet” applications are the GUI devised for the blockchain, which is used to do financial transactions using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Transactions online are closely associated with the processes of identity verification for the security and safety purpose. These wallet apps will evolve in the near future to include other types of identity management.

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WHAT ARE THE EVERYDAY APPLICATIONS OF BLOCKCHAIN?

Blockchain chain technology gives users the ability to create a pool of value-based and authentic digital information, resulting in various useful business applications.

Smart contracts

The distributed ledgers enable the coding of self-executing contracts that will execute when specific conditions are met. For instance, a payer will only pay for a specific service once a service provider meets certain benchmark, using the blockchain technology and Cryptocurrency enabling the payout to be automated.

File storage

Your files will be safe from hackers on a decentralized file storage network, this distribution of data throughout the network protects the database from getting hacked or lost.

Data management

To use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter we share our personal data for free but imagine if you can sell this data? Blockchain will empower users to manage and sell the data their online activity generates by easily distributing in small fractional amounts, Cryptocurrency will be used for this type of transaction.

Besides these basic applications, to take the technology above and beyond this distributed network must also be committed to the transaction network’s authentication.

Authentication and authorization enabled blockchain will allow digital transactions without relying on trust. Today, every sector around the world is betting on the potential implications of this development, creating powerful digital relationships! Blockchain will be the backbone for the transaction layer of the Internet in the future, creating the Internet of Value.
Passage 2
虚拟货币为何物？
What Is Cryptocurrency
From bitfallss · 294 words · 3 mins
In this article, we’ll explain blockchain technology on a banal example that’s nonetheless valid for most cryptocurrencies currently in circulation. Not familiar with the concept of cryptocurrency? See here!

Mario and Luigi

Mario needs to send $100 to his brother, Luigi, because Luigi being Luigi, he got into some debts at the other end of the world.

Mario walks into the bank and says “I’d like to send $100 to Luigi”. The teller says “Account card please.”, “ID please”, and “done”, in that order.

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In this centralized scenario the bank is the central authority over Mario’s and Luigi’s money. Both Mario and Luigi trust the bank to transfer the amount, and believe the numbers shown on their bank account statements. They trust the bank despite the fact that all the bank has to do is – change a number in a database. It’s all digital, after all.

However, when we’re dependent on such a central authority, that authority poses a certain threat. It can disappear with our money, it can be evil and not increase Luigi’s value while decreasing Mario’s value, thereby keeping the difference, or it can just be clumsy and make a mistake. Our finances depend directly on their competence.

One way of preventing such scenarios is skipping the bank entirely and having our own system of tracking value and the travel of value from one location to the next.

Imagine a piece of paper on which we’re noting down the status of our bank account. If only Mario and Luigi are using that system, it’s hard to keep it fair – if one of them becomes greedy, the system is already compromised. Hence, such a distributed (non-centralized) system needs to have enough participants to make it viable – a minimum of three.