A blockchain is a distributed, cryptographically-secure database structure that allows network participants to establish a trusted and immutable record of transactional data without the need for intermediaries. A blockchain can execute a variety of functions beyond transaction settlement, such as smart contracts. Smart contracts are digital agreements that are embedded in code and that can have limitless formats and conditions. Blockchains have proven themselves as superior solutions for securely coordinating data, but they are capable of much more, including tokenization, incentive design, attack-resistance, and reducing counterparty risk. The very first blockchain was the Bitcoin blockchain, which itself was a culmination of over a century of advancements in cryptography and database technology.

When a digital transaction occurs in a blockchain network, it is grouped together in a cryptographically-secure “block” with other transactions that have occurred in the same time frame. The block is then broadcast to the network. A blockchain network is comprised of nodes or participants who validate and relay transaction information. The block of transactions is verified by participants called miners, who use computing power to solve a cryptographic puzzle and validate the block of transactions. The first miner to solve and validate the block is rewarded. Each verified block is connected to the previously verified block, creating a chain of blocks. One important cryptographic underpinning of blockchains is the hash function. Hashing assigns a fixed value to a string that is inputted into the system. Blockchain hashing power results in a deterministic, quickly-computable, and preimage-resistant system. Explore our knowledge base to learn more about how a blockchain works.

Blockchain technology has a wide variety of benefits, for both global enterprises and local communities. The most commonly cited benefits of a blockchain are trusted data coordination, attack-resistance, shared IT infrastructure, tokenization, and built-in incentivization.

Decentralized finance—often called DeFi or open finance—refers to the economic paradigm shift enabled by decentralized technologies, particularly blockchain networks. DeFi signals the shift from a historically centralized and closed financial system toward a universally accessible economy that is based on open protocols that are interoperable, programmable, and composable. From streamlined and secure payment networks to automated loans to USD-pegged stablecoins, decentralized finance has emerged as one of the most active sectors in the blockchain space. Some of the defining factors of a DeFi application include permissionless architecture (anyone can participate), transparent and auditable code, and interoperability with other DeFi products

The “block” in a blockchain refers to a block of transactions that has been broadcast to the network. The “chain” refers to a string of these blocks. When a new block of transactions is validated by the network, it is attached to the end of an existing chain. This chain of blocks is an ever-growing ledger of transactions that the network has validated. We call this single, agreed-upon history of transactions a blockchain. Only one block can exist at a given chain height. There are several ways to add new blocks to an existing chain. These are often termed “proofs,” i.e. Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), and Proof of Authority (PoA). All involve cryptographic algorithms with varying degrees of complexity.

Distributed ledger technology is a broad category that encompasses blockchain technology. A distributed ledger is just what its name implies. Instead of accounting for data through one centralized computer, distributed ledger technology uses many participants in a network to maintain a digital record. Blockchain technology supplements a distributed ledger with cryptographic functions and a consensus algorithm to enable greater incentive design, security, accountability, cooperation, and trust.

A blockchain wallet contains the public key for others to transfer cryptocurrency to your address and the private key so you can securely access your own digital assets. A blockchain wallet usually accompanies node hosting and stores cryptocurrencies on your computer. The safest place for storing digital assets is offline, what is often called “cold storage.”

By eliminating the middleman, Blockchain permits the secure sharing of business processes like business activities, records and contracts between firms and partners in an encrypted manner. Blockchain Uses cryptography principle to store the data which are impossible to hack, duplicate and misuse. The Transactions will be done on multiple computers in a chain, hence the records are very difficult to alter.

Blockchain is a Distributed database that maintains the details of each transaction in a series of blocks and those transactions will be added to the ledger in chronological order. The Stored transaction details in a block called genesis block.

Normally a block consists of

• previous hash(I.e hash of the previous block),
• data(I.e sender address,receiver address,transaction amount);
• hash(I.e like a unique digital fingerprint)
• nonce(I.e Random value)

1. Public Blockchain – It is a decentralized Open Source platform where anyone who has the internet connection can become a part of the blockchain network and can access current and past records and verify transactions. The purpose of a public blockchain is for mining and cryptocurrency exchanging. Example: Bitcoin, Ethereum
2. Private Blockchain – It is a centralized platform with some restrictions and permissions to join the network. These Blockchains are usually used within an enterprise and organization. The purpose of private Blockchain is voting, supply chain management, digital identity, asset ownership, etc. Example: Hyperledger, Corda
3. Hybrid Blockchain – It is a combination of both public and private blockchain. This Hybrid Blockchain gives businesses the flexibility to choose what data they want to make public and what data to keep private

Of course, it is possible. Even Though the public blockchain is open source, we can’t use it to store private records of a business or organization. So, we can leverage the open-source characteristics of the blockchain to build a private blockchain, and after the customization, A business can utilize it to store confidential business data.

Baas – Blockchain as a Service. Nowadays technology is being available as a rental, similar to that Blockchain-as-a-service gives the enterprises the ability to rent blockchain infrastructure in the cloud. In Detail, the software and hardware required to run blockchain applications are completely provisioned, managed and hosted by the service provider. The Baas partner can build the blockchain network on any blockchain platform such as Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Corda, Bitcoin, Chain Core, BlockApps or Quorum.

A Smart Contract is code that is deployed to the blockchain. Each smart contract contains code that can have a predefined set of inputs. Smart contracts can also store data. Following the distributed model of the blockchain, smart contracts run on every node in this technology, and each contract’s data is stored in every node. This data can be queried at any time. Smart Contracts can also call other smart contracts, enforce permissions, run workflow logic, perform calculations etc. Smart contract code is executed within a transaction – so the data stored as a result of running the smart contract (i.e. the state) is part of the blockchain’s immutable ledger.

Mining is used a proof of work for participants in the blockchain. Whenever a block of transactions is to be agreed, every participating node attempts to ‘mine’ the block (a mathematical algorithmic process that requires extensive CPU capacity). In public blockchains successful mining is rewarded with a cryptocurrency token.

No. Blockchain is simply a decentralised distributed network that is run, maintained and governed by a group entities. Cryptos are simply put applications of cryptographic transactions on a blockchain network to create, store and exchange value. For example, ETH is the native crypto currency of ethereum network that was launched by Ethereum foundation to raise funds for development and is used within ethereum ecosystem for multiple use cases such as transaction fees, buying products, minting other tokens etc.

Blockchain networks can be designed as per the specific needs. Public blockchains are the blockchains whose consensus is governed by public (public nodes meaning anyone can participate) while private blockchains are the blockchains whose consensus is governed by Private Nodes (Only approved and assigned entities can join). For example, Bitcoin is a public blockchain network which means anyone can run and operate a bitcoin node that can participate in decentralised governance on the network by mining. On the other hand, RippleNet is a private blockchain which banks use to replace SWIFT and only a limited entities can operate a node on that network which Ripple Foundation has approved and decided.

Yes you can use a private blockchain for distributed ledger. A distributed ledger is simply a database that gets stored and updated across multiple network operators through consensus, which are called Nodes. There are plenty of private blockchains available which can be setup for specialised use cases. It depends what exact consensus and decentralised model you want to build for your organisation and you can adjust the blockchain application accordingly.

Crypto mass adoption is inevitable and specially in mass transactions industries. Travala.com is one of our clients where you can book hotels and tickets using cryptos. They have seen huge adoption during their growth time and was later bought by binance for 300M$. There is huge potential to be explored here.

Yes. Infact it is not that complicated to setup the payment infrastructure as companies binance,coinbase etc have already poured billions of dollars in to setup payment architectures to bridge crypto to FIAT. It all depends how you want to structure your payment operations.

By platform I assume you are talking about the tech stack. Blockchain networks have different tech stacks and hardware compatibility. For example, Ethereum network works on Solidity. If you are referring to hardware, each blockchain network has its own hardware requirements such as size of hard, server bandwidth, RAM and processing core to operate a functional node on the network.