Your bank maintains a central database of all their customer details which stores the account numbers, balances, transactions, and more. Whenever you transact with your account, your bank updates its records. Only the bank has exclusive access to the ledger, so if they decide to make a change, there’s not much you can do about it.
Now if a hacker gains access to this database, they will alter balances, delete transactions, and cause more harm. Your bank may or may not be able to restore the data from backups, and there may be many databases serving this data, but this breach is disturbing and annoying.
Distributed ledgers used by cryptocurrencies are much smarter and effective because rather than one person or company has the sole responsibility of the ledger, many people maintain copies of the distributed ledger, and there are often few restrictions on who can join the network or not.
Each user known as a ‘node’ stores a copy of the data—all the way from the beginning of the ledger i.e. the inception of the cryptocurrencies until now. For every transaction, several nodes work to verify it, and after the completion, all nodes update their records so that everything stays up to date and in sync.
Each new transaction gets bundled up with all other transactions into a ‘block’. There’s no centralized authority that can fudge the record. If a hacker or immoral node changes the records in one ledger, all the other nodes would reject it since the new records would not match with the data stored by everyone else. The only possible way to manipulate data is for every single node to collude together, which is highly unlikely.
While many blockchains only store transaction details, it’s possible to store all kinds of data on a blockchain: medical records, secure messages, smart contracts, and more. It’s also possible to design and create your own blockchain, even one that’s private provided you have enough nodes to run it. You can remove encryption, changes the rules, or decentralize it as per your need and will.
Women In Cryptocurrency: Top 8 Women In Cryptocurrency
We have a stunning infographic on Top 8 Women In Cryptocurrency, and this infographic speaks about the achievements and contribution of these Crypto Women to this industry. This infographic was developed by our friends at Mrbtc.org, please check it and let me know your thoughts.
