What is Blockchain?
The simplest way to understand this technology is to think of it as a real-time ledger of anything that can be recorded (financial transactions, contracts, physical assets, etc) but there is no individual or organization in charge of the entire chain. Each block contains the detail of each record. A block is time-stamped and encrypted. Thousands of servers in the network share data of these blocks with each other. In fact, blockchain is open and everyone on the network can inspect everyone else’s entries in near real-time, but no single entity controls. Due to this, everything built on it is transparent and everyone involved is accountable for their actions.
As blockchain offers several benefits that promise to revolutionize finance and business, here are 7 things you may not know about it.
Blockchain
Everything you need to know about blockchain
It is not synonymous with Bitcoin
Bitcoin pioneered blockchain technology. It has more than 8 million accounts and grew by more than 100% per year since it began in 2010. It is a belief that Satoshi Nakamoto is behind Bitcoin, but no one can tell the real identity.
Bitcoin (BTC) is a digital currency. Although the technology that underlies and supports Bitcoin is blockchain, it has uses beyond just sending or receiving value.
Bitcoin
It may or may not involve digital currencies
In fact, parts of the world are currently implementing blockchain in their system including real estate, securities, or even social media.
In TomoChain, Pantograph has come with the concept of a social platform. With the slogan “Blockchain for Dummies”, Pantograph offers a solid networking Dapp for communities to interact and experience blockchain-based features without having any expert knowledge. Users are able to send, receive, and manage tokens and NFTs on TomoChain freely while fully controlling their accounts. Users can even create, manage their own community, and launch airdrop campaigns within the app.
On July 8, 2020, Pantograph announced the launch of the first Video NFT (V-NFT) in the world, offering more opportunities for this type of asset in the progress of adoption.
You can find Pantograph as easy-to-use as any regular social app, but it has functionalities that can only be found in apps powered by blockchain. How interesting is that?
Pantograph has broadened the use case of Blockchain with the concept of a social platform.
It enables smart contracts
Smart Contracts are digital contracts that use computing power to facilitate transactions. Every time you conduct a transaction, the network makes sure that all conditions in the smart contract are met. Once confirmed, it executes the contract.
It is reliable
In a blockchain, the data is distributed across millions of computers. Anyone can access and view its data but cannot alter it. The information is constantly updated and each participant has their own copy of it. This decentralized nature of blockchain ensures security and reliability, as there is no central point of failure for hackers to attack. No one entity has authority over the network as a whole.
Tech giants are investing in Blockchain
IBM and Microsoft are two of the tech giants that show interest and make a significant investment in this technology. In detail, IBM dedicates $200 million and 1,000 employees to blockchain-powered projects. VCs have invested more than $1 billion into companies in the field over the last five years.
The global blockchain market is expected to worth $20 billion by 2024.
IBM Corporation logo. (PRNewsfoto/IBM)
It can disrupt the current finance system
According to Forbes, 9 out of 10 agree that blockchain will disrupt the banking and financial industry. Experts estimated banks could save $8-12 billion annually if they implemented the technology.
Malta is the “blockchain island”
The Republic of Malta locates in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily (Italy). It all began when Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges initiated its office in this nation. Malta is the first place to establish a decentralized bank and stock exchange. From that moment on, Malta has experienced tremendous growth for ICOs and blockchain projects. After Binance, the favorable regulations for cryptocurrencies have led other exchanges that include OKEx, BitPay as well to move there. Malta is also looking forward to setting up a crypto bank.
Malta Becomes The First Country To Regulate Cryptocurrency
Conclusion
Through this article, we hope to break down what you need to know about blockchain. It’s time to learn about this ingenious technology and get your team working to figure out what opportunities it will create for your organization.
