What Is Blockchain Technology? How Does It Work?

One of the most highly anticipated inventions of the twenty-first century is blockchain technology and Kiss.Software is primed to innovate around blockchain development. There are already dozens of cryptocurrencies powered by blockchains, and blockchain development is striving to incorporate the technology into a wide range of industries ranging from medical to commercial art and finance. Kiss.Software has experts in all of these areas:

  • mobile apps
  • custom software systems
  •  cyber security
  • blockchain projects

Understanding blockchain development technology, why it has value, and how it differs from other internet technologies will help explain the increased interest and why Kiss.Software is working to develop cutting edge solutions in this arena.

Blockchain Defined 

A blockchain is a distributed database of digital transactions that is nearly impossible to change or hack. Individuals can trade directly with each other without the need for a third-party middleman like a government, bank, or other institution. 

Diagram showing blockchain footprint

Using cryptography, the chunks of data are connected together. Using peer-to-peer computer networks, transactions are independently validated, time-stamped, and contributed to a growing chain of information. Once a record has been made it cannot be tampered with or deleted. 

Kiss.Software Can Explain Blockchain Development 

Here’s how blockchain works using the Bitcoin system as an example: There is a network of powerful computers, known as nodes, where the purchase and selling of Bitcoin is input and sent. 

There are hundreds of nodes in this network, all around the world, competing to use computer algorithms to verify the transaction. Bitcoin mining is a term for this activity. Bitcoin is awarded to the first miner to successfully complete a new block. Fees collected by the network are used to pay the incentives. The buyer and seller share in the fees collected. According to the amount of transactions, fees might either climb or decline. 

Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-silver-and-gold-coins-8370391/

The transaction is added to a block on the distributed ledger once following cryptographic verification. Then the transaction needs to be approved by a majority of the network. 

A cryptographic fingerprint, called a hash, is used to permanently link the block to all prior blocks of bitcoin transactions, and the deal is completed. 

The notion of blockchain development technology originally emerged in academic publications in 1982, in a dissertation  about the design of distributed computer systems could be built, maintained, and trusted by mutually suspicious organizations. It wasn’t until Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper published under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, that an academic idea was put into practice. 

Kiss.Software Explains The Safety Level of Blockchain Developments

The workings of blockchain are now clear, but is the technique safe enough to be implemented in a business setting? Currently are no networks on the Internet that are “hack proof” but it’s true that blockchain provides the best level of security compared to any other technology currently available. 

The conventional centralized system do not function the same way as blockchain. In order to be compromised you’d have to compromise everything related to it. The fact that it’s secured indicates that it’s a project of considerable complexity. 

A blockchain hack would need an enormous number of resources, which would be more expensive in the long run than the benefit itself.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.