A-Z 2024 Blockchain and Cryptography Latest Guide

Blockchain is the expected trending technology of the future, though many articles and analysis have suggested that Artificial intelligence is the expected technology that will trend in 2030. It seems to be true, but reason with me, the population and the energy that comes with blockchain, and the technology that has help people to become rich and wealthy is the blockchain technology. Almost all sector or all Wealthy people in the world have invested in crypto currencies or blockchain technology.

According to a post by Coindesk, the Former US president have invested so much in crypto currencies and the former post we posted some days back point also to the US president at Nashville. Blockchain has revolutionized industries as far-flung as finance and supply chain management by providing the very first decentralized, secure way to record transactions. This paper discusses the details of blockchain—right from its foundational technologies, cryptography and distributed systems, to actually building your own blockchain network. Before we go further, lets understand what Blockchain is all about.

What is blockchain and Blockchain networks

Blockchain is a decentralized ledger technology that aids in recording transactions within many computers. These transactions are, therefore, grouped into blocks and then linked with one another to form a blockchain. Every block in that chain carries a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and data on transactions.

A blockchain network is a type of digital, peer-to-peer, decentralized ledger-like system that works based on immutably recording transactions across a large number of computers, thereby making it impossible to alter the record retroactively. It provides a high level of security, transparency, and trust without requiring an authority.

Cryptography is the science of securing communication and data through the use of mathematical techniques. It ensures confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation of information.

I know some people will still be a little confuse with this definition, and I believe it to be true. The concept of blockchain and it networks combine together sometimes seems confusing. A smart person will think “what is blockchain or blockchain technology and what is blockchain networks”.

Brief Overview of Blockchain

Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta presented the idea of a cryptographically secured chain of blocks. This was basically to come up with a system in which document timestamps could not be rolled back or compromised in any manner. In 2008, under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, somebody or a group released a whitepaper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”. In January 2009, Nakamoto was able to mine the very first block of the Bitcoin network, also known as the Genesis Block, and with it came the birth of the very first blockchain. Through these years, blockchain essentially served as a synonym for Bitcoin. It got prominent attention among technologists and libertarians who were charmed by its decentralized nature. Other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin and Namecoin started emerging, leveraging the underlying blockchain technology. It was in 2013 that a programmer named Vitalik Buterin proposed Ethereum in late 2013 and began development in early 2014. For full history of blockchain, comment below so I can drop article on that, or visit this platform.

What made up a Blockchain technology

1. Cryptography

Cryptography forms the backbone of blockchain security. It involves mathematical techniques to secure communication and data.

Symmetric Key Cryptography: Uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.

Asymmetric Key Cryptography: A pair of keys is used – a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.

Hash Functions: To produce a fixed-size hash value from input data; these guarantee the integrity of data.

Digital Signatures: Source authentication and message integrity

Zero Knowledge Proofs: One party proves to another that something is true without giving away more than they need to.

2. Distributed Systems

A Distributed system is a system in which a collection of independent computers, which do not share a common memory, work together to accomplish one or more tasks. Some of the fundamental characteristics include:

Multiple Nodes: Independent computers communicate with and coordinate activities.

Concurrency: Efficiency added by having multiple nodes do things at the same time.

Fault Tolerance: System up and running even if some of the nodes go down

Scalability: System can become bigger by addition of more nodes.

Transparency: Distribution complexity hidden from the user.

Different blockchains you should know

Bitcoin: Bitcoin is a single blockchain, that was built as a decentralized digital currency and store of value. Its consensus mechanism is Proof of Work. Primarily, it should serve to be a digital currency and a store of value for Bitcoin.

Ethereum: Ethereum has its private blockchain designed to work with smart contracts and decentralized applications. Its Consensus Mechanism is Proof of Work, switching over to Proof of Stake with Ethereum 2.0.

Solana: Solana runs its own blockchain; this has been optimized for high throughput and low transaction costs. Its consensus mechanism is a merger of Proof of History and Proof of Stake.

Someone asked, “What is Dapp and how is it different from regular apps

A decentralized application is normally called a DApp, which is a software application running over a blockchain network or multiple networks and not on a single computer or a server.

How is it different from normal/Regular apps?

Regular App	DApp
This runs on a central server controlled by one single entity, like, Facebook or Google.	Runs on multiple networks, a decentralized network—blockchain—where control is at the helm of all participants in a given network.

Benefit of Blockchain

• It does not include any central authority because the decentralization of data occurs over a network of nodes.
• A transaction is encrypted with cryptography; hence, it’s immutable, providing data integrity.
• The open ledger consists of all transactions, visible to the participants, thereby accounting for everything.
• It is efficient in that smart contracts automate procedures, thus eliminating the intermediaries involved and increasing transaction speed.
• It reduces transaction costs through the elimination of intermediaries and rationalization of processes.

How do Blockchain executed?

A student asked me about the mode of execution of blockchain technology some months ago, so today being your first time of reading this article, I will explain a little execution process of blockchain.

• A user initiates a transaction, which is broadcast across the network.
• Each node on the network verifies the transaction through predefined consensus mechanisms, such as PoW (Proof of work) or PoS (Proof of stake).
• The miner or validator bundles these validated transactions into a block.
• Nodes agree to the new block through the consensus protocol.
• The new block is added to the blockchain, and each node updates its ledger copy.

According to another question that says “how is blockchain different from normal or single server”

Single Server: It sustains only a centralized control and data storage, that means it has only one data storage that is control from an end. Single point of failure may cause loss or manipulation of data. Trust is given to a central authority managing the server. Transparency is limited. It is vulnerable to hacking, data breaches, and manipulation. Those with access can change or remove data.

Blockchain: Data is very secure and resilient since it is shared among many nodes in a decentralized network. Trust resides in consensus mechanisms and cryptographic proof. Very transparent since each party holds a copy of the public ledger. Higher security due to cryptographic techniques and decentralized validation. All data, once recorded, is close to impossible to change, thereby maintaining the integrity of the data. Most of the intermediaries are reduced or eliminated, making a transaction faster with lower transaction costs.

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