As cryptocurrency continues to be a hot topic, you may be wondering whether your business can benefit from crypto like bitcoin.
But what if I told you that the biggest opportunity for businesses of any kind is actually related to the technology that underlies bitcoin – blockchain. Blockchain, the public ledger that records all bitcoin transactions, is more than just a fad – it's changing life as we know it.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a bookkeeping system that uses an open, distributed record to track transactions – transactions can mean cryptocurrencies, NFTs, medical information, voting or household records, and many more.
These transactions get packaged into blocks – all of which are verified by other users in the system by completing math problems. Once a block is verified, it cannot be changed and is added to a chain of other permanent, already verified blocks.
The records held within these blocks make up a blockchain, and all users of the blockchain keep track of this record. It's basically one giant, shared ledger, but in practice, it's a lot more exciting than that.
Let's say the air fryer you bought last year isn't that tattered and you rarely use it. You can use a third party seller like eBay to sell it. These sellers act as a marketplace that connects you (the seller) with potential buyers - they make money by charging fees.
In this case, let's say the buyer is from Germany. When you sell on eBay, the platform verifies the transaction with your bank and the buyer's bank. It also verifies both your air fryer and the end buyer. However, if you use blockchain technology to sell your air fryer, you can remove all middlemen while maintaining safe, fast and secure transactions, even internationally.
No eBay, no banks, no fees, and no exchange rates - it's that simple.
History of blockchain
Before we delve into how blockchain makes this possible, let's talk about the history of blockchain. In October 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, the secretive founder of bitcoin, introduced the world to peer-to-peer electronic payments.
His cryptocurrency created the world's first blockchain. Because bitcoin's software is open source — allowing anyone to view, reuse, and adapt the code behind it — it didn't take long for users to modify it for various purposes.
Initially, blockchain users mostly tried to create better versions of bitcoin. Litecoin, an alternative cryptocurrency developed by a former Google employee, aims to provide faster transactions. Others, such as the meme-inspired Dogecoin, were created for people turned off by bitcoin's high price point.
Namecoin.org developed one of the first uses of blockchain for something other than cryptocurrency. The technology uses blockchain to register .bit domain names as an alternative to the primary domain name management system.
Namecoin makes it extremely difficult for outside players, such as governments, to control websites. Because .bit domains are registered in a blockchain, it is nearly impossible to change them without knowing the encryption key.
The next significant innovation came in 2013 when a small startup named Ethereum revealed a way for developers to easily create entirely new blockchains without relying on bitcoin's native code.
Two years later, Ethereum launched its new platform, allowing users to extend the functionality of the blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies.
Currently, companies and individuals are exploring how to use blockchain technology in healthcare, energy, supply chain management and many other industries – but more on that later. Technoloader is the leading blockchain development company and offers Blockchain Development services in India.
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