A Meta-Analysis on Blockchain Technology and Bitcoins

Abstract

I. INTODUCTION Blockchain technology was first introduced as Bitcoin's underlying technology but soon later its extendable capabilities have been recognized. The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is a core innovation in the financial sector nowadays. Its underlying technology, blockchain, is a type of a distributed ledger especially suitable for processing time ordered data. In addition, embedded cryptography functions of blockchain technology enable integrity of ledgers, authenticity of transactions, and privacy of transactions without a centralized control actor. Those make the blockchain different from traditional distributed database systems being used in the financial sector, e.g., it is practically impossible to modify or delete records of a ledger in the blockchain. This distributed and decentralized nature of the blockchain has attracteded financial institutions over the world to replace existing backbone technologies with blockchain technology. Blockchain keeps a record of all data exchanges -this record is referred to as a "ledger" in the cryptocurrency world, and each data exchange is a "transaction". Every verified transaction is added to the ledger as a "block" It utilizes a distributed system to verify each transaction -a peer-to-peer network of nodes. Once signed and verified, the new transaction is added to the blockchain and cannot be altered In the cryptocurrency world, your wallet address represents public key and your private key is what let's you authorize transfers, withdrawals, and other actions with your digital property like cryptocurrencies. As an aside, this is why it's so important to keep your private key safe -anyone who has your private key can use it to access any of your digital assets associated with your public key and do what they want with it! Each transaction in that ledger will have the same data: a digital signature, a public key, a timestamp, and a unique ID. For instance, the logistics sector considers blockchain technology for real-time visibility, improved efficiency, transparency, verifiability, and cost reduction for logistics. The property sector is adopting blockchain technology as well for digital but unforgeable property records, few disputes, transparency, verifiability, and lower transfer fees. The food sector is also investing blockchain technology to trace the movements of foods and tackle contamination faster.