Blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a Computer Network. It is essentially a database, that saves a copy of the database across multiple nodes instead of saving it in one place. It is also called a Distributed Ledger.
Immutability is one of the most important properties of a Blockchain. Once a record has been saved in the digital block, it is impossible to reverse it. We can also perform a reverse transaction, but that leaves a log. It’s impossible to remove the original transaction. This makes, Blockchain technology highly useful for business cases where auditing is very important. This feature ensures that this ledger is always speaking the truth, and can never be corrupted.
Decentralisation is another feature of Blockchain, that makes it so powerful. There’s no central authority or governing authority that looks after a Blockchain. It lives on a group of nodes, which makes it Decentralized. Decentralization ensures that a Blockchain has fewer chances of Failure, is less prone to breakdown, gives control back in the hand of the user, has no third-party involvement, has complete transparency and makes it of authentic nature.
Cryptography ensures that all the data that gets written on a blockchain is Encrypted. It works as a security layer on the system. Cryptography is a rather complex mathematical algorithm that acts as a firewall for attacks. Every information on the blockchain is hashed cryptographically. In simple terms, the information on the network hides the true nature of the data. For this process, any input data gets through a mathematical algorithm that produces a different kind of value, but the length is always fixed. Users have a private key to access their data but will have a public key to make transactions.
Consensus is one of the most powerful blockchain features. Every blockchain thrives because of its Consensus algorithm. Every network uses this mechanism to make a decision.
In simple words, the consensus is a decision-making process for the group of nodes that lives on a blockchain network. Here, the nodes can come to an agreement quickly and relatively faster. When millions of nodes are validating a transaction, a consensus is absolutely necessary for a system to run smoothly. You could think of it as a kind of a voting system, where the majority wins, and the minority has to support it. The consensus is responsible for the network being trustless. Nodes might not trust each other, but they can trust the algorithms that run at the core of it. That’s why every decision on the network is a winning scenario for the blockchain.
Blockchain is a technology that can be used for many use cases. The most hyped ones till now are Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, Web 3.0 Apps. This is just a start not the end.