What is SHA -256? | Bitcoin Hash Function

If you are a trader or cryptocurrency startup entrepreneur, then you must have heard about “cryptography” or “hashing algorithms”.

But what do these things have to do with your bitcoin or cryptocurrency network?

Cryptography or hashing algorithms are what keep Bitcoin’s blockchain secure. They are the building blocks in the cryptocurrency platform.

In this article, we are going to talk about a Secure Hash Algorithm (Bitcoin Hash Algorithm) 256 in detail.

To start with, it is important to have a general idea of what a hash & hashing algorithm?

First, we need to understand what is it “Hash”?

Hash is a “message digest” – a digit generated from a string of text, the hash by itself is smaller than the text, it is almost impossible to build another string of text with the same hash value.

Second, we need to understand what is it “Hashing Algorithm”

The hashing algorithm is a Cryptographic hash function, the numerical algorithm that maps data of random size to a hash of a fixed size. Hashing algorithm being used for digital signatures and authentication.

The hashing algorithm has certain unique effects like:

"It is a one-way function and it produces a unique output (or hash)"

The mathematics behind the hash algorithm protect that there is no way to build the original data from its generated hash. It means the hash only functions in a linear growth. A simple term would be that you can’t produce a real human thumb from a fingerprint.

This is why a hash can be treated as a “digital fingerprint” of the data processed through the hash function.

To logically end, the same hash will only be developed from the same input data. But if you modify the data with a small thing, like a single space or a comma, it will completely change the hash output. And Bitcoin’s uses this cryptographic hashing algorithm for its blockchain consensus mechanism.

How does Hash Function work in Bitcoin?