Unraveling the Blockchain: A Study on Blockchain and Its Potential Applications

Abstract

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that stores data on several servers globally, and anyone on the network can see data in near real-time. Data stored on a Blockchain is immutable, time stamped, unanimous, decentralized, secure, irreversible, fast, and consensus dependent. Any real-life application which has these requirements can get benefitted greatly by adapting to Blockchain technology. The Blockchain technology offers wide range of benefits as opposed to traditional databases, it is highly suitable for innumerable real-life applications such as in healthcare, finance, research etc. This paper is primarily aimed at presenting the working of Blockchain technology, basic architecture, algorithms, structure, and types. Secondly, it provides an overview of contemporary developments and various real-life applications of Blockchain technology. This paper also provides insights on the possible application areas, and future research prospects.