{"id":1326,"date":"2019-09-25T11:02:25","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T09:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pmf-research.eu\/the-importance-of-blockchain\/"},"modified":"2022-08-24T12:59:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T10:59:01","slug":"the-importance-of-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmf-research.eu\/en\/the-importance-of-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKCHAIN"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The ICT research on the innovative technology of blockchain, about which we have already discussed\u00a0in this article<\/a>, is now experiencing its best period thanks to bitcoins and more. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of general confusion about the importance of blockchain and net neutrality, and the situation is complicated by the existence of words such as cryptocurrencies, bitcoins, smart contracts<\/em>\u00a0and so on.<\/p>

In fact, the digital revolution of blockchain is only at the beginning and has many applications as well as many potentials yet to be explored. For this reason, we decided to write an article that simply explains how blockchain represents a safe and reliable system and illustrates why, among the new technologies, it offers promising opportunities that bring benefits to different types of business.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN SIMPLE WORDS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To do so, we have decided to start from a simple explanation, trying to make order around the concept of blockchain. Follow us!<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What are blockchain technologies for?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The blockchain, literally “chain of blocks”, is an IT network of nodes that uniquely and securely manages a public register composed by a series of data and information, such as transactions, in an open and distributed manner, without the need for a central control. This technology is part of the largest Distributed Ledger<\/em> family, namely those systems that are based on a public register that can be read and modified by multiple nodes on a network. To validate these modifications, however, the nodes must obtain consent, which can come from any node on the network. Being a set of technologies, the blockchain is structured as a chain of blocks containing the transactions and the consent is distributed on all the nodes of the network, each of them must be verified by the system.<\/p>

The blockchain applications are important in many sectors and allow, at least potentially, to dispense with financial institutions or similar. The relationship between blockchain and bitcoin, for example, is crucial to understand the importance of the blockchain.<\/p>

Since 2009, bitcoin has marked and stimulated the evolution of blockchain technology, more than all the existing cryptocurrencies. Moreover, bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that uses a new type of distributed ledger, the so-called blockchain technology. Through bitcoins, every transaction is legitimated by a decentralized network and not by central authorities, such as banks.<\/p>

Although bitcoin’s media success increased a lot in recent years, there is still confusion about the real fields of application and the sectors that can best exploit the revolutionary benefits of this innovative technology.<\/p>

Thanks to the immediate commitment of many companies around the world, which have already started experimenting the blockchain solutions, today the application sectors and solutions offered by this new technology are clearer. The most advanced is certainly the finance and insurance sector, initially threatened by bitcoins, but also the agritech sector, advertising, logistics and even the public administration.<\/p>

Even the world of digital advertising and media can be strongly involved. Just think of advertising, copyright management, identification of fake news and several activities on social media.<\/p>

Many realities have already understood the importance of blockchain and applied it in different sectors. In Georgia, it was adopted for land control and to ensure that a specific product, such as champagne, is actually produced in that specified area. Even the experiment of Poste Italiane, from the Estonian example, aims to reduce the number of intermediaries in the logistics chains.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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To what extent can the blockchain be applied in daily life? <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The importance of the blockchain is certainly given by its ability to simplify many actions we usually perform in a traditional way, such as buying and selling products, paying bills, transferring money and storing documents. Many people do not rely on the internet to do all these activities, because of the risky presence of countless frauds, identity theft and phishing. However, the blockchain can really revolutionise the way we store and distribute information on the net. It can also protect information from the multiple attempts to attack it. How? Using multiple security levels, for example the control through a private key, so that only the real owner of a certain amount of bitcoins can create a valid transaction related to that bitcoins, while the previous inputs ensure that the sender really has the number of bitcoins he\/she needs for the transaction.<\/p>

Despite the measures described, the security risk is just around the corner and is linked to the order of transactions. If two transactions are potentially in conflict with each other, because they are linked to the same input, they could be transferred to the network randomly. Thus, the node, that has already received the second transaction, receives also the first one and creates an ambiguity that is difficult to solve.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What are the features of blockchain?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Internet of Value<\/em> is the constantly evolving context within which the blockchain technology is embedded, namely those systems that allow the exchange of value on the internet as easily as normal information is exchanged today, always on the internet.<\/p>\n

This digital network of nodes, which give consent to the changes to be made to the register through a system of algorithms and cryptographic rules, leaves trace of the transfers that have occurred.<\/p>\n

There are different platforms and systems based on blockchain. With the permissionless blockchains <\/strong>(bitcoin and Ethereum) anyone can participate in the transaction validation process and become a node of the network. With the permissioned blockchains<\/strong> (Corda and Hyperledger) the access to the network is restricted to some authorized participants. Then there are the so-called “hybrid” blockchain technologies, such as Ripple, which allow anyone to participate in the network, but only some of them can validate transactions.<\/p>\n

Even if there are different types of platforms that use blockchain technology, each one with its own configurations, all of them have at least seven common points:<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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