What is blockchain? - Takamaka node

WHAT IS THE BLOCKCHAIN?

The blockchain is not easy to define, since it's constantly evolving and subjected to different interpretations according to its usage.

Nowadays, to simplify this concept, we can affirm that the blockchain is a public encrypted archive, which is organized in blocks, where each block contains transactions, and is linked to the others forming a chain.

The administration of this archive is assigned to a node network, where all nodes are involved in the creation of blocks through a consensus mechanism.

The blockchain is autonomous and it doesn’t need any central external authority to guarantee the certainty of its data.

The peculiarities of the blockchain archive are the following ones:

DISTRIBUTED

The logic of management and trust are completely distributed to a network of subjects, which cooperate in decision-making process, where nobody has an autonomous authority, but it is necessary to have the 50%+1 consensus from the nodes. More over, the data are not in a single place (node) but are in all the nodes of the network.

SAFE

Data security is a very important aspect when focusing on governmental and business data. There are different types of events that can endanger the security of these data. Being kept in hundreds of nodes, in every corner of the globe, guarantees the data’s security against every kind of eventuality. Moreover, the security algorithms of the blockchains became so sophisticated that they are considered inviolable.

IMMUTABLE

Once the data are recorded on the register, they can be changed only with the node network approval.

TRACKABLE

Every block contains the transactions and the history of the introduced changes. For this reason, the blockchain is able to guarantee and certify the complete history of every transaction.