Blockchain & Bitcoin
I previously mentioned blockchain technology being used in my post about Chanel and NFC. The microchip that they use has blockchain technology which is a technique of storing data that is virtually impossible to alter or edit once it's on record. Did you know that Bitcoin also uses blockchain technology? Bitcoin is not only just a cryptocurrency, its blockchain stores a record of all transactions that are made through its network, that includes buying, selling, trading, or sending coins to another person. It is a distributed ledger, which can be shared across multiple areas. Any participant in the network it is shared on can access the recorded ledger and is able to own, make changes or distribute copies to everyone that is in that same network. Think of it as having another pair of eyes being able to see these transactions. This information is stored in a chain of blocks, arranged chronologically. This same Blockchain has a way of verifying and validating to confirm any data that has been changed in the ledger. There is a process that holds the ledger together known as mining or Bitcoin mining. The short version to mining - take a very powerful machine, similar to a computer but not quite, and that machine is strictly designed to solve mathematical algorithms to mine a Bitcoin as a reward.