Blockchain Terminology & Private Instances :: Part - I

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This time I will discuss about the mindset of journalists and technologists ; about blockchain ledgers ; permissionless blockchains ; private instances ; quorum, cord, ETH and what do they include.

Today we won't be able to discuss about all of the mentioned but let's break it into part I and part II .

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We see blockchain technology being used in many different places in different contexts as people use it in their own ways.

Angela Walch, Research Fellow at University College London -- Centre for Blockchain Technologies , provides some ideas and her way of approach on this topic .

In this blog, I will provide a broad overview of blockchain technology and then explain some of the nuances ::

Once in a conversation a technologist was asked ,

Ques) At the risk of coming across as pedantic, it should help your understanding to ask early on, ‘Which blockchain platform?’.

Then answered ,

Ans ) The public chain or aprivate one?’ As we now know, there are many blockchains, and many variations on how they work.
Sometimes journalists inaccurately use the term ‘blockchain’ when they are describing non-blockchain distributed ledgers. I guess ‘distributed
ledgers’ is too much of a mouthful whereas ‘blockchain’ is a nice
memorable buzzword.

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Different technologies have different rules that how to create transactions, different methods of storing data, and different consensus mechanisms.
Public blockchains are also described and needs permission from an authority. In these public networks, they are also permissionlessness in another sense.
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology. It is not that every distributed ledger uses blockchain to provide safe and valid distributed accord.

A blockchain is always distributed and regulated across corresponding colleagues or counterparts. However, its structure makes it bit distinctive from other distributed ledgers.

Data on the blockchain is grouped together and organized into blocks.
The blocks are after linked with each other and safeguarded by the help of cryptography.

The blockchain is specially a endless growing set of records. it is impossible to change or delete data already recorded on an earlier block. Henceforth , blockchain technology is advisable for managing , recording and processing records ; for tracking assets and voting .

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Blockchain technology was basically introduced by cryptocurrencies such as ' Bitcoin ' .
A big awakening in late 2017s and the following public scandals got cryptocurrencies in the eyes of public. Many governments, business holders , economists, and enthusiasts are now looking at ways to bring blockchain technology in use for other things.

As described earlier, you can run blockchain software on a private
network to create a fresh ledger.

Could you set up a small private network running Ethereum, then send me some ETH and transfer them to the public network? No.

Many of the times , both the terms , 'blockchain' and 'distributed ledgers' are used substituably . Our aim is to clearly understand the features of each .

A distributed ledger is a database spread across multiple nodes or computing devices. Every working node in a network updates independently of other nodes .

The distributed ledger technology highly decreases the cost of trust. The architecture and structures of distributed ledgers can help us reduce our dependence on banks, governments, lawyers, notaries, and regulatory compliance officers.

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Blockchain is a vast world , more than we can understand. Their are different perspectives that many journalists or technologists or philosophers carry towards the word blockchain. Many of them just have a layman understanding and many have wrong explanation. One need to deeply go through the debates , interviews and books to know what exactly a blockchain is and grasp a understanding that works for you .

India, 07.05.2024
@moyeon