Blockchain can be called the spine of the entire crypto-currency system. Blockchain technology not only helps with the users perform transactions using crypto-currencies but also ensures the security and anonymity of the users involved. It is a continuously growing list of records called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptographic techniques. A Blockchain can serve as “an open and distributed ledger, that can record transactions between two parties in a verifiable and permanent way.” This ledger that is shared among everyone in the network is public for all to view.This brings in transparency and trust into the system.
A block is the ‘current’ part of a Blockchain which records some or all of the recent transactions, and once completed goes into the Vlockchain as permanent database. Each time a block gets completed, a new block is generated.
The Blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network, collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and a collusion of the network majority. Transactions once stored in the Blockchain are permanent. They cannot be hacked or manipulated. We will learn more about this once we get into the concepts of Blockchain.