Science and Technology Daily reporter Liu Yuanyuan
During this time, it is estimated that you have read a lot about the application prospect of blockchain, and may also ponder the market trend of some blockchain concept stocks.
But if I’m right, you may still be unclear.Blockchain What kind of chain is it?
Today, let’s start from the moment when the blockchain fell to the ground and make it clear and clear.
The genius idea of mysterious geek
Speaking of blockchain, I have to mention its twin brother-bitcoin.
Go back in time to exactly 11 years ago. On November 1, 2008, the world was shrouded in the huge shadow of the financial crisis. That day, a mysterious geek who called himself "Satoshi Nakamoto" sent an e-mail.
Attached to the email is a paper entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".
Satoshi Nakamoto said in his email that he is studying a new electronic cash system, which is completely peer-to-peer and does not need any trusted third party. About half a month later, Satoshi Nakamoto released the source code of Bitcoin system non-stop.
On January 3, 2009, an interesting invention was born. Satoshi Nakamoto has generated the first bitcoin block on the server, which is the so-called "Bitcoin Creation Block". Since then, the Bitcoin system has officially opened.
Having said that, we might as well stop and think about how we conduct cash transactions in real life.
Suppose you borrowed 10,000 yuan from a friend and promised to pay it back one month later, you might choose to transfer the money by bank card. The bank is responsible for subtracting 10,000 yuan from your deposit account and adding 10,000 yuan to your friend’s deposit account.
Here, the bank is the institution responsible for bookkeeping. The potential reason why you choose bank transfer is that you believe it is reliable and will help you transfer 10 thousand yuan to your friends.
However, in the digital world, inventing a currency is another matter.
The hero behind the bitcoin game
Next, let’s see how Satoshi Nakamoto designed this digital currency game.
First of all, Satoshi Nakamoto wants direct peer-to-peer transactions, bypassing the bank as a third party. This problem is easy to handle, so there is no bank. Users issue their own currency through a unique mechanism and trade directly with each other.
But this brings another problem. There is no bank as a reliable intermediary to keep accounts, and users don’t know each other. How can we ensure that no one cheats when trading?
For example, in the digital world, electronic files can be easily copied. In digital currency with 10 yuan, copying and pasting with the mouse for 10 times will become 100 yuan. Isn’t it a mess?
To solve this problem, we need to provide a mechanism for everyone to trust each other.
The method adopted by the Bitcoin system is to make all transactions recorded openly and transparently in chronological order. These records are permanent and cannot be tampered with. So you can’t do something sneaky.
With these mechanisms, the Bitcoin system has successfully operated.
This systemStoring data in Blocks is called a block.. About every 10 minutes, new blocks will be added. Each block records the detailed transaction process of Bitcoin with a time stamp.Different blocks are connected by some algorithm in chronological order, which is a Chain.
Together, they are called "Blockchain".
In this way, the blockchain took root with the birth of Bitcoin.If Bitcoin is a star in front of the stage that attracts attention, the blockchain is the behind-the-scenes hero responsible for providing trust mechanism in the underlying technology.
A new change in the way of accounting.
Although behind the scenes, the talent of blockchain was quickly excavated.
In technical terms,Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology.. To understand it, let’s give the simplest example.
Suppose that your family keeps accounts like this: you, your father and your mother have separate account books, and you keep separate accounts of your expenses. At the end of each month, you can count the total household expenses together.
But dad likes to buy cigarettes, mom likes to buy cosmetics, and you like to buy snacks. You may all forget a few items intentionally or unintentionally, and sometimes you will alter them on the books. Therefore, when checking the books at the end of the month, it is always a little different from the actual expenses at home.
In order to change this situation, you bought a new account book. You, your father and your mother use a new account book to keep accounts, remind each other, supervise each other, and check each expense together.
At the same time, you also agreed that once the expenses are checked and recorded, they are not allowed to be altered or deleted. After trying for several months, you find that this common ledger is much more in line with the actual expenses at home.
Blockchain belongs to the second accounting method. The short story above tells us that it has at least so many advantages or benefits.
First of all, it is decentralized. In the past, the database maintained by one party has become a multi-party joint maintenance. Everyone writes data together by consensus, and no one can control the data alone.
Secondly, it makes everyone change from keeping separate accounts to keeping accounts together, which brings consistency and transparency of data.
In addition, the blockchain only allows data to be written, and it is not allowed to be deleted or modified, which can prevent data from being tampered with secretly.
Mutual trust between strangers
In reality, many scenarios are much more complicated than how to keep accounts at home. Moreover, some links in financial transactions and business processing are mostly operated by strangers. How can we make everyone trust each other?
This is the turn of the blockchain to show its talents. Don’t forget, it can provide a mechanism for people to trust each other from the underlying technology.
For example, when you go to the vegetable market to buy things, you may worry about whether fish, shrimp and vegetables are safe. Some companies see business opportunities and move the data of farmers and fish ponds to the blockchain. In this way, you can know which fish pond the fish you bought comes from, and you will eat more safely.
For another example, there are often links in the circle of friends to raise money for seriously ill patients. When donating money, you may have some concerns: Is the patient’s condition true? Can donations really reach patients?
In order to eliminate these concerns, some Internet public welfare organizations have used the blockchain, so that you can clearly see the steps of using donations. If the audit finds that the patient’s condition is not true, the blockchain system will automatically refund the donation to your account.
In the future, what changes can blockchain bring to our lives?
It is conceivable that when the blockchain is widely used in various fields of society, it will become an important infrastructure in the information age and can solve many current headaches.
For example, blockchain will make countless islands of information "chained" together.lookThere is no need to repeat the examination because of changing hospitals, and entrepreneurs don’t have to run multiple departments in order to run a procedure;Many transactions no longer need third-party guarantee, consumers no longer worry that the deposit can’t be refunded, and creators don’t have to worry that their works are stolen but get nothing …
The blockchain that was born 10 years ago,
What kind of new world will open up in 10 years?
The iceberg is just the tip of the iceberg,
Let’s keep looking forward to it!
Source: Science and Technology Daily The pictures in the article are all from the Internet.
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