“Blockchain is a new way of looking at value and a new way of directly linking transactions between two parties, skipping the third party. It also performs tracking functions very well and is highly reliable. ”
—Eric Puller, Founder and CEO
What is blockchain? Let's take a simple example.
If you want to buy a mobile phone on Taobao, the transaction process is: you transfer money to Alipay - Alipay notifies the seller to ship the goods after receiving the payment - the seller ships the goods - you confirm receipt - Alipay transfers the money to the seller.
Blockchain can greatly simplify the transaction process. You just exchange money and mobile phones with the seller, and then both parties claim to have completed the transaction.
Is there such an operation?
that's right! In nearly every industry you can think of, blockchain promises to eliminate middlemen, drastically increase transparency, and exponentially make global transactions more efficient.
While blockchain is best known for its use in cryptocurrencies, the technology has the potential to revolutionize supply chains, healthcare, elections, and real estate.
First, though, we must answer these two questions in detail:
The concept of blockchain first appeared in 1991 as a time stamp for digital files, but it was not until 2009 that "Satoshi Nakamoto" (whose true identity is still disputed) used blockchain to create virtual currencies. It wasn’t until Bitcoin that this concept became a household name.
A blockchain is a decentralized database (distributed database) shared by an entire computer network (or "all nodes"). The data in it can only be changed with the consent of all nodes in the system. Therefore, once a piece of data appears in the blockchain, it is difficult to be tampered with.
Each block of the blockchain contains 3 elements: 1) data; 2) hash value, or the digital fingerprint of the block; 3) the hash value of the previous block.
Different types of data can be stored in blocks, such as sender, receiver, and Bitcoin transaction amount. The hash of a block is generated based on the data in the block. If the data in the block changes, the hash value will naturally change accordingly.
Blockchain is extremely secure for the following reasons:
Each block contains its own hash and the hash of the previous block; changing either of these renders the rest of the blockchain useless.
Proof-of-work mechanism. This mechanism slows down the generation of new blocks. In the case of Bitcoin, each block takes approximately 10 minutes to generate. Therefore, after changing the data in a certain block, it becomes extremely difficult to recreate the entire blockchain. Consensus model. The model uses proof-of-work testing and proof-of-stake testing to vet computers that want to join the blockchain. Proof-of-work testing requires computers that want to join the blockchain to solve computational challenges. After a successful challenge, tokens will be issued and computers that want to join the blockchain can use these tokens to purchase tickets to the blockchain in proof-of-stake tests.
Five “blockchain breakthroughs” that will appear in the future (2019-2024)
Founder and CEO Eric Prior is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in government and enterprise technology. Currently, several of the world's most well-known venture capital groups have invested in Prior's companies, including (Media), (US), Tone () and SOA (SOA).
Prior predicts five major trends in blockchain development over the next five years, each of which is poised to disrupt the current industry’s major players and spawn unprecedented new business models by 2024.
>>>>
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT)
Non-fungible tokens are tokens used in the Ethereum blockchain that contain unique metadata and therefore differ from other forms of tokens. Currencies are homogeneous and can be easily converted into each other, while non-fungible tokens can store more complex and personalized information.
Government documents such as marriage certificates, land registrations, food ratings and driver's licenses can all be tokenized using NFTs. In the retail industry, consumers can use blockchain to verify the legitimacy of luxury goods. Digital products and tickets can also be easily stored using NFTs in the blockchain.
Pryor predicts: “Now, a token like Bitcoin can be a ticket, a coupon or a rare treasure. It can represent a real-world product, such as coffee or art. So, in the future you will see an unprecedented A new space where non-fungible tokens will revolutionize our economy.”
>>>>
security token
Security tokens are encrypted programmatic securities that are equivalent to assets that can perform related operations. Security tokens have many functions, they can pay dividends, they can pay interest, they can even be used to invest in other tokens or assets. For example, smart contracts will allow an asset to automatically pay dividends at a specific interest rate, as long as the relevant requirements are met.
"Most of the tokens you're familiar with are called utility tokens, and they don't represent real things or real assets in the real world," Prior said. “That’s not the case with security tokens that have emerged this year.”
Security tokens have great potential to alleviate liquidity issues, but if you want to hold such tokens for the long term, you need additional infrastructure, such as exchanges, issuers and corresponding institutions dedicated to the security token itself. wallet.
>>>>
Tokenized assets
“Every illiquid asset you can imagine will be broken down, tokenized, and placed on exchange markets,” Pryor predicted.
Over the next five years, security tokens will gradually begin to represent a new form of asset liquidity. Traditionally, these assets are illiquid, such as real estate or art. Prior predicts that such assets will then be able to be traded in the market 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Malta and Switzerland are leading the way in developing tokenized asset infrastructure. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Securities and Markets Authority have begun discussing plans to develop regulations in this area.
>>>>
autonomous identity
As cyberattacks continue to increase, new forms of authentication will be directed toward protecting users. With self-sovereign identity, users can use the same digital identity across multiple platforms while choosing what information they want to share on each platform.
This interaction model will revolutionize the current digital market - one that turns personal data into a commodity.
“With blockchain technology, identity information will be returned to the individual user. This way, the user will have control over their data and then be able to organize it exactly in the way that works best for them. This approach is just right and it goes against Google, Google or anyone else. principles for others who want to profit from users’ personal information,” Pryor said.
In 2014, the UK spent a staggering £3.3 billion on identity protection schemes. Self-sovereign identities can of course also significantly reduce this overhead.
In the field of e-commerce, using self-sovereign identities for online login will exponentially improve the efficiency and security of the entire system.
In financial services, with self-sovereign identities, know-your-customer (KYC) efforts and anti-money laundering (AML) efforts can also be transferred between different banks at any time, which will reduce the associated costs to 1/10 of the original.
In healthcare, autonomous identities can return medical history records to individual patients, and transparent authorization to query that record will become the new standard.
>>>>Freedom of speech
“With blockchain, you have an immutable record. No government can destroy this record by any means, because a record distributed around the world will greatly weaken the power of a dictator. Rule, destroy the idea Bad attempts by organizations and governments to suppress free speech. Blockchain technology combined with ubiquitous bandwidth can create a world of free speech where everyone can speak. No speech will be suppressed, and no speech will be suppressed. There will be no silence. There will be no speech that will alienate the public in some way," Pryor predicted.
Over the past few decades, this trend away from hierarchical societies and toward networked architectures has become increasingly common. Blockchain will only accelerate this shift globally, creating a huge social impact. Blockchain realizes mutual trust in a huge network of decentralized control, and a social state that has rarely been achieved in human society before will emerge.
The future is promising
The operating mechanism of the blockchain is a point-to-point decentralized "digital record book". It will reduce the spread of harmful information, increase transparency, witness exponential gains in efficiency of countless processes, and eliminate unnecessary middlemen in almost every industry. .
In the supply chain, blockchain technology will continue to record every production link of the target project, providing more transparent product production information to customers who want to obtain more information before making purchasing decisions.
In electoral matters, blockchain is ready to decentralize the voting process no matter where it is in the world, while also ensuring that votes are authentic and valid and preventing election hacking.
In the real estate sector, property history information stored on the blockchain will significantly reduce the time required for appraisals and financial reviews.
On a personal level, blockchain technology can make it easier for you to verify your identity, share your health data, make the most of your various possessions, and track the origin of every item you purchase.
At a broader social level, blockchain will catalyze a major shift in society from a hierarchical structure to a democratic network structure, and its scale will exceed any social structural transformation that humans have experienced before. As a next-generation tool capable of maintaining mutual trust among large numbers of people, blockchain will establish a new order on a global scale.
标签： #Blockchain #Hashing
评论列表