Author: Zen and the Art of Computer Programming
1 Introduction
"Blockchain" is a new database technology composed of a decentralized and distributed database management system. It is built on a distributed network and adopts a point-to-point distributed accounting method. At the same time, it uses the properties of cryptography and economics to ensure its non-tampering, transparency, security and other characteristics. In 2017, more than 700 million people around the world used blockchain platforms. Through this technology, in the future everyone’s behavior records will be permanently preserved, creating an immutable and traceable value system, allowing all data in our lives to be traced back to the original ideas of the first creators superior. At the same time, due to its distributed network characteristics, it can solve the problem of current Internet information islands, make information circulation more convenient, speed up the sharing, transmission and consumption of information, and shorten the time to obtain information. With the continuous development of blockchain technology, more and more companies and organizations have applied blockchain technology to different business fields. According to analysts’ observations and research, blockchain technology is mainly used in the financial industry, securities, supply chain management, medical health, identity authentication, gaming industry, Internet finance and other fields. Compared with traditional centralized databases, blockchain has the following significant advantages:
Tamper-proof: Each record of data on the blockchain is tamper-proof, and no one can change or modify the content of the record. In addition, encryption algorithms can also be used for signature verification to ensure that the data is authentic and reliable. In addition, the security of the entire network can also be improved through workload proof.
Smart contracts: Through smart contracts, programs can be deployed on the blockchain to execute relevant business logic. Smart contracts can record and verify the contractual relationship between transaction parties, reduce transaction costs, improve efficiency, and ensure data integrity.
Data sharing: Data can be shared directly between different nodes on the blockchain to achieve rapid transmission and sharing of data. Therefore, traditional centralized servers are no longer needed to store data, greatly reducing resource overhead.