Why Blockchain is different from Current Contemporary Cloud-Based Services      

We all understood that blockchain is a ledger it's software but what makes blockchain so different from traditional ledgers is traditional funds recording if you think about it we can use technology today to record data as well right I can go on a computer I can record information I can go on a Google drive or you know a Google something which is cloud-based services and record information and that data is still being recorded digitally.

What makes blockchain different from current contemporary cloud-based Services

What makes blockchain different from current contemporary cloud-based Services I think that's the real question so blockchain as you could say if you were to summarize around five features which make it really different from traditional or contemporary means of recording data so these five Concepts and five elements are key to blockchain they really underpin the entire concept of blockchain and that's what really makes people excited.

When I talk about blockchain so number one is the cryptographic hash function, okay cryptographic hash number two is the immutable Ledger number three is a P2P Network the peer-to-peer Network which blockchain holds number four it's the consensus protocol that exists within the blockchain, and number five it's the validation method of blockchain which is you could say it's mining which is a common way or it's another something maybe another method and there are many methods and validation methods so these are really you could say the five key Concepts which underpin blockchain and make blockchain really exciting and really engaging for people.

What's really creating the Buzz in the industry and sector is these principles because blockchain as a concept is not the word blockchain it's what it stands for it's what it represents it's a difference you can make in businesses that's what is really appealing to people but how and what are the differences it's going to make it's through these methods we just discussed so for example number one is cryptographic Hash what do we mean what we mean is look a hush to be make it as simple as possible is basically a a method to get data and transform it into a string of numbers that's what hashing is right in a very simple way so that's what blockchain does blockchain can hash information make into a string of numbers no but what makes it different to encryption encryption does that also but encryption can be potentially two-way but what cryptographic hashtags it's only one way meaning it's just what you can't go back then so cryptographic hash and the the use of hashing in blockchain is about this idea of transforming data into a new form which is now you could say codified is scripted it becomes more secure and this kind of element makes blockchain really appealing to of course think about data is so the amount of laws and data data protection you know ensuring data is safe the world acknowledges the need to have secure data and this cryptographic hash function allows to secure data to make a cryptographic and that's why it's really appealing and so if you look at blockchain what happens is in blockchain every block has a hash of the previous block right and that's what makes so every block is attached to another so this number of blocks with data each block has the previous blocks hash meaning they're all connected because that hashing function is incorporated so you have a parent block and then you have you could say the child block right so the parent block has information that's transferred into the next block and so but that next block has a chain of all the previous blocks as well and all the information is connected all the information is hashed so if you change anything anywhere it'll impact the whole system and that's why you know it's it's what we call immutable. 

What we call immutable it's it's very secure and that's the second feature of blockchain was this idea of being immutable right and what do we mean by immutable is is this idea of being connected of inter connectedness that is not possible to modify any single block without changing the entire chain so that makes the process even more secure okay how does that make you secure because think about it what this means is nobody can tamper with information nobody can change the information all the information will be immutable because if you change information in any block it'll be  straight away understood that the information is being changed because all the blocks carry the same information so if you change the information anywhere in the process it'll send an alerted alarm but it'll be rejected by the system and this is the reason why it's really disrupting traditional Services where traditional services for example if you have money you want to send money from one country to another country you have a number of banks each Bank could be verifying the funds right and we'll be using its own way to validate the information but in blockchain you don't need to have you don't need each Bank to have its own Ledger or own record it'll only be from a blockchain perspective it'll only be one record and all of them have visibility to that so we we are then as we are then certain that no no one single Bank can change the information rather everybody think in one you know one time in real time with data the information and so you don't need to pay for the different intermediaries and for the checks and balances because the blockchain provides that trust inherently so that's the second thing image of a ledger number three which is a peer-to-peer Network.

I mentioned that it doesn't need blockchain does not need like a governing body or third party the peer-to-peer kind of function of blockchain which the participants themselves of them hold a copy of the blockchain all of them can view the blockchain all of them can be nodes and validate the blockchain so that removes a need to have some kind of overarching governing body ensuring that the data the information is valid and therefore that is results in cost efficiency you don't need to pay for somebody's services or a third party to oversee everything likewise you don't need to pay for Auditors or any of that sort because the system itself is creates a very secure way of recording data.

The fourth thing I mentioned was consensus protocol consensus Protocols are just simply what the word says protocols measures methods to reach consensus to reach agreement amongst a group of people this can be done menu so blockchain has a number of ways for the participants can reach a consensus that can be either through what we call the proof of work which is famous in Bitcoin where we have people are mining and trying to solve a puzzle or you have a proof of stake which is another common way where nodes will take the coin and hopefully be select it for something to validate the block blockchains there are many ways right and that's for a more technical discussion but really just to understand there's just the fourth kind of feature of blockchain the fifth is the validation method itself how blocks are validated on the network. 

We talked about cryptographic hash initially then we spoke about the immutable Ledger then we spoke about the peer-to-peer Network we spoke about the mining or the contents protocol and then we spoke about blockchain validation right the block validation these five are the  fundamental characteristics and features and qualities of a blockchain and it's these five which will be leveraged to provide you could say Innovative disruptive Services across the financial sector

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