Why is blockchain important?
Traditional database technologies present several challenges for recording financial transactions. For instance, consider the sale of a property. Once the money is exchanged, ownership of the property is transferred to the buyer. Individually, both the buyer and the seller can record the monetary transactions, but neither source can be trusted. The seller can easily claim they have not received the money even though they have, and the buyer can equally argue that they have paid the money even if they haven’t.To avoid potential legal issues, a trusted third party has to supervise and validate transactions. The presence of this central authority not only complicates the transaction but also creates a single point of vulnerability. If the central database was compromised, both parties could suffer.Blockchain mitigates such issues by creating a decentralized, tamper-proof system to record transactions. In the property transaction scenario, blockchain creates one ledger each for the buyer and the seller. All transactions must be approved by both parties and are automatically updated in both of their ledgers in real time. Any corruption in historical transactions will corrupt the entire ledger. These properties of blockchain technology have led to its use in various sectors, including the creation of digital currency like Bitcoin.
Blockchain Benefits for business
Better Transparency
With blockchain, an organization can go for a complete decentralized network where there is no need for a centralized authority, improving the system’s transparency.
Enhanced Security
Blockchain technology utilizes advanced security compared to other platforms or record-keeping systems. Any transactions that are ever recorded needs to be agreed upon according to the consensus method. Also, each transaction is encrypted and has a proper link to the old transaction using a hashing method.
True Traceability
With blockchain, companies can focus on creating a supply chain that works with both vendors and suppliers. In the traditional supply chain, it is hard to trace items that can lead to multiple problems, including theft, counterfeit, and loss of goods.
Improved Speed and Highly Efficient
Blockchain solves the time-consuming process and automates them to maximize efficiency. It also eradicates human-based errors with the help of automation.
Immutability
Immutability simply means that transactions, once recorded on the blockchain, can't be changed or deleted.