First IBM, and now Infosys has already decided to go all in on Blockchain. Both the leaders have already started setting up dedicated units for the same. But where did this all hype start from in the first place?
How it started?
Remember Bitcoin? Yeah the cryptocurrency introduced back in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. When it started, the programmers and even the traders saw a good potential in it. What no one expected was a the exponential rate with which it would grow.
The technological breakthroughs that made bitcoin possible fascinate leading figures in Silicon Valley. Many of them believe parts of Nakamoto’s idea can be recycled for other uses.
– “That is using cryptography to organise a complex network structures to build workable solutions.”
“The ‘blockchain’ technology that underpins bitcoin, a sort of peer-to-peer system of running a currency, is presented as a piece of innovation on a par with the introduction of limited liability for corporations, or private property rights, or the internet itself.” – The Economist
So what is Blockchain?
To quote in Layman – “Basically blockchain is a giant ledger that keeps track of who owns how much bitcoin.”
The coins themselves are not physical objects, nor even digital files, but entries in the blockchain ledger. Owning bitcoin is merely having a claim on a piece of information sitting on the blockchain.
– “The same could be said of how a bank keeps track of how much money is kept in each of its accounts.”
So technically speaking – “Blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that records transactions across many computers. And it does this in such a way that the registered transactions cannot be altered retroactively. This allows the participants to verify and audit transactions in an inexpensive manner.”
To summarize:
It facilitates secure online transactions.
Well, now you see how interesting this gets.
“Banks like Citi, RBS and Hartford are already planning to start experimenting with blockchain. We also have ongoing payment wallets like PayPal and many who could really use this sorcerer’s stone to make their existing system robust.”