What is blockchain?

Investing with moomoo wrote a column · May 17, 2021 17:01

To understand cryptocurrency, there is one concept that you couldn’t avoid ---blockchain

The simplest way of explanation, blockchain is a specific type of database.

A traditional database runs in a centralized organizing way that requires an administrator to manage and maintain all of the info. Blockchain orient its data in a decentralized way that requires no individual to manage. It simply structures all data into blocks that are all chained together in chronological order. When a block is filled, it would become immutable and formed as a part of its timeline. Each block would be given an auto-generated hash code as it becomes chained.

What gives birth to crypto?

The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed, but not edited.

The Bitcoin transaction system is built on a blockchain. Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, referred to it as “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.” Bitcoin achieves its transparency and immutability by using blockchain as its ledger of all recorded payments.

Blockchain Hash examples

Once a transaction is recorded, thousands of computers in the network automatically confirm if the details of the transaction are correct. A new transaction can only be added to the block after it’s verified by the blockchain network. Each block on the blockchain contains its unique hash, along with the unique hash of the block before it.