This was the question that my friend asked me for the first time in 2017. It was something new and barely understood, but what my friend explained to me was enough to arouse my curiosity and start learning about this modern technology.
Most of us know that it is a peer-to-peer trading system that allows individuals to make a financial transaction without a third party in between and that is true but there is more.
In this article, I will share the basics of how blockchain works and what is hashing in a very simple way.
What is the blockchain?
Blocks are digital blocks that carry information, and “Chain” means a chain that links blocks of information together.
"Blockchain" translated into Arabic as blockchain
“It is an ever-growing list of records called blocks that are linked together and secured using cryptographic writing.”
The block consists of 3 main elements
Data: The message inside the block and it can be many things such as a money transaction, an information transaction, or even proof of purchase of land, a car, or a license plate.
Hash: It is the digital fingerprint of the block.
Previous hash: It is the fingerprint of the previous block and in this way the blocks are linked to each other via a digital chain.
The first block to be created in the blockchain is called the Genesis Block as shown in the image above.
The hash is 64 characters long, a mixture of numbers and letters, and is generated using an encryption algorithm called SHA-256.
{Secured Hash Algorithm - 256 bits} Bitcoin is famous for using this encryption in its transactions.
There are 5 elements in a hash that make it secure:
· It only goes in one direction, so when the block is recorded, it cannot be reverted, deleted or edited.
· It requires fast computing in order to generate hashes in blocks efficiently.
· Avalanche effect, this is one of the most desirable properties of an encryption algorithm. Simply put, if someone tries to edit data in a block after it has already been created, the Hash of the block changes directly and all subsequent blocks are alerted, this way we can know that someone in block number 50 tried to tamper with the data.
· Deterministic, meaning I cannot copy one block's data to a different block.
· It must be collision tolerant, which means no two blocks can have the same hash
So now you have the basic knowledge of what blockchain is and I hope you enjoyed reading the article!
I would love to hear your feedback, and if you find this article valuable, I would appreciate it if you shared it with interested people.